First exhibition launches at new Clocktower Gallery

The first in a series of art exhibitions has been installed in the newly-created Clocktower Gallery at St George’s in the city centre.

As part of its Connected Canterbury project at St George’s Clocktower, the city council removed the steps down into the tower and installed glass panels to close off the arches, creating a new, small exhibition space inside the tower.

Now, the council has joined forces with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) to offer the space for a rotating programme of exhibitions and artist talks by its students and staff.

And kicking off the partnership is the installation of ‘Obscurities Overheard’, an exhibition by Eszter Novák.

‘Obscurities Overheard’ is described as “a playful literary installation exploring some of the strangest words in the English language through illustration and storytelling…featuring five tunnel book illustrations, each interpreting a different obscure word through humour and visual metaphor”.

Eszter is a Hungarian-British artist, illustrator and graphic designer, and says she has “an incurable fascination for the weird, the comically obscure, the charmingly odd, and the wonderfully peculiar.”

After studying visual merchandising and window dressing in Budapest, she completed both an Art Diploma and a Higher National Diploma in the UK, graduating with distinction before enrolling as a top-up student in Visual Communication at UCA.

The aim of the Clocktower Gallery is to blend the historic with the contemporary through the use of an iconic, much-loved building for modern day art.

Its inspiration is the pioneering New York Clocktower Gallery, which was founded in 1972 and helped redefine how and where art could be experienced.

The partnership between the council and UCA gives the latter the use of the space until the end of October 2027. Exhibitions will change quarterly.

Cabinet member for culture, Cllr Charlotte Cornell, said: “We are delighted to be working with UCA on this project and this fantastic first exhibition is exactly what we envisaged when we developed our plans for the Clocktower Gallery.

“It provides a new attraction at the top of the high street and an exciting new use for one of the city’s most photographed and famous buildings.

“We are looking forward both to seeing how this first exhibition goes and also to what UCA has in store for this space over the next 16 months.”

Associate Dean, UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design, Dr Charlotte Frost, said: “UCA is thrilled to be working with Canterbury City Council on the Clocktower Gallery. Our students make exceptional work and this is a brilliant way to bring it into the heart of our beautiful city to delight and inspire everyone.

“The gallery is such a unique space and that’s great too because it stretches our students to think about how to work in new ways.

“Eszter’s work, inspired by our city of literature, is a beautiful and beguiling fit for the inauguration of the space.”

To find out more about ‘Obscurities Overheard’ and about Eszter Novák’s work, go to the UCA website.

Published: 18 June 2026