The Artery
The Artery is Banbury’s sole art supplies shop, owned and run by Banbury Old Town champion Barry Whitehouse, or Baz as he is commonly known. Baz, as he would admit himself, appears to have transported to our era from the 1940s, his fashion sense leaning towards waistcoats, dapper hats, and tweed.
His shop is based within another unique Banbury institution, the Old Town Deli in Parsons Street. Borne out of financial necessity, the marriage of convenience appears to have blossomed into a full blown romance. The front of the small café acts not only as an eatery, but gallery space for art. It can be Barry’s creations, that of his students, or a solo artist, and it changes regularly, so even frequent attendees will have a variety of art to see. Walk past the deli counter and suddenly you find yourself in a fully stocked art shop, full of a cornucopia of artistic products. It’s Banbury’s Aladdin’s cave of art, with more crammed into the small space that you’d expect, and you don’t even have to say “open sesame” to gain access, though you may end up having a cup of coffee and a croissant.
Back in the café and a steep stairway leads to a creaking corridor filled with Barry’s art, and itself leading to his teaching room, the second notch on the trained art historian’s art belt. Here eager students from all walks of life come to try their hands at a variety of painting styles, each week being given a hands-on tutorial by Barry.
To complete the full art package a professional framer also attends The Artery every Saturday, so should a student, or art shop customer, have a creation they want to have framed, this can be done in house. Many of which will end up on the shop floor for sale. In a nutshell, The Artery has your artistic cravings covered from creation to sale (or to keep and hang at home of course).
Barry has been teaching art and doing his own paintings for twenty years, and the shop has existed in various guises for five years. It started life as a standalone unit in Church Lane, but sadly tough times hit with the recession and it just wasn’t financially viable. This forced the first joining of businesses, when he moved lock, stock, and barrel to the corner of the upstairs portion of Books & Ink in White Lion Walk. The problem here was the lock, stock and barrel couldn’t fit in the small space available and so a more permanent solution was required. Luckily an invite from the Old Town Deli came at an opportune moment, and the two have co-existed with great success for a year and half now, with the combination working well for both.
Baz has worked in art and stationary since he was seventeen and as mentioned above has been teaching for twenty years. To set up his own art business was a no brainer, and came about when his former employer Paperway closed down and left a gap in the market for Banbury. With connections forged via his employment with them and other art shops, Barry was able to establish his own business with relative ease.
Over the course of a week Barry teaches thirty different classes, mostly in Banbury, either in his own studio above the deli, or at The Mill in the evenings, and twice a week he visits two villages, Great Bourton on Monday mornings, where he teaches a variety of different subjects and media and Farthinghoe on a Thursday, where he focuses mainly on acrylics, with the occasional aside into a different media. This variety is something Barry thoroughly enjoys; each day offers a different subject, watercolour trees one day, acrylic sheep the next, and so on. Each class is full of different characters, each customer is unique, and vary from students studying fine arts, through to retirees looking for a new skill to learn.
Why should you use The Artery? Experience and skills are the answer as far as Barry is concerned. Go online and you get what you look for, but you don’t get any advice on alternatives, or how best to combine one item with another. Go to a large national store and you get unskilled staff who may not even have any artistic ambitions, and certainly don’t have the breadth and knowledge Barry can offer. The two members of staff he has manning the store are also his students, so have the same passion and a lot of the knowledge. Essentially it is a more personal service from a small team who are there because they love art, not just because they need the money. Skill, passion, and quality advice are what you get when you head to The Artery.
As I always do, I asked what Barry what he envisages for the future. With a cheeky chuckle he declared he was aiming for world domination, before settling into a more realistic vision of expanding knowledge of the existence of his shop and classes, and hopefully one day opening a second branch.
When faced with promoting his business in one sentence Barry, as many others have, froze, a moment of bemused panic upon his face. Perhaps, he suggested, a long sentence with many commas was permissible? I confirmed he could stretch the concept of a sentence to breaking point if need be. However what emerged with sudden clarity was perfectly acceptable: We are everything you need from an art shop, and everything you want from an art instruction facility.
