Artweeks’ Board

Jo is a painter, working in acrylic and pastel and her pictures are vibrant and striking. Her work is sold in local galleries and venues across Oxfordshire and further afield, and she regularly takes on commissions for clients. After working in IT and Finance, Jo chose an artistic career, to pursue her love of creating art. She has been a member of Artweeks since 2019 and been local co-ordinator for the Wallingford and Watlington areas, where she now exhibits.

Born in Birmingham, where he studied architecture, Paul lived in southern Spain before settling in Bristol in 1979 where he lived for over 40 years before relocating to Wolvercote in 2021. Paul has been involved with a number of not-for-profit organisations and chaired a substantial charity for over 10 years. He also organised community arts events involving visual artists, performers, musicians and theatre groups. Paul is a photographer with an MA in Documentary Photography. A frequent exhibitor himself, he exhibited in Oxfordshire Artweeks for the first time in 2021. He believes passionately in the enjoyment and benefit that involvement in the arts can provide and hopes to develop creative opportunities for all through his involvement in Oxfordshire Artweeks.

Originally from Cape Town, where he studied English and Drama, Jean Pierre came to England 20 years ago, and has since worked as a teacher, a project manager and a communications officer for Blenheim Palace. He is currently a web builder at Oxford University.

Jean Pierre paints in oils, focusing primarily on figurative and equine work, an intuitive exploration of movement and emotion. He is also a founding member of Artists in Woodstock, a collective which takes part in Oxfordshire Artweeks each year. This group also has built strong relationships with local businesses resulting in a permanent collection at The Feathers hotel and regular invitations to exhibit at Blenheim Palace, and they present an art trail in shop windows throughout Woodstock each May.

Michèle brings a strong commitment to community arts and intergenerational practice to the Artweeks Board. Although not an artist herself, she is passionate about how creative activity helps people connect, learn and build confidence across ages and backgrounds. She has a particular interest in how communities thrive when creativity is accessible and encouraged and how art can build confidence, reduce isolation and strengthen social cohesion by giving people meaningful ways to express themselves and connect.
With a professional background in people and culture, and leadership, she champions inclusive, community rooted creativity and is delighted to support Artweeks in broadening participation and fostering artistic events that support opportunities for shared experiences that spark joy, learning and connection.

Henrietta Jones is a potter specialising in wheel-thrown stoneware tableware and homeware. A keen gardener and cook, her work is inspired by the pleasures of everyday life, creating beautiful, functional objects designed to be used and enjoyed.

Pottery is Henrietta’s second career. Before becoming a full-time potter, she worked for a Fortune 500 company in the energy and defence sector and is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Certified Enterprise Risk Manager. Her corporate career included responsibility for enterprise risk and reporting directly to the Board of Directors on organisational risks and their management.

Henrietta is also a Governor of the independent school she attended as a child. She brings her commercial and governance experience, alongside her passion for ceramics and the wider creative community, to her role on the Board of Oxfordshire Artweeks, with a particular interest in helping the festival continue to thrive, evolve and engage new audiences across the county.

Phillip was the Head of Arts for the Jam Factory in Oxford from 2020-2024, demonstrating a firm belief in providing a voice and a platform for the arts in Oxford and surrounding areas. He studied Graphic communication at Bath Spa University and has a background of graphic design, curation and branding. Phillip has worked alongside hundreds of artists, curating exhibitions, coordinating life drawing classes and organising Oxford Art markets.

Becca first exhibited her fused glass when she took part in Oxfordshire Artweeks in 2022 having moved to Oxford from Surrey the previous year. She is enthusiastic about the support that Artweeks provides for artists new to exhibiting, along with the access to new and wider audiences. Until recently she was a founding partner in an aviation consultancy working globally and with expertise in business analysis, strategy, marketing and the use of data. She has held a number of trustee and non-executive director roles for organisations including a large UK charity and a social enterprise.  

Jane Strother is a painter, living, working and exhibiting at Artweeks in Oxford since 1994. She has taken on the co-ordinator role in Headington in previous years. Since student days she has continued to develop her artwork, generally painting and printmaking, as a commercial illustrator for 18 years and as curriculum and tutor manager for Oxfordshire Adult Learning. She has a passion for twentieth century landscape painting and for being in the landscape. Both feed directly into her personal work and teaching. She is a studio painter in that she devises and builds a final image through many stages and layers of paint working from sketches made outdoors, photos and reflection. Once the subject is established, the form of the work takes precedent. ‘I am excited by composition, colour and value relationships, the quality of a mark and its location!’

Teaching is an important aspect of her life and she has experience of all ages, in schools and public and private organisations. Her aim is to support students to develop their own practice, build confidence, knowledge and ideas.