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We must admit that after being closed for some seven months of the last twelve, we really do hope this is the last time we have to prepare for a reopening! In truth we can’t wait, it’s been too long. As well as reopening with a small focused exhibition of works by the late Bob Crossley, all from 1958-1961, we’ve also this past week had Richard Fitton in-gallery delivering eight new portraits in both oil and charcoal.

After what seems an age, we fling open the door to Castlegate once again on Thursday 15th April. We have much on show, including a room dedicated to eight rare early works from the late Bob Crossley, all dating from 1958-61 and which may be seen HERE. We’ve also produced a small page turner of a catalogue which may be viewed online.

Several things to mention, so let us kick off by saying how proud we are to welcome Katya Granova to Castlegate. About to recommence her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art (covid-interruptus) Katya initially studied at the Paris College of Art from 2014-15 and thence 2015-17 at the ICA Moscow. We first came across Katya’s work as an entrant to the inaugural Castlegate Prize in 2020, ultimately reaching the final shortlist and one of the works which was in the running to take first place.

January always holds excitement for us, the start of the art season, our exhibition at the London Art Fair. For months we’d planned a showstopper of a stand, the best of British 20th C and contemporary art; however the 2021 fair is now a digital affair later in January, so we thought we’d stage our physical stand at Castlegate, bring London to Cumbria, throw the doors open to a collection of works by names not seen outside of central London in many a year.

We should have opened the doors to Covid Contemporary yesterday. Saturday 7th November was to be the culmination of the hard work of four young artists, Louis Appleby, Alice Campbell, Alex Hain and William Reinsch. Well we may not have been able to welcome many of you across the threshold, but we can do so digitally! We've had a 360-degree walk-round film made, here you can wander around the gallery and take a look at each and every piece of art created by the four, even click for more details etc.

We're very pleased to announce that our latest exhibition, Covid Contemporary, is now live online in readiness for doors open on the 7th November. The full exhibition listing may be seen HERE with a 360-degree click and walk facility available in the coming days for those who may be unable to visit the gallery itself.   With an initial working title of Four go to London, this exhibition has been eighteen months in the making; an exhibition of four young emerging talents planned for July in St James, London; an opportunity to showcase the works of William Reinsch, Alice Campbell, Louis Appleby and Alex Hain.

Now that The Castlegate Prize is over, well at least until 2022, we've rehung the gallery with a plethora of new work, all of which may be viewed HERE.  Included we have two paintings by the late Percy Kelly, originally sold at the Messums London exhibition of 2012 and now repatriated from the US. One is a fascinating very rare abstract harbour gouache on paper and clearly shows Percy's interest in the works of Ben Nicholson.

Well, after almost eighteen months and a pandemic, we can reveal that the winner of the inaugural Castlegate Prize and recipient of the £10,000 award is Sabrina Shah for her painting Bucket List. The exhibition may be seen HERE  together with a video of the exhibition HERE and we've even gone an extra mile and had a 3D walk-round experience produced, viewable on the exhibition page at the top, labelled cunningly "3D Gallery Tour" We've also awarded a special prize of £1,000 to a young artist/animator, Sorrel Milne.

We’ve been very active over the last few weeks, bringing myriad works to the gallery as well as finding new homes for many. Recent additions in the contemporary field include a plethora of works by Richard Fitton and Rebecca Swainston along with works by the likes of David Hockney (RA), Hughie O’Donoghue (RA) and Ben Nicholson; we’ve added many to our Summer Exhibition which may be viewed HERE.

It's time for a rehang and a new array of works (at least from this coming weekend). We've been very active sourcing new pieces over the past few weeks, some of which we have now and some are secured and to come as we work through August. We'll be exhibiting many alongside some of our favourite pieces sourced earlier i

We're pleased to announce that the gallery-physical will reopen at 10am on Thursday 18th June. Initially the gallery will be open Thursday to Saturday inclusive and all other times by appointment. As many of you will know, we're always available outside of these times (and inside of them) by phone, email and social media.

Draw at Castlegate is now live; a celebration of the art of drawing from eight artists spanning genre, age and career profile. All works may be seen HERE and even in these times, we've fully hung the exhibition and had a video produced of the show installed, viewable HERE. We miss opening the gallery door to a new exhibition, hopefully this goes some way to provide a consolation, we hope you enjoy it.

It's a tough time for many of us right now and especially those in the charity sector, where funding has all but disappeared. So, from now until the start of our next exhibition on 21st May, we will donate 25% of all gallery profits from ANY sales to the Rainbow Trust, helping support the families of children with serious or terminal illnesses.

Well, it's not possible to rehang the gallery and welcome folks through the doors as was planned, so we've electronically rehung the gallery with a collection of some of our favourite works in stock as well as some client-favourite names; All may be seen HERE. We've included names such as Sheila Fell, Alice Campbell, John Bellany, Norman Cornish, Ceri Allen, Michael Bennett amongst many others.

The wonderful unspoilt building that is Castlegate House may now be physically temporarily closed, its impressive red heavy door without its usual "open" sign, but the gallery is far from closed. As an art gallery in western Cumbria, abutting the fringes of one of the most astounding national parks in the world, we're used to working "remotely".

Well, in a world where for a short period of time we may all be spending more time in our homes, we thought it timely to tell you all about some of the new art works we've brought into the gallery in the last few days, and which can gild the nest that little bit more; all may be seen HERE

After a return from the hectic bubble-world that is the hugely enjoyable London Art Fair, we now have a body of new work into the gallery from the talented Helen Fryer, all of which may be seen HERE. We've taken the opportunity to have a full rehang with works now on show by John Bellany and Sheila Fell, amongst others.

Firstly, a happy and prosperous new year to you all, may it prove a little more settled than it has been for many (most) during 2019.  Our first major gallery event of the year takes place in the very near future; The London Art Fair opens its doors on the evening of the 21st January and runs until Sunday 26th. This will be our fifth consecutive appearance and we've acquired, and held back, many pieces, including five ceramic works by Grayson Perry (RA), a rare oil by Frank Auerbach, an amazing painting by Hughie O'Donoghue (RA) and two paintings by the late John Bellany (RA), including one of the very rare 1967 series inspired by his life-changing trip to the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp earlier that same year.

It's been an incredible two weeks in the sphere of Norman Cornish. As with our late-summer centenary exhibition, the commemorations continue with a major exhibition at the wonderful Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. If you can get there, do so, it's on until February.  Wonderful reviews of the exhibition and commentary on Norman and his life and work appeared on BBC Radio 4 The Today Programme, The Times and Telegraph to name but a few.

A great deal of new work has arrived in-gallery in recent times, so we've rehung and opened the doors (both physical and internet wise) to our Autumn-Winter exhibition, an ever-changing showing of both Contemporary and Modern British (20th century) art plus our usual abundance of ceramics. All may be seen HERE.  We have works by Sarah Bellwood, an object lesson in painting; a body of work from Sarah that brings a whole new palette into her painting and we truly believe is the best work she's ever produced.