SMITHS ROW ART GALLERY
Smiths Row Art Gallery, Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk opened in 1972 at the Market Cross on the Cornhill and was the place to see great new works and fresh ideas by artists and designers and to take part in a wide range of workshops and social events. In November 2015, the gallery at the Market Cross closed and since April 2016 was based at the Guildhall as the Guildhall Gallery but in 2018 Smiths Row trustees said the Guildhall was closing due to an ongoing funding battle. Following the departure of Smiths Row Art Gallery from the Market Cross in 2015 the venue remained empty until 2021 when reopened with 'a vision for this arts centre was to one day see the entire Market Cross, a community-driven town centre arts and entertainment venue, be used as an outlet for local artists, makers, performing artists, including a shop for local makers to display and sell crafts, a space for creatives to perform and a space for art and wellbeing classes to become regular activities' and included the Bury St Edmund's Art Gallery but it finally closed in 2023. Suffolk artists who exhibited at Smiths Row or Guildhall Galleries include Breige Convery; Elizabeth Martland De Alwis; Michel Desrochers; Andrew Gibson; Kimberly Godfrey; Linda Leong-Son; Juliet Lockhart; Peter McCarthy; Justine Moss; Stella Rankin; Lindsay Rae Rollett; Ray Sinclair; Natalie Stoten; Michael Tingle and members of Echo Arts.