ST. HELEN'S, ENGLAND.- Despite being 11 miles inland St. Helens has launched a major new exhibition in celebration of the sea - linked to this year's Sea Liverpool 2005 - in the count down to the city becoming European Capital of Culture 2008.

COAST is on display at 5athegallery - the country's first independent art and craft gallery specialising in reproductions of original art work on to glass, canvas and, quite simply, anything that can be made to order.

Since opening its doors in November 2003 the gallery, situated at the heart of the newly renovated George Street Cultural Quarter, has featured an exciting array of exhibitions including paintings by the 'fifth Beatle' Stuart Sutcliffe.

Stuart's sister Pauline actually made a rare trip from her New York home for a private viewing of her brother's work. Says Pauline: "I've seen my brother's work displayed all over the world but I've never seen it displayed better or more vibrant than here."

The new COAST exhibition is a selected group show of varying artworks in different mediums including painting, drawing, photography, mixed media and sculpture produced by 28 North West based artists, 10 of whom live or work in St Helens.

The artists represented are: Karen Adamson, Steven Ashton, Bernard Atherton, James Bartholomew, Rachel Bishop, Colin Callon, David Burns, Stuart Carter, Paul Cousins, Elizabeth Culley, Steve Deer, Nerjit Dhol, Shamial Din, Patrick Ferguson, Sharon Hughes, Ken Hughes, Gordon Humphries, Caro Inglis, Andrew Jones, George Kear, Brian Lewis,,Anthony Marsden, Ian McKay, Julie Robson, Estella Scholes, David Stanley, Alicia Velazquez, Adele White.

The coastal theme for the exhibition was purposely chosen to link Liverpool's maritime themed year as part of the 'SeaBritain 2005' festival - a year which will celebrate Britain as a seafaring nation and highlight its maritime heritage, which is an initiative led by VisitBritain and the National Maritime Museum.