Gracefield Arts Centre is located in Dumfries. The gallery's main building, a Category B listed building, was bought in 1951 by a committee of local people who raised the money needed for the purchase and to do the alterations necessary to change the former house, which was known as ‘Gracefield’ into an art gallery.The gallery houses a collection of over 600 Scottish paintings which include paintings by the Scottish Colourists, the Glasgow Boys, the Kirkcudbright School and the Edinburgh School, as well as contemporary Scottish works of art by the likes of Joan Eardley and Andy Goldsworthy. The gallery hosts a changing programme of contemporary exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists and craftmakers.
A wide range of art and craft activities for adults and children run throughout the year at the gallery.
Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura, located in Dumfries in Dumfries & Galloway, is the largest museum in the region. The museum has extensive collections relating to local and history from the pre-historic era. The museum also has the world's oldest working Camera Obscura. Admission is free, however a small fee applies for the Camera Obscura.
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre is the town of Dumfries.
Following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the three counties were joined to form a single region of Dumfries and Galloway, with four districts within it. Since the Local Government etc. Act 1994, however, it has become a unitary local authority. For lieutenancy purposes, the historic counties are largely maintained with its three lieutenancy areas being Dumfries, Wigtown and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.
To the north, Dumfries and Galloway borders East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England and the Solway Firth. To the west lies the Irish Sea.
