THE Mercer Art Gallery turns the spotlight on its own art treasures from tomorrow.

The gallery in Swan Road, Harrogate, is the home of Harrogate Borough Council's permanent art collection, and the first exhibition of the year in the smaller north gallery comprises some of the council's masterpieces.

These treasures include prints, paintings and drawings of Knaresborough, to tie in with the forthcoming main-gallery show by Andrew Cheetham, the 2006 Knaresborough Castle artist in residence.

Exhibits vary from 18th century castle views to small-scale oils by 20th century nave artist Joseph Barker Fountain, who found his subjects in the local colour of the town and in the Dales beyond.

The theme of a sense of place continues in a range of interpretations of the Yorkshire landscape, such as a newly-conserved watercolour of Fountains Abbey by Walter Bernard Evans, a character on Harrogate's art scene in the 1880s. Herbert Whone's oil painting of the Pennine landscape, from the 1970s, is among the recent acquisitions on show.

Jane Sellars, the council's curator of art, says: "Harrogate's permanent art collection contains some great treasures, and this show concentrates on one of its particular strengths, the theme of landscape."

Treasures Of The Mercer runs from tomorrow until March 11.

Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sundays, 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free.

Looking ahead, from March 24 to July 15, the Mercer Gallery will stage its "biggest and most significant art exhibition ever", William Powell Frith: Painting The Victorian Age.