Previous Art Fairs

Anneli, the creative force behind Anneli Makes, crafts unique jewellery and seasonal gifts from her home studio. A mum to two young boys and a Product Design teacher, she expertly blends her passion for design with her artistic practice. Anneli’s distinctive style often features screen prints and intricate textures applied to polymer clay, alongside pieces meticulously created through laser cutting and resin casting.

Linda Edwards is a Saddleworth-based oil painter whose work blends realism and abstraction, shaped by a lifelong fascination with the Old Masters and contemporary northern artists. Influenced by the atmospheric light of Turner, the emotional depth of Van Gogh, and the narrative sensibilities of Lowry and Breughel, she explores themes of place, memory, and transformation. Her paintings reflect the dramatic landscapes of Saddleworth and beyond, and have been exhibited nationally and internationally, from Manchester Art Gallery and the Royal Cambrian Academy to Venice, New York, and Art Basel Miami.

Anne Bardsley is an artist based in Oldham, she’s known for her compelling portrayals of the animal kingdom, with a particular focus on endangered species. Anne has showcased her work in numerous galleries across the UK, including Manchester, London, Oldham, Leeds, Bury and most recently Shropshire.

As a member of the Association of Animal Artists, Anne is committed to making art that connects people with nature. Her work is currently on display at the Gallery Oldham Shop, a meaningful opportunity to share her practice within her hometown and support the gallery’s role in celebrating local artists.

Sharon Howarth is a ceramicist who is inspired by the layers and textures of the natural landscape. She loves walking in the natural environment; her pieces are a response to the forms and textural qualities of this landscape. Initially Sharon creates collagraphs with a wide range of materials, which she impresses into white earthenware to create hand-built forms. The textural detail passes through each form, intrinsically linking each piece, hinting at the layers found in landscape and how the elements of the natural environment are all connected. The angular slab-built forms contrast with the irregular surfaces, inspired by the monumental forms in the environment that have a strong and long-standing presence.

Fay Charlotte is a printmaker based in Little Lever, experimenting with lino and gel plate printing. Her inspiration vibes from the beauty of the natural world as well as her personal healing story.

After a 20 year career as an animator and graphic designer, Perry began illustrating children’s books in 2017. Initially she illustrated her own children’s books, three of which went on to receive literary awards, and she’s since illustrated books for both indie and traditional publishers. She paints digitally in a gentle watercolour style, and many of her books feature local scenes from Oldham. She’ll be illustrating her next story at the Oldham Art Fair, and will be happy to sign books.

Alison Bell Jewellery – hand forged in Bury with recycled 925 sterling silver, copper and natural gems. Crafted with care, unique pieces blend bold design with textures and rich patinas. Inspired by nature, this is jewellery with soul which celebrates the beauty of handmade artistry in every piece. Always one of a kind.

Wendy makes ink from food waste, foraged plants and scrap minerals in her Reddish kitchen. The beautiful, calming colours are then screen printed onto handmade paper and recycled textiles to create original monoprints, lampshades and stationery. Says Wendy; “If making colour out of the knobbly marbles that baby wasps grow in isn’t a Cinderella story, I don’t know what is.”

Anita Memar is a Manchester-based illustrator and designer whose work bridges storytelling and object-making. She transforms hand-drawn characters into sculptural and functional forms that weave together narrative, memory, and craftsmanship. Each piece begins with a story or emotion, often drawn from personal experience, and becomes an object designed to bring quiet character and warmth to everyday spaces.

Oldham College Creative students study courses such as Fine Art, Fashion & Textiles, Photography, Graphics, Games Design and Media. Students explore a range of materials and techniques to produce a variety of outcomes which will be available at the Fair including painting, lino print, screen print, garments, 3D sculpture, photography and digital designs.

Based in Holmfirth, Deborah Beck creates environmentally conscious jewellery collections from recycled precious metals and discarded waste materials. Elegant and sculptural, her work elevates the unwanted into high end and sustainable contemporary jewellery.

Sheila Haldane is a textile artist who uses fabric and stitch to express her love of detail, pattern and texture.

She developed her art as a direct result of the mounting waste from her sewing projects, recognising the potential in the leftover scraps of fabric.

Sheila is drawn to the natural world and how to go about depicting it, from simple linear layering to create a landscape, to using appliqué, quilting, beading and a wider range of stitch to emulate a crazy lace agate.

Sheila uses thread to introduce pattern and texture, to emphasise features in the fabric, and to create flow by merging fabric pieces. She usually makes circular works to give an impression of a snapshot, a peek into a larger picture, although recently she has deliberately focussed on producing art that embraces round forms.

Hello, I’m Jess. I’m a printmaker working principally with linocut but I also use cyanotype and mono print techniques. Lino printing immediately appealed to me when I first tried it years ago- I love being able to create bold, high-contrast work and experiment with mark making in a medium that is so satisfying to work with. Living and working on the Wirral, I am very lucky to live in an area with a unique coastal landscape: being situated between two river estuaries with a big tidal range means the coastline here is in a state of constant flow and change. We also have the Clwydian mountains on our doorstep- one of my other passions is running and I often take inspiration from my runs in the hills.

Originally from South Yorkshire, Mark has now been lucky enough to call Saddleworth home for the past 15 years. It is this stunning landscape that continues to inspire him to create abstract and semi-abstract paintings. Mark not only aims to capture the rugged beauty of this land but more importantly, to convey the emotion it evokes in him. From wild moorland to big skies, rolling hills and rocky peaks. Mark finds the northern vistas both exciting and calming in equal measure. Mark studied Photography in Newcastle back in 1998/99 but feels that painting gives him that added freedom of creativity to display much more than just a ‘real’ image.

Marks paintings are bold and dramatic abstract landscapes based on the awe-inspiring views he sees around him every day. Mark layers up mixed acrylics and using a variety of brushes, palette knifes, rollers and fingers to add texture and movement to his artwork, tries his best to re-create the emotions he feels when engulfed in his local, natural surroundings. Nature and in particular, northern landscapes will continue to be Marks muse and the place where he is most at peace and happy.

Shelley Wood is a hand-building ceramic artist based in Mossley, Greater Manchester. Her work focuses on layering and reconstructing slabs of clay to create vessels, tiles, jewellery, and sculptural forms that reflect emotional landscapes and personal journeys. Drawing on her Fine Art (Ceramics) BA Hons, Shelley’s process is intuitive and experimental, blending techniques such as lino cutting, monoprinting, sgraffito, and relief work to create richly textured surfaces. Each piece is a one-of-a-kind expression, celebrating natural imperfections—wobbles, scrapes, and irregularities—as part of the story embedded in the clay. The layered forms symbolise the passage through life, the marks left by relationships, and the landscapes we carry with us. After a career in creative design and raising two sons, Shelley has returned full time to her ceramic practice and now also facilitates workshops to share the joy of clay and making with others.

Lisa Branney is a wildlife artist with a passion for the natural world. Her main focus is capturing the character and the beauty of the creatures she paints. She uses mixed media, particularly watercolours, inks, charcoal and fine liners, to achieve the textures, organic shapes and details she loves in her work.

Kim Hubball is a freelance visual artist and graphic designer from Oldham. Heavily inspired by her background in graphics, Kim loves to explore shape, colour and texture and is excited by the emotional response that can be achieved through abstraction.