Alfred East Art Gallery in Kettering, Northamptonshire, has welcomed visitors for the first time in six years following renovation work, the BBC reports. The gallery reopened with Faces and Places, an exhibition featuring landscapes, portraits and scenes by local artists.

Gallery manager Billie Stevenson said the team was "really excited" and that it was lovely to get back to handling the artworks they had been looking after behind the scenes.

The reopening is notable because the closure was never meant to last this long. According to the BBC, the gallery initially shut during the Covid pandemic, and the reopening was then delayed by extensive building work and roof repairs following rain damage in 2023.

What began as a pandemic-era pause stretched into a six-year absence, leaving a Grade II listed cultural landmark dark throughout.

The gallery holds nearly 1,000 works in its permanent collection and is named after Sir Alfred East, the landscape painter born in Kettering. As BBC News notes, East was knighted in 1910 and served as president of the Royal Society of British Artists before his death in 1913.

One detail in the BBC's coverage stands out for art readers: the gallery is displaying photographs of tiles decorated by members of the public during a community project at Kettering's Christmas market last December.

The tiles were installed on the library roof with their decorated sides facing downwards. "People have really got a piece of their art on the roof of the library, which is lovely," Stevenson said, a quirk that turns visitors into contributors.

The renovation has also created additional space for exhibitions, workshops, film screenings and talks, giving the reopened gallery more than just its permanent display to offer. Stevenson told the BBC that her job now is to welcome people back in and then to work on the future programme of events.

After £4.8m spent on repairs — against an initial budget of up to £6.8m, per BBC reporting — the focus shifts from construction to curating what comes next.