Around 1000 artists and designer-makers, including more than 200 who are first-timers for 2017, are preparing to turn the entire county into a giant art gallery for the Oxfordshire Artweeks Festival this spring (6th-29th May) with nearly 500 exhibitions and events in every corner of the county.
A cornucopia of artists and designers will all be opening their studios, presenting pop-up exhibitions and giving demonstrations in interesting venues from Adderbury and Blewbury, to Wallingford and the Wychwoods. Locals and visitors from further afield are invited in, for free, to enjoy eye-catching paintings, porcelain and pottery, fine art photography and sunlit stained glass, sculpted stone and comic book art, fashion and furniture and treasures in gold, silver and precious gems. From local landscapes to designs with a difference, tens of thousands of pieces will be on show inspired by the past and the present, people, places and passions, and with all created in and around Oxfordshire, expect to be delighted, amazed and intrigued.
Take a journey through the year that’s just past with the changing view from an Oxford window or delve back in time with reminisences in ceramics or found objects upcycled into art. Experience the wildlife of an African adventure through the eyes of a Charlbury photographer; discover the people of Mexico in the portraits of a Wolvercote social anthropologist, or taste the flavours of an Indian childhood with Kamal Koria in Oxford’s Jam Factory.
You can leap into the imagination with fairy-tales and stories on canvas and in clay; marvel at Spiderman comic book storyboards in Chipping Norton and see magical mask-making nearby, or hot from a technicolour map of British Rock Music in Eynsham, head to the beach with the stained glass of Banbury’s Jane Wimbury who is looking forward to her first Artweeks. With jewellery encapsulating literary classics by newcomer Mary Blackshaw, wallpaper printed from hand-carved wood blocks by fresh-faced Claire Florey-Hitchcox in Stadhampton and natural textiles dyed with the products of plants grown in the garden of virgin-exhibitor Caroline Nixon, there are plenty of new dimensions to the festival to surprise the most experienced art-lover as well as the enthusiastic day-tripper.
Visitors are invited into hundreds of interesting spaces, many of which are usually closed to the public, including three Oxford Colleges, two of the finest medieval barns in England, an old coal-wharf, woodlands and warehouses as well as city studios and country galleries, homes and halls across the county. Art aficionados and everyday enthusiasts, adults and children alike will be able to follow art trails through Oxford streets, Cotswold villages, along the Thames or through the county’s market towns.
And with the annual Jericho Artweeks lecture in the iconic St Barnabas Church, with speaker Paul Hobson, Director of Modern Art Oxford; family activities at The Ashmolean, and open exhibitions at art centres across the county, there’s something to inspire all ages and aspirations. Visitors will have the chance to see the art produced in their own communities, to ask local artists about their influences, techniques and materials, and even have a go themselves.
The full exhibition listings will be available on-line from end February at www.artweeks.org & the printed festival guide will be available from April.
Artweeks are delighted to announce that the 2017 festival is generously sponsored by West Waddy ADP. The 2017 Artweeks festival is sponsored by West Waddy ADP: architects, town planners and urban designers. They are dedicated to place-making through high quality design and their work spans the disciplines of Architecture, Planning and Urban Design, with other specialisms falling under this umbrella and this breadth of design skill allows them to offer a uniquely coordinated service to their clients. ‘West Waddy ADP are proud to be a part of Oxford Artweeks, a continued celebration of local artistic genius! Design and creation plays a big part in what we do, turning ideas into reality and creating wonderful places that will cultivate and inspire the coming generations.’ says Philip Waddy, Partner, West Waddy ADP. www.westwaddy-adp.co.uk
The Oxfordshire-wide press release is below. For press releases by area (Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Didcot, Faringdon, Kidlington, Wantage, Wheatley, Witney, Woodstock, & The Cotwolds) click here.
