A little bit about us…

Gemma: 
I graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Illustration at NEWI (Wrexham University). It’s kind of taken me quite a long time after nurturing other business and bringing up my family, to realise that my true calling was to open up my own art gallery. After being part of a collective of artists last year at a pop up venue,  it reignited my passion for my creative side that’s lay dormant for way too many years.
I’d started exhibiting at local craft fairs and the enthusiasm and demand for my art and prints was the catalyst I needed to have faith in myself to set up my own gallery.
We took the leap in October last year to find the right spot in Chester, secured the deal and literally worked like crazy women to re model and rejuvenate a very tired looking premises into what is now a thriving creative space on Watergate Row that is home to several other artists and creative people 
It’s felt like this opportunity has been waiting for many years.

Marcia: 
I graduated in 1993 with a BA (Hons) in fine art from the University college of Ripon and York St John .
I’d worked mainly as a mural artist for almost 3 decades but the last 8 years or so took me in a different direction where I rented my own studio and started producing more personal work rather than in the commercial art sector . I now have my own purpose built home studio where I paint from . This led to various exhibitions where I made contacts with other creatives and in 2022 became part of a collective based in Chester at a pop up venue.
When the pop up popped down , Gem and I still had the hunger for being right in the heart of Chester, showing our art, so when Gemma asked me to go into business setting up our own gallery , I bit her hand off! 
Our combined skill sets are such that we realised we had the perfect combo to create the most wonderful art gallery. There is so much more that goes on behind the scenes of running a gallery !
So, a month or so of working day and night grafting hard to pull it all together to create Oren …and now here we are ! 

We literally have pinch ourselves moments every day!

We are passionate about giving other artists the opportunity to display and sell their work and rent out space to local artists from the North West and surrounding areas . If we flourish , they flourish , and vice versa too. 

Oren now continues to grow from strength to strength and who knows what the future could hold for us!