Winter exhibition of handmade delights opens at gallery near Kington

The Winter Exhibition 2026 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge entitled ‘Winter Curiosities’ has opened, with a dazzling collection of hand-picked, handmade delights!

The festive line up features Hilke MacIntyre with a new collection of ceramic reliefs and original acrylic paintings.

Hilke’s paintings evolve intuitively, guided by colour, freedom and an ongoing dialogue with the canvas. Working in fast drying acrylics she responds to emerging shapes, patterns and images, allowing each painting to find its own direction.

Textile artist Rachel Wright will be showing machine embroidery pictures.

Studies of the landscapes and seascapes that inspire her are painstakingly translated into carefully cut and pieced fabric collages, lively and swirling with movement, overlaid with vibrant threads used like a fine paintbrush to fill in the details, enabling Rachel to draw and paint through fabric and stitch.

Jemima Jameson works mainly in acrylics, preferring to paint onto wooden panels, bowls and furniture.

Her desire to paint and draw has been part of her whole life and is quite simply a celebration of the natural world that she is compelled to describe. Her wooden boxes and cabinets often serve as treasure chests for cherished keepsakes. New for this exhibition is a collection of hand painted up-cycled furniture, including side tables and a ‘Penny Shelf’.

New to the gallery is metal artist Sara Piper Heap who creates unique sculptures and jewellery designed to bring a smile to your face. With a passion for craftsmanship and creativity, Sara's pieces reflect a commitment to quality and a love for the whimsical.

Tamsin Abbott’s stained glass panels are influenced by the natural world and its associated myths and legends. She tries to imbue her work with a sense of these magical qualities which connect humankind to the landscape while doing justice to the alchemical qualities of the glass itself.

Sallie Wakely creates ceramic sculpture from her cottage garden studio in Carmarthenshire.

Her work is rooted in a life long passion for animals, their diversity giving her an ever growing abundance of inspiration although she regularly returns to her own favourites the fox and the hare. Each piece is as individual as the animals she portrays, starting with the clay and glazes that she makes from her own recipes to the creature itself which she hand builds over a number of days.

Seren Bell’s work comes from a deep and sustained connection to place, one built through time, observation, and returning to the same landscape again and again. Her paintings are shaped by familiarity, but never complacency, by a way of looking that continues to find something new within what is already known.

To keep out the winter chill there will be a ‘must have’ collection of scarves, wraps, cowls and bags in luxurious wools and silks, all desirable accessories for any wardrobe! The wide range of textiles includes jackets, hats, gloves, cushions and throws.

There will be will new collections of jewellery by Tracey Birchwood, Rachel Bailey, Elizabeth Terzza, Marian Watson, Leoma Drew, Alison Varley, Gail Klevan and Rozie Keogh, whose magnificent angelic messenger in knitted wire with sequins hovers sparkling over the stairs. Gift wrapping service available.

The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday 11am until 4.30pm and from 11am until 4pm on Sundays.

Monday and Tuesday by appointment , but open every day through December.

For more information or to join the mailing list go to www.oldchapelgallery.co.uk, call

01544 388842 or email ol[email protected]