An iconic phone box art gallery is opening its door for an exhibition by a 13 year old student.

Ely Standard:

The Phonebox Gallery at Prickwillow is displaying an art installation called ‘Other Stories’ by Bethany Taylor-Shaw, a Year 9 student at Cottenham Village College. Bethany’s installation comprises animal digital drawings displayed within a stack of open hardback books.

Her drawings show animals wearing clothes and jewellery, either taking part in a human activity, or drawn within an human environment.

The work came from interviews with people asking if they were an animal what would they be and why.

Bethany is currently completing her Trinity College London, Silver Arts Award, run through the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The exhibition is part of her award.

The phone box art gallery was the brainchild of villager and gallery curator Nick Edell who received enthusiastic backing from Prickwillow Village Council, in Autumn 2010, when the council bought the phone box from BT for just £1.

The only restriction on the sale was that it must not be moved.

With no funds for restoration, a number of villagers stepped in to offer their services for free.

Local builder Dave Simpson carried out the bulk of the work using red and black paint leftover from a refurbishment of the village hall.

The door lock was fitted by council member Richard Raine and the box was cleaned by ex-villager, Jackie Petts.

The gallery has been featured in numerous publications worldwide, with the news even reaching radio audiences in Canada and the US.

The Phone Box has displayed an average of one show a month and works alongside ADeC (Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire) on certain projects.