THE Witham arts centre in Barnard Castle has organised its first Teesdale Christmas art fair and is showing work by nearly 30 selected artists from across the region.

The inaugural event, which runs until December 20, has a diverse range of painting, printmaking and sculpture by established artists and others starting out on careers in fine art.

The artists either live in County Durham, Cumbria and Yorkshire or draw inspiration from these places.

Many exhibit nationally, some internationally, and all are keen to support the new direction of visual arts at the Witham and its aim to establish an commercial gallery.

Sarah Mayhew Craddock, visual arts co-ordinator, said: "As a curator, art critic and artist, I have always felt passionately about offering regional audiences access to first-class art, some of which will hopefully be new and some at times challenging, and I can see that happening at The Witham.

"It presents an opportunity to buy original, high quality art work created by some of the most exciting regional fine artists in time for Christmas and to support individual artists," she added.

The 29 printmakers, painters and sculptors include Chris Messam, Hester Cox, Jill Campbell, Lesley Birch, Lucy Saggers, Michael Lumb, Sam Snowdon, Sarah Harris and Sarah Robley.

The art fair is the first in a series of exhibitions planned for next year. The first of these is Craftspeople of the North East, an exhibition of contemporary photography featuring portraits of craftspeople from the region designed as an uplifting and optimistic to welcome in the new year.

It has been put together by a group photographers from the Durham region who have made it their mission to photograph local people who have made an impact, in whatever way, on life in the North-East.

Craftspeople of the North East opens on January 5 and runs until Saturday, January 28.

The Witham is open from 10am-4pm, Tuesday to Saturday, admission free. For more information about the Teesdale Christmas Art Fair and future exhibitions visit www.thewitham.org.uk and select gallery.