ARTIST Tim Leeson's South Lakes Arts Collective has landed an exhibition slot within the splendid space of Barrow's Dock Museum.

SLAC's Horizons - which runs until March 1 - features standout works by some of best known names of the region's arts world such as Daniel Cooper, Rachel Greenbank, Peter Blaskett, and Monica Metsers, as well as rising star from India, Shivangi Pandey, and Ivor George Sexton, of Dumfries, whose figurative work has been bought by Ruby Wax and Simon Mayo.

Tim said the exhibition was designed to take a more progressive, contemporary art style to Barrow: "I was very fortunate that fantastic artists from Kendal, Ulverston, Millom, Barrow, and Windermere submitted for the exhibition.

"Shivangi is establishing a real name for herself in India, regularly winning awards for her progressive work. Self taught, she's recently been awarded a gold medal by the Punjab Kala Bhawan Arts Council in Chandigarh.

Tim explained that he first met Ivor 15 years ago when he was his art therapist on Dane Garth mental health unit in Barrow: "He got me started. Ivor's now a full time painter and has recently exhibited at The Virginia Gallery in Glasgow and The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London."

Lee Payne is also exhibiting with the group: "I've known Lee since childhood when he was considered a prodigy. Lee is equally at home with oils or watercolours. He paints his native Barrow and surrounding areas with great success with his fine detail and refined colours. His superb eye and compositional skills are evident in all his work.

Meanwhile, SLAC's founder Tim has recently returned to oil painting and has included a large scale self portrait for the exhibition. He purposely painted his image from memory rather than from a mirror or photographic source. The painting is entitled Up In Smoke, relating to lifestyle choices as well as to the election of popes within the Catholic Church.

Also showing in Horizons artists is Helen Pateman, whose pen and ink drawings of fairytale stories apparently sold out on the exhibition's opening day; Marilyn Hale, a gifted glass artist who works from her studio at Ulverston; painter, Ana Sequeira; two well-known Kendal-based photographers, Helen Isaac and Colin Reynolds; Millom digital artist Lloyd Hopkinson; and Amanda Godden, a popular artist in the Furness area.

"It's also great for the collective that Stefan John Orlowski has exhibited with us, "adds Tim. "He's produced a powerful landscape painting for the show."

The Dock Museum is located at North Road, Barrow. Open Wednesday-Sunday, from 11am-4pm.

For further information telephone 01229-876400.