Leamington art gallery's forthcoming exhibition will tell the story of how two men overcame barriers to their emotional health and wellbeing through their work

An artist and a photographer are putting on an exhibition at a Leamington art gallery to tell the story of how they both overcame barriers to their emotional health and wellbeing through their work.

A Happy Tale, at ArtsTrail Gallery in the Royal Priors shopping centre, is a collaboration between Leamington roller-skater and artist Alan Grantham and Coventry-based architectural photographer Neil Catley.

Alan creates metaphoric art as an expression of his vision of the environment, people and the world.

He is influenced by modernist artists such as Joan Miró and Piet Mondrian and expresses this on paper, canvas, boards, the street, the wall or anywhere he can create imagery - even while out on his roller skates.

He will be conducting live sketching and painting daily at ArtsTrail Gallery throughout the exhibition, delivering talks on his experience with ADHD telling the story of how expressing his art helped him overcome barriers to health and helped to bringing together a community of people through Hope Arts Projects (HAP), which enables individuals to express themselves and be confident within a free flowing environment.

Alan is doing a sponsored 100K skate at Victoria Park next month in support thl charity ILeap, which supports children and adults with additional learning needs and disabilities.

Neil, whose latest work incorporates Warwickshire architecture, suffered from mental health issues and agoraphobia for five years and did not go out of the house until one day he picked up a camera bought by his mother.

He started to steadily learn to take photographs leading to Neil eventually getting out of the house, with a new given purpose to life.

His growth in confidence led to not only the development of his own photography practice but an initiative providing activity for those in the community with isolation or mental health issues.

Confidence Through Photography set up by Neil has been a great opportunity for others to develop photography skills and make friends and develop their confidence too.

Neil will be guiding tours around Leamington from the gallery on Saturday October 22.

A Happy Tale runs from Tuesday October 4 to Saturday November 5.

For more information about the exhibition and gallery opening times visit https://www.artstrail.co.uk/exibition-a-happy-tale/