Around 1000 artists and designer-makers, including 150 who are first-timers for 2015, are preparing for more than 400 exhibitions and events across the county for Oxfordshire Artweeks from 2nd-25th May, for the longest-running and biggest open studios event in the UK.
Painters and designers, potters and sculptors, wood-turners, photographers, jewellers and textile artists will all be opening their homes and studios across the county to the public for free to showcase their talent through exhibitions and demonstrations. From fashion to furniture, in collage, ceramics, mosaic, on fabric, on film and on canvas, artists are telling tales of wonderful places and journeys travelled, their inspiration and ideas, from Harwell to Henley, Wallingford to Woodstock, Bicester to Bloxham.
Explore the natural world, from the poles to the equator, take a journey in a gondola through the Venetian archipelago, or travel back in time and share memories of childhood. Come nose to nose with a highland cow in a Cotswold pub, or follow the fine lines of a bird at flight in a bookshop. Find nature encapsulated in glass or reproduced as fine silver jewellery, or enjoy art good enough to eat.
In the ballroom of Asthall Manor near Burford, where debutantes including the Mitford sisters were once introduced to high society, intricate ceramic shoes are fit for a fairy princess, or find Mr Darcy among the Wisteria at Heyford House, Lower Heyford, where the landscape of Pride and Prejudice is mapped for everyone.
Face the music and dance with prints and artists books inspired by music and poetry by the artistic director of Oxford Concert Party in Charlbury; enjoy a celebration of the cello as figurative sculpture in East Oxford or paintings inspired by dance in Banbury, or head to Oxford Playhouse where their artist-in-residence is exhibiting his sketched record of thirty years of theatre of performances there.
Visitors are invited into hundreds of interesting spaces, many of which are usually closed to the public, including Oxford Colleges, two of the finest medieval barns in England, a West Oxfordshire wind farm, and a classic 1930s barge on the river Thames. 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 art talks, events, and workshops at The OU Museum of Natural History, The Ashmolean and 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 printed festival guide will be available from April.
