Thame, Wheatley and the villages between will play host to eight venues for Oxfordshire Artweeks as artists and designer-makers prepare for more than 400 exhibitions and events across the county from 2nd-25th May as part of 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 idea.
Enjoy a sea view in Thame with painter Janine Philips, whose giant canvases bring the tide right into Thame; explore a real artist’s studio with Christine Tacq and see her printing presses at work; or head to a stable studio at Brill’s Manor House for a collection of contemporary fabrics and silk inspired by traditional botanical illustrations and herbaria. Heather Hunter, artist-in-residence at Turn End Gardens in Haddenham is also inspired by the natural world. In addition, she’s developing art as a reaction to the lace work in Thames Museum for her artist books, each a mini gallery, and sculptural ‘altered books’ –books.
Thame resident James Taylor, founder of Poseytude, an on-line art gallery, is running a competition in which art inspires people to change the world. "We live in an ever more challenging world.,” he says. “Our environment and resources are being depleted and nature with the elements of air, wind, fire and water is testing us. Our countryside is being reduced due to meet rising population and seaside being eroded due to rising sea levels and changing weather patterns. Economic inequality is rife and charities battle to cope with feeding the homeless, sick and insecure. So, what would you tell our future selves to protect or change? What would you want to remind people of the beauty of our planet?”
He’s encouraging Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire residents to respond to this in any art medium and the winners of a competition, now open for entries (deadline 28th March) which will be judged by the Mayor of Thame, will be on show in Oxford Town Hall during Artweeks.
So, 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, or eat off! And change the world as the tide turns in Thame!
