The Gallery
Housed in a restored 18th Century barn, the Gallery at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford offers affordable, contemporary art and craft. We specialise in British work, including many Oxfordshire-based artists, and exhibit a wide range of ceramics, glass, jewellery, wood, paintings and textiles. Many of the artists have exhibited at Art in Action.
Opening Times
April – September 10:00am – 5.30pm
October – March 10:00am – 5.00pm
The Gallery is open every day and free to enter.
Email: gallery@waterperrygardens.co.uk
Visit us on Instagram
Free to enter through our Waterperry Shop
Exhibitions
Green Works Spring Exhibition
Sat, 14th February – Sun, 26th April
Our Spring Exhibition collection is entitled ‘Green Works’, the colour of Spring celebrated and interpreted in many ways; from the joys of collective gardening in Sarah Kirby’s graphic lino prints to the unknown and often healing potential of a forest path or mountainside in Morna Rhys’s glorious etchings. We also welcome Emily-Kriste Wilcox to the gallery with her abstract landscape slab-built ceramic vessels and accompanying paintings.
The Gallery and exhibition are FREE to enter, simply go through the main shop and turn left.
Upcoming Exhibitions in 2026
1st May – 28th June – Modern Makers Collective Showcase.
1st-10th May – Oxfordshire Art Weeks.
11th July – 6th September – A Brighter View: Colours in the Landscape. A painting exhibition.
19th September – 1st November – The Stitched Garden, A celebration of Waterperry through Textile Arts.
7th November – Christmas Eve – Christmas Exhibition.
See What’s On page for more information.
Demonstrations
Rachel Wright
In the lead-up to The Stitched Garden exhibition in September, Rachel Wright will be demonstrating her work-in-progress on the last Thursday of every month from 11:00am-4:00pm.
Jan 29th, Feb 26th, Mar 26th, Apr 30th, May 28th, Jun 25th, Jul 30th & Aug 27th.
Working on a domestic sewing machine, with carefully chosen pieces of cloth and endless colours of thread, Rachel will translate the gardens and plants here at Waterperry into her beautiful machine-embroidered textile art pieces.
The most distinctive aspect of her embroideries is the expressive skies, evoking perpetual movement and fluidity, the restless elements on their never-ending journey. She creates the essence of both place and time with attention to detail being given in both the foreground and scenic backdrop throughout the seasons.
Meet Rachel in the gallery and watch her whilst she paints in stitch and brings her work to life.
Featured Artist
Morna Rhys
Rhys is an artist who specialises in coloured copper plate etching. In a complex process, she begins with initial drawings and paintings for reference before bringing her work to life with a plethora of colours applied to a single etched plate, cleansed with a scrim and finished with polishing from acid-free tissue.
She often returns to the sight of her piece’s artistic conception to perform this process, further imbuing the essence of the environment in the work. From salt-washed Cornish coastlines to rugged Welsh mountains, Rhys’s inspiration springs from natural landscapes. Sunshine and moonlight are also key characters in her work.
Before moving to Oxford as an art teacher, Rhys trained in Fine Art at Wimbledon, St Martins and Sussex University.
Featured Artist
Sarah Kirby
Sarah Kirby is an artist and printmaker, specialising in linocut printmaking. She completed an Art Foundation course at Farnham, where her love of printmaking was ignited, before earning an MA from Nottingham Trent University a few years later.
Her printmaking process begins with an initial photo and sketch, before the design is cut into either a single lino block (reduction linoprinting), or multiple. Colour is then applied to the lino and pressed in her own 1838 Albion press, transferring the design to paper.
Kirby’s work is fascinated with the emotional and historical significance of place, both in nature and architecture.
Featured Artist
Emily-Kriste Wilcox
As a professional ceramicist with over 20 years of experience, Emily-Kriste Wilcox has developed an approach to pottery which is informed by multiple crafts. Handbuilding from slabs of white earthenware echos patterns of dressmaking, while decoration is inspired by painterly brushstrokes of slips. A series of firings produces depth and variety within each individual piece.
She strives to bring the beauty of natural world into the domestic world of interior décor, creating colour palettes and abstracted pastiches from fluid coastlines, rolling hills and lush gardens.
Wilcox trained at Bath Spa University and now works from her Birmingham studio. She is a selected professional member of the Craft Potters Association and full member of The Gloucestershire Guild.
