This week the focus is on the northern half of Oxfordshire. Chipping Norton has produced its own brochure, something that seems to be increasingly popular - Jericho, East Oxford, and I suspect number of others offer them too. This works well to highlight other exhibitions nearby, and help you maximise the time looking at artwork, if you don't fancy the happy-go-lucky see what you find approach.
We found that you really needed your own transport to do Artweeks properly, outside Oxford itself. I'm sure it's possible without, but you'd spend a lot longer in transit, which can be fine as the countryside looks like it's put on its own display at this time of year. And the promise of a particular artist or exhibition can serve as an excuse to visit villages you've never been to before.
Using the map on the Artweeks website I searched for Textiles and Printmakers, and worked out a sort of trail around Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Hook Norton and so on. I chose rather ambitiously, because it felt like quite an expedition, though the big display in Chipping Norton Town Hall helped as there are seven or so artists concentrated in one place.
Inevitably things don't go to plan. So what we actually saw, and liked, was not what we went to see. The textiles were good, but I'd gone there principally to see Anne Griffiths' display which was not very big and focussed on fewer designs and styles than I'd hoped for. In contrast there was some really striking photography by Ian Cave, which was a nice surprise, and the whole exhibition was professional, varied and interesting. There's an art to being distracted from one's path by tempting diversions, and I think it's much the best way to approach Artweeks' plethora of media and artists.
I really enjoy the mix of professional and amateur artists. For this festival a lot of secret places in Oxfordshire are revealed, and in the same way the private urge to create is celebrated publicly. I go because I like creating things and don't do enough of it, and the people who've worried about whether or not to exhibit and gone ahead are an encouragement. There are people on all stages of the journey as artists, and to be able to meet them and ask lots of questions is rare and well worth doing.
We found that you really needed your own transport to do Artweeks properly, outside Oxford itself. I'm sure it's possible without, but you'd spend a lot longer in transit, which can be fine as the countryside looks like it's put on its own display at this time of year. And the promise of a particular artist or exhibition can serve as an excuse to visit villages you've never been to before.
Using the map on the Artweeks website I searched for Textiles and Printmakers, and worked out a sort of trail around Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Hook Norton and so on. I chose rather ambitiously, because it felt like quite an expedition, though the big display in Chipping Norton Town Hall helped as there are seven or so artists concentrated in one place.
Inevitably things don't go to plan. So what we actually saw, and liked, was not what we went to see. The textiles were good, but I'd gone there principally to see Anne Griffiths' display which was not very big and focussed on fewer designs and styles than I'd hoped for. In contrast there was some really striking photography by Ian Cave, which was a nice surprise, and the whole exhibition was professional, varied and interesting. There's an art to being distracted from one's path by tempting diversions, and I think it's much the best way to approach Artweeks' plethora of media and artists.
I really enjoy the mix of professional and amateur artists. For this festival a lot of secret places in Oxfordshire are revealed, and in the same way the private urge to create is celebrated publicly. I go because I like creating things and don't do enough of it, and the people who've worried about whether or not to exhibit and gone ahead are an encouragement. There are people on all stages of the journey as artists, and to be able to meet them and ask lots of questions is rare and well worth doing.