After being entirely virtual last year, Oxfordshire Artweeks, the UK’s biggest artist open studios and pop-up exhibition event, returns, to fill studios and galleries around the county with colour and inspiration. There will be over 250 covid-secure venues to visit over the course of the festival, with each week focusing on a different region: Week 1 (1st-9th May) features venues in North and West Oxfordshire, Week 2 (8th-16th May) will showcase venues in Oxford City and Week 3 (15th-23rd May) will be in South Oxfordshire. For those unable to venture out (or who want even more art at home!) there are over 500 virtual exhibitions too, plus a daily themed art trail.
Oxfordshire Artweeks have supplied us with images to bring you a sneak preview for each week, exclusive to Daily Info. We'll be releasing new images prior to the start of each new week, so first up, here's a taster of what to expect in Week 2!
Week 2: 8th-16th May, Oxford City
Elaine Kazimierczuk (Venues 73 and 139) unites her passions of creativity and protecting the environment in her lively semi-abstracted meadow landscapes. Her colourful pieces are designed, in her own words, to "encourage people to value our precious world". Some of the spaces represented in the paintings are maintained by conservation charity Plantlife, and donations will be made from the proceeds of these works.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/elai...
Bernard Galewski (Venue 80) is a fine art photographer. His striking Limited Edition black-and-white prints all depict the theme of 'adaptation', particularly in response to the pandemic.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/bern...
Lila Oruc and Matti Duda-Szot (Venue 141) are two sixteen-year-old artists, who will be exhibiting in public for the first time. Both interested in portraiture, they use boldly different styles to convey a range of emotions.
https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2021/lila-oru-wh...
Nimmi Naidoo and Jill Green (Venue 78) have both previously worked in the NHS, and have created an installation in Bonn Square. Hung Out To Dry is a tribute to the hundreds of key workers - health and social care-workers, nurses, taxi drivers and shop assistants - who have died of covid-19 because they were doing their jobs. The artists hope to encourage reflection on the unsafe conditions (including a lack of PPE) that has led to lives being so gratuitously lost.
https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2021/jill-green-...
Emma Davis (Venue 84) is a full-time painter who has kept an attractive visual diary of her life through the lockdowns, in the form of these playful collages documenting recognisable moments from shared experiences at home, such as the rise in popularity of houseplants and even a recreation of the infamous Handforth Parish Council Zoom meeting, in stamps.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/emma...
Mark Clay (venue 69) will be selling original works and prints, many of which are from his Fine Art degree project involving abstractions from a disused railway line. Exploring themes of change, landscape and industrialisation, the pieces are created in mixed media.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/mark...
OVADA (Venue 77) During the first lockdown, OVADA released an open call, asking artists of all ages and abilities to create a square for a quilt, reflecting their recent experiences. The result, a large, colourful piece of textile art, will be displayed alongside other works created in response to the pandemic, in an exhibition fittingly called Unprecedented.
https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2021/ovada
Rachel Ducker (Venue 122) creates breathtakingly intricate wire sculptures by hand. The figures are featureless, allowing all the expression to come from their posture, reflecting the artist's fascination with body language. At her open studio you'll be able to browse sculptures in a variety of sizes, from imposing life-size to statuettes on plaster plinths.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/rach...
Wendy Newhofer (Venue 128) creates sculptures using glass as an inventive way of 'drawing'. Her latest works were created in response to a call for submissions around the theme of 'Life Forms', hence pieces demonstrating the unusual beauty to be found in the shapes of cyanobacteria, also known as 'blue green algae'.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/wend...
Westbury People's Gallery (Venue 102) is a community gallery responding to current big issues, with contributions from artists in diverse fields: Ceramics, Digital Art, Drawing, Glass, Mixed Media, Painting, Paper and Sculpture. There are 3 permanent exhibitions: The Museum of Contemporary Populism, The Brexit Tears Garden and The Environmental Armageddon Gallery.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/west...
Tom Croft (venue 151) has captured famous faces from politicians to footballers, in vibrant oil portraits. In March 2020 Croft started the #portraitsforNHSheroes campaign, after offering a free portrait to the first NHS keyworker to contact him, and encouraging fellow artists to do the same.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/tom-...
