Gallery Oldham is a free-to-view public museum and art gallery in the Cultural Quarter of central

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England.

Design

Designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, Gallery Oldham was completed in its original form in February 2002. The art gallery integrates local museum and gallery services. An extension to include the £13 million Oldham Library and Lifelong Learning Centre opened in April 2006. The building has library and learning facilities.

Programming

Programming incorporates Oldham's art, social and natural history collections alongside touring work, newly commissioned and contemporary art, international art and work produced with local communities. The gallery holds the civic collection of Oldham and much of that of the wider

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, The borough had a population of 237,628 making it the seventh-largest district by population ...

Exhibits

It has a permanent display called Oldham Stories, exhibiting objects and specimens from across the collections and two temporary exhibition galleries. Gallery Oldham has one of the busiest exhibitions programmes in the region. Exhibitions mix touring shows with work from the gallery's own collection of art, social history and natural history. The gallery holds work by local artists including

Helen Bradley Helen Layfield Bradley MBE (20 November 1900 – 19 July 1979) was an English artist born in Lees, Lancashire, England. Her paintings, mostly in oils, typically depict life in Lancashire in the Edwardian era. Biography She was born Hele ...

, William Stott and

Alan Rankle Alan Rankle (born 1952 in Oldham, England) is a British artist and is part of the duo Rankle & Reynolds. During a thirty-year career he has worked primarily as a painter. He explores social and environmental issues of the day through Landscap ...

and its collections include work by British artists

L. S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...

, John William Waterhouse and

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in Norwood, Londo ...

. In recent years the gallery has built up a collection of

studio pottery Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...

and displays ceramic works by modern makers.

References

External links

Gallery Oldham Website
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Greater Manchester Natural history museums in England Local museums in Greater Manchester Art museums established in 2002 2002 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Oldham