About Us
Our Mission
Enhance your home. Buy Original art signed by talented artists in the South West.
Our online art Gallery was launched in 2007 to offer a selective collection of original work for sale by talented artists in the West Country, saving your precious time and money in looking for beautiful original paintings in physical art galleries.
Now it is possible for everyone to own and enjoy original paintings. A carefully chosen piece of art will lift your office or home decor.
Our mission is to bring together talented contemporary artists from across the South West, selling and exhibiting their great artworks.
You can buy fine art from a variety of themes like abstract, seascapes, landscapes, big art, textiles, photography and jewellery using a secure transaction and offering you a seven day money back guarantee. Shopping from us is safe and at no risk for you - all from the comfort of your own home or office.
Sit back and enjoy our gallery. If you have any questions please call our office to receive a quick and personal response. We look forward to helping you find and buy the right art that will give you great pleasure for many years to come!
About Barbara and Jacqui
WHEN old friends Barbara Barnwell and Jacqui Yeoell bumped into each other after twenty years apart nobody could have expected them to have bonded all over again and set up their own business in the space of just a few months.But that’s exactly what they have done!
Barbara and Jacqui first knew one another when they worked for the same Somerset company in the 1980s.
They lost touch and during that time Barbara has spent time living in France and Jacqui has gone on to have her own career success and a family. Then they met by chance again earlier this year and it was like old times.
“Only this time, by the time she dropped me off at home we’d worked out our new business venture of helping West Country artists via an online gallery and West Country Galleries was born,” says Jacqui, who lives in Ilminster.
The idea came to the duo, who share a love of the arts, when they realised they could offer the West Country artists a platform for exposure to a wider world audience.
With that in mind, e-commerce and a virtual gallery seemed the obvious answer.
“The way that the region is separated out means that there are lots of disparate artists and groups out there. We want to give them a home and to be another point of contact for them in addition to the high street galleries,” said Barbara.
The duo, who have been recruiting artists from Bristol to Dorchester to Lands End to exhibit on the website, had support from Connecting Somerset and Creative Business Boost, which both help the creative industries in the region.
The pair are also hoping to be able to offer a number of bursaries to art students across the west in a bid to encourage new artists as well as established ones.
“We are so excited about it,” said Jacqui, “We want to make original art more accessible and we love the region we live in. We bring very different things to the business, I have been working in marketing and IT while Barbara set up the online business directory, The Best of Taunton. We both have a keen eye for good art, so we just think it’s the perfect combination.”
Barbara, who was born in Dorset, added: "There is a huge creative energy here in the West Country and we want the website to reflect that with art, textile, wood and ceramics. That energy seems to be taking on a life of its own through West Country Galleries."
Both Barbara and Jacqui have strong family links and history with all four counties and love the region they live in.
Adapted from a Press Release written by Zetta at Creative Business Boost, Somerset