Week 1: 1st-9th May, North and West Oxfordshire
Cliff Kinch (Venue 9) will be displaying framed prints of his dramatic and sweeping landscape and wildlife photographs in an outdoor marquee. The prints are available to buy, whether you're a city slicker looking for a great shot of Oxford's beloved skyline, or a nature lover seeking a close-up of a bird of prey.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/clif...
Fleur Enser (Venue 63) designs and crafts ceramics from her own studio in Lower Heyford. She has a monochrome collection of pots, vases and bowls - the idea behind the colour scheme being that a black-and-white backdrop will allow the fruit or flowers to shine.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/fleu...
Daniel Blackmore (Venue 57) renders familiar Oxfordshire scenery in poetic watercolour, acrylic and oil. At his wheelchair-accessible outdoor exhibition in Yarnton you'll find rich paintings of favourite places like Port Meadow, Oxford Canal and countryside further afield, emphasising the beauty of the natural world through a self-confessed 'rose tinted lens'.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/dani...
Jane Griffiths (Venue 6) makes bold jewellery that combines precious metal and semi-precious stones with found materials such as china, wood and sea-glass; the results of beachcombing expeditions to the shores of West Penwith.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/jane...
Judith Yarrow (Venue 14) is a mixed-media landscape, book and printmaking artist. Her collection of scenes, from Oxfordshire and as far beyond as Iceland and Bordeaux, will be on sale in the form of paintings, prints, artist's books and greetings cards.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/judi...
The Drew School of Ceramics (Venue 41) is run by experienced potters Sue and Ben Drew. They offer regular classes, courses and one-off specialist workshops to ceramicists of all levels of experience, including complete beginners, as well as children's courses during school holidays. Their open studio will exhibit a range of techniques including Smoke firing, Raku, Earthenware and Stoneware Oxidation and Reduction firings.
https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2021/drew-school...
Jessica Parker (Venue 49) makes big, bold and highly textured acrylic pieces from her studio, a former blanket factory in Witney. Inspired by the natural world from local walks and longer journeys, Parker uses mixed media to add abstraction and spontaneity to the paintings.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/jess...
Jenny Eadon (Venue 3) works with oils, acrylic, charcoal and occasional collage to produce realistic landscapes and more abstract pieces like this one. The abstract pieces are often based on memories and impressions of places Eadon has visited, shaped by music and poetry to transfigure their moods and tones into novel shapes.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/jenn...
Michele Wallington (Venue 43) captures landscapes and figures with breathtaking details. her paintings in a variety of media will be available to buy alongside affordable Giclee prints, greetings cards and tote bags.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/mich...
Kevin Hinton (Venue 56) uses pen, ink and pencil to capture everyday objects in his playful, modern still-life pieces, which include a 'choose your own six pack' series where you can choose from 32 colourful beer can representations to capture your perfect pint! He'll also exhibit portraits including one which was made especially for the Portraits for NHS Heroes initiative.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/kevi...
Banbury Artists' Co-operative will be exhibiting at The Mill Arts Centre (Venue 4). They will showcase an eclectic mix of paintings, craft-ware and gifts, including this acrylic of Banbury Cross' fine lady, by Emma Wilkinson.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/mill...
William North (Venue 66) lives in an artist's paradise: on the edge of Otmoor nature reserve. Consequently his watercolours capture vast, uninterrupted skies, and the lakes and rivers that reflect them. He has previously been commissioned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to celebrate ten years of Otmoor being a nature reserve.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/will...
Margot Bell (Venue 7). In Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) and Oxford Printmakers Cooperative member Bell's garden studio you'll find woodcut prints of creatures both real and mythological. There will also be tea and cake on sale in aid of Save The Children.
https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/marg...
Sculpture at Kingham Lodge (Venue 19) is an outdoor exhibition boasting more than 400 sculptures displayed in 5 acres of landscaped ground. Professional sculptors from Britain and Zimbabwe feature their work alongside contributors from local primary schools.
https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2021/sculpture-k...