New Claire Baxter Gallery to open in Ilkley

Wednesday, 22 January 2025 11:30

Claire Baxter is set to open a new gallery on Leeds Road in Ilkley.

Award-winning Yorkshire artist Claire Baxter is set to open a new gallery in Ilkley next month.

Claire will open her new gallery at 13, Leeds Road on Saturday 1st February.

She opened her first gallery on Pateley Bridge High Street in 2019 and it quickly became established as a major attraction for both residents and tourists alike.

In April 2023 she opened a second gallery in Knaresborough, with similar success.

However the Pateley Bridge gallery was obliged to close last month when the lease on the property expired.

Claire, who works from her home-based studio in Harrogate, said:

“I was really upset to lose the Pateley Bridge Gallery but as the saying goes, as one door closes another one opens, and my disappointment soon turned to excitement when I realised that I had the opportunity of opening a new gallery in Ilkley.

“I love Ilkley and the new premises is just perfect.

“I can’t wait to become part of both the local and business communities. I really couldn’t be happier.”

As with Knaresborough, the new Ilkley gallery will stock a wide selection of Claire’s work including original oils, limited edition prints and greetings cards depicting her trademark ‘Proper Yorkshire with Proper Yorkshire Folk with humour never very far away.

She added:

“I’m very much a Yorkshire lass and I’m so proud of everything my county has to offer – there are so many fabulous places and such wonderful people; all I have to do is capture them in my paintings.

“All my characters are anonymous yet everyone recognises them and the tale they tell is always open to the viewer’s interpretation.”

She maintains that her paintings are “created for those people who appreciate honesty and fun and are able to laugh at themselves.”

The Ilkley gallery will also feature work from her popular fantasy series “The Wonderful World of George and Daphne” including the new “Love Around the World” series, as well as selected glass, ceramics and woodcraft, many produced by independent Yorkshire artists.

Claire was chosen as the official artist for the Tour de Yorkshire 2021 which was cancelled due to Covid, was a “Most Popular Published Artist Finalist” in 2022 and was selected as the “Best Rural Business” in the Harrogate Business Excellence Awards 2023.