“A vibrant and exciting space where you find everything arty in Mumbles”
This was the strapline, and the brief that artist and gallery owner Arwen Banning gave her husband, Andrew, when they were setting up the Gower Gallery.
At Gower Gallery, we take great pride in offering a diverse selection of products crafted right here in our local community. When you choose to shop with us, you're not just buying a quality product — you're actively supporting the local economy and contributing to our community's vibrancy.
As many of you will already know, the Gower Gallery is a small, local, family run business, with the artist Arwen Banning at the helm. As well as managing her business, Arwen is a talented artist who has trained at the Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. During her accomplished career as an artist, she was twice selected for the National Portrait Gallery's BP Award. Arwen works in oil, soft pastel, and mixed media - additionally, she creates popular sculptural ceramic pieces.
Family has always been the foundation of the business.
The Gower Gallery exhibits paintings, giclée prints, and sculpture by Arwen Banning, the fine artist and gallery owner, as well as exhibiting giclée prints by her father Ron Banning, and illustrations by her husband Andrew Hilton under the brand name Noodle Design.
In order to thrive, the gallery needed to incorporate the elegance of design-based homeware, jewellery and accessories. A significant proportion is made by Welsh artists and makers, an essential aspect of keeping the gallery rooted in its community. It is always such a pleasure to chat with makers when they visit or drop off new work and discover what’s inspired them. Usually, it’s the beauty of the Gower Peninsula, which is impossible to ignore if you’re blessed to be local.
The gallery is fortunate to sit in the heart of Mumbles. Mumbles is a lively seaside village in Swansea, situated at the very start of the Gower Peninsula. Recognised by its iconic lighthouse and unusual natural landscape, Mumbles has become the sought-after coastal town of not just Wales, but the whole of the United Kingdom. Recently described as 'The Hamptons of the UK' by the Times newspaper, the quiant and vibrant community of Mumbles, paired with its fantatsic seaside location, has been voted as the best place in the UK to live by the newspaper not once, but twice!
One benefit of being situated on the gateway to Gower is that the Gower Gallery does not just welcome locals through it’s door; we are fortunate to have many visitors from the rest of the UK and overseas.
Arwen Banning describes the transition from artist to businesswoman as nothing short of daunting. However, experimentation and creative thinking are as necessary in business as in art, so in many ways Arwen has relished the challenge.
During our time in Mumbles, the Gower Gallery has developed into a staple of the Mumbles community, continuing to champion the best of the creative community in the Gower.
We all feel very lucky to be able to share the work of artist's such as Arwen Banning in our gallery on the Gower Peninsula. We know how much art of places on the peninsula mean to our customers, because all of the gallery team have meaningful memories of our treasured beaches too. We know all too well that art can perfectly capture those cherished moments.
'It's a great privilege to be able to connect people with their memories through art. Thank you for your continued support.' - Arwen Banning, artist and owner of the Gower Gallery