TWO important causes were put in the spotlight when the mayor visited a popular art gallery last week.

Cllr Thomas Chan visited the JKB Designs Art Gallery in Ilford in December 18 to meet artists and admire the work in the IMPACT! Exhibition.

The free show is focussed on the environment and the mayor was particularly taken by a piece calling Roaring Recycling, which encourages children to interact with the installation.

Young children can have fun winding in and out of the recycled plastic traffic cones, while older children and people with special needs can rearrange the cones, creating a temporary structure which will last until the next group comes along.

The Mayor also helped the gallery launch a new competition which invites local artists to submit works to an anti-smoking campaign.

The gallery is hoping the theme - 'After New Year, What if Nobody Smoked?"'- will get people's creative juices flowing to imagine how much better the world would be if everyone had managed to kick the habit for 2010.

Budding artists from Wanstead and Woodford are encouraged to submit works in any medium to the gallery at the former Harrison Gibson Building, 193-207 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1LZ.

The competition closes on Saturday January 16.