A multi-million pound art studio rebuild has marked its relaunch by hosting a display by one of Ireland's most highly-acclaimed artists.

The dedicated space in Banbridge will celebrate the life of locally-born F. E. McWilliam.

Designed by Niall Miskelly at Kennedy Fitzgerald & Associates, the purpose built gallery

was constructed by Tyrone-based Brendan Loughran & Sons.

The sleek contemporary gallery provides a permanent showcase for the internationally significant collection of works bequeathed by the artist to his home town.

Those collections, together with a vast range of important pieces on loan from public and private collections across Ireland and Great Britain, have combined to create the largest exhibition of F. E. McWilliam's work ever seen in a single venue.

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'Mac', as he was affectionately known, worked for many years in a studio at the bottom of the garden of his London home.

After his death, that studio was carefully dismantled and now it has been brought to Banbridge where it has been carefully reconstructed and placed within a new, sculpture filled walled garden.

The gallery and museum also house a bistro restaurant with a canopied garden terrace facility and a Tourism Information Centre for the Banbridge District.

The new F. E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio represents an investment of £2.2 million, with funding drawn down from the European Union Interreg IIIA Programme administered by the East Border Region Interreg IIIA Partnership.

Loans include works from Tate Modern in London, Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry City Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and numerous private collectors.

Amongst the private loans are pieces from the collection of the friend and contemporary of F. E. McWilliam, the renowned Irish artist, T P Flanagan, who officially opened the inaugural exhibition in the new gallery and studio.

(PR/JM)