Art doesn’t just hang on walls, it hangs in our minds, in our emotions, and in the spaces we live and gather in. It’s one of the few things in life that can be deeply personal to one person and profoundly moving to another. That’s the magic of a canvas, it’s both a surface and a space for connection.
In our towns and villages, Royston, Cambridge, Buntingford, Saffron Walden, art quietly weaves its way into everyday life. It spills out from studio corners and into independent cafés like Kooky Nohmad, where the walls become mini galleries and the coffee comes with a side of inspiration. Local businesses, makers, and dreamers are showing us that art isn’t reserved for big museums or private collections. It lives among us.
Art is as much about interpretation as it is about creation. What a painting means to the artist may be wildly different from how it lands with the person standing in front of it, and that’s the beauty. It invites pause, sparks thought, and holds space for reflection, joy, discomfort, nostalgia, or simply curiosity. Whether you’re an artist, an admirer, or someone who claims they “can’t draw a stick figure,” you’re still part of the conversation.
It can change the energy of a room, tell a story that words can’t quite capture, or make an otherwise overlooked corner sing. From bold abstracts in modern kitchens to quiet watercolours in hallway alcoves, art has the power to turn a house into a home, and a space into an experience.
And it’s not just about what’s on display, it’s about who’s behind it. For the artist, a single piece can carry months of thought, frustration, and breakthrough. For the onlooker, it might stir something unexpected, a memory, a dream, or a shift in perspective.
Here we have curated a collection of local artists and galleries for you to explore.
Emily Jarvis
Emily Jarvis is a contemporary portrait artist known for her bold use of colour, scale, and oils. A Fine Art graduate from NUCA, she creates work that blends realism with depth, mood, and emotion. Her portraits, both personal works and private commissions, have been exhibited widely, earning her awards and features in Elle and Harper’s Bazaar. Emily has shown internationally, including at the Grand Palais and Louvre in Paris, and her work is held in collections across Europe.
www.emilyjarvisart.co.uk
Above: Almost Done 1 – This piece is one of a series of four works which have traditional figurative subject but each is given a contemporary narrative by using space, light and a solid white backdrop to the solitary figure.
With a raw, simplistic and incomplete style I hope to engage the viewer’s imagination to complete the whole image themselves.
The simplification of an image draws on the viewers imagination allowing them to make up their own stories behind the work.
Nicolas Penn Fine Art Gallery
Opening 2025 – Nicholas Penn Fine Art, A new contemporary art gallery and studio in Royston! Exhibiting original works from UK and international artists.
Griselda Alvarez
La Espera (The Wait)
Steve Driscoll
Summer Garden
Aimee
Aimée is an Artist and Art Psychotherapist based in Hertfordshire and London, working primarily in oil painting and printmaking. She studied Fine Art at the Liverpool School of Art (John Moores University), where she was awarded a printmaking fellowship. She later completed a Master’s Degree in Art Psychotherapy at the University of Roehampton.
Aimée has exhibited her work in several major UK cities, most recently in Brighton. Locally, her work can be found at Kooky Nohmad and the Duxford Lodge Hotel.
For more information, or to enquire about sales and commissions, please get in touch or visit:
www.aimeeelizabethartist.co.uk | @aimeeelizabeth_artist | [email protected]
