Around 1000 artists and designer-makers, including 160 who are first-timers for 2018, are preparing for the giant Oxfordshire Artweeks Festival this spring (5th-28th May) when more than 460 exhibitions and events pop-up across the county, and tens of thousands of unique pieces of art and design will be on show.
A vibrant palette of local artists and makers will be opening their studios, presenting friendly exhibitions and giving demonstrations in interesting venues in villages and towns from Bloxham to Blewbury, along the Ridgeway and the Windrush, in Oxford colleges, historic barns, secret gardens and even a manor house that was home to Kings. See a potter in action in a Thames-side garden, explore hidden artists’ studios in the heart of Oxford or take an artist trail in the village where Downton Abbey was filmed.
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, tactile textiles and treasures in gold, silver and precious gems. From local landscapes to contemporary design with a difference, hand-made boats and gargoyles sculpted in stone, whether inspired by the past or the present, people, places or passions, there’s plenty to delight, amaze and intrigue, and all created in and around Oxfordshire.
With unique interpretations in fabric of county life at a picturesque Tudor Manor to intricate hand-printed wallpaper, modern ‘flatback’ Staffordshire pottery and magnificent mosaics, there are unique accents for the home; fashion and furniture for every taste, and striking sculpture for the garden. You can travel further afield, sail the seven seas through the eyes of an artist, see the Far East captured in textiles, tour Venice in watercolour or explore the botany of the tropics in exquisite detail; revisit the magical stories of childhood in bronze, or be enchanted by abstracts that take the imagination in new directions.
Whether an art aficionado or an everyday enthusiast, be enchanted, inspired and find something special this May.
This year’s cover image is by Rebecca Kingsley-Bates, exhibiting at Holcombe Barn in Deddington (venue 146). Rebecca took the opportunity to return to her long held love of art whilst on an extended sabbatical overseas under the Tutelage of Gabrielle Wheaton at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. Rebecca’s work has historically been focused on detailed portrait and still life drawings executed in graphite and charcoal. Most recently however she has been enjoying experimenting in oils with a move towards a more abstracted style under the direction of LJ Bloomer at Lisa Jayne Art Studio in Bletchingdon.