Barry has made Banbury his home in the last five years, having previously commuted seventy miles each day, a mighty journey and one fraught with potential delays when relying on the motorway. Originally from the West Midlands, nearly Dudley (for some reason the mention of which sent us both off doing strong Dudley accents), Barry now feels he is from Banbury too, having found a warm and welcoming community. Much of that is of his own making, having become a firm supporter of Banbury Old Town, working hard to ensure the unique independents of Parsons Street and the Lanes are not forgotten in the shadow of Castle Quay. Working with Banbury Town Council, and with other locals promoting the town, such as Tim TD of Visit Banbury, and also via frequent comments fed through to local radio station Banbury Sound, Barry has established himself an extremely pro-Banbury resident.
As we discussed what it was he liked about the area Barry enthused in particular about the beautiful countryside that surrounds Banbury, within minutes, he explained, of leaving the outskirts of the town you are into wonderful rolling hills, woodland, canal walks, and much more. All paradise for an artist I would imagine!
With the interview concluded, I was now prepped for my own challenge, to participate in a Tuesday afternoon acrylic lesson; in this case to paint a rose. I haven’t done any form of art since school, and I didn’t choose it as a subject for my GCSEs, much preferring the written subjects, so it will have been over twenty years since I last picked up a paint brush. This would be interesting! I had already managed to fluff my artistic efforts with Liz Dixon at Comfy Frog, would this be round two and possibly the nail in the coffin of any artistic aspirations?
In the small room above the deli, myself and six other students took our seats as Barry handed out the sample images he had ready printed. There were two styles of rose, both looked extremely tough and I was positive I would barely manage a red splodge, let alone a flower. Barry exuded confidence that I could achieve something, reminding me that we were there to learn.
Using a digital whiteboard, he began to demonstrate the technique for drawing the outline shape to start our rose picture. He explained his method meant you could break down the painting into various easy stages, rather than worrying about the end result from the beginning. Nervously I grasped my pencil awkwardly in my left hand, and with great concentration tried to follow the instructions about shape and form.
As we began, Barry started his own creation, demonstrating as he did the basic principles we needed to do our work. His own sketch swiftly completed ready for stage two, he was now available to offer personal advice or encouragement, before the painting proper began.
Now was the moment of truth, paint was about to touch paper and I was about to create my first painting in decades. I found myself lost in my work, concentrating hard on following the colour mix instructions, and using the example Barry was creating in tandem with the class. This wasn’t a stressful, nerve wracking concentration however, I was just focused on the task at hand, and feeling surprisingly comfortable doing so.
Much to my delight something resembling a rose began to emerge on my paper. Admittedly, next to the teacher’s it was somewhat cartoonish, but it was far from the disaster I had envisaged. Again, leading by example, Barry updated his own artwork and explained the next stage in a clear and easy going fashion. Encouragement and positivity were his primary traits, there was no heavy expectation weighing upon our shoulders, indeed, the atmosphere was light and relaxed, with a few chuckles thrown in for good measure. A cup of tea or coffee, and a few biscuits, all supplied by the deli for £1.50 refuelled us all for the final push, adding dimension to the rose, and blending in using our fingers. Time to get messy! Who says finger painting is only for kids!
This was the stage I struggled with, and certainly the one I failed to complete at the time. My rose ended up a little too bright, and a little flat. Essentially, the painting could be improved at home, because acrylic allows for layering, and I could just try the blending again, now I have gained initial experience. But for the purpose of this blog, you are seeing what I achieved in a two and half hour long lesson, with no prep, and no knowledge of acrylics whatsoever. The fact I came away with something halfway resembling a rose I can only credit to the teaching skills of Barry.
To sum up, if you have any sort of artistic cravings at all, The Artery is where you should head. Even if you just want to relieve stress and relax with an adult colouring book, (very much in vogue this days don’t you know, and when I say adult, I just mean it’s colouring for grown-ups not colouring in naked people), or perhaps have a passion for painting, or want to learn how to, The Artery has you covered. And with great food and drink available at the same time, you have double the reason to go say hello to Barry, who has taken Banbury into his heart and made it his home.
