Naturals wonders

Round & About

Posted on

art

Giant bird boxes, crocheted funghi and a striking metal sculpture are among the artworks you can enjoy as part of this year’s Heathland Artworks.

Now established as an annual event, all work is inspired by the RSPB Farnham Heath.

Local emerging artists studying craft, fine art and textiles at the University for the Creative Arts have explored the wildlife, geology and history of the heath all year to develop a series of artworks that are temporarily placed on Farnham Heath and incorporated into a walking trail.

This year pieces include giant bird boxes, crocheted funghi, ceramic birds and a striking metal sculpture. There is also the added bonus of The House of Invisible Hands by sculptor Walter Bailey and a result of his research into historical forest glassmaking locally.

Heathland Artworks is a Surrey Hills Arts project and provides a new way to view and learn about the heath. Visitors can get up close to each of the 12 artworks by following a specially created trail.

The project has given the students an invaluable experience in preparing a proposal, presenting this to a panel, and developing the necessary skills to create and install the works.

Surrey Hills Arts aims to engage and inspire people in the natural landscape through the arts programme, promoting heritage, health and tourism.

Programme co-ordinator for Surrey Hills Arts, Ali Clarke said: “It has been fascinating seeing the students develop their artworks in response to the wildlife and environment on the heath.

“The final pieces will be enlightening for visitors of all ages providing pauses for thought along the route.”

Heathlands Artworks is free to enjoy and open to visitors until 27th October at Farnham Heath which is next to the Rural Life Centre. Visitors are welcome to use the facilities.

For more information

Surrey Hills Art

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Full of pride

Round & About

Posted on

art

There’s extra reason to take pride in the Royal Borough as The Lions of Windsor & Maidenhead 2019 sculptures go on display for the next three months.

The public art event will feature a giant pride of super-sized lions displayed from 10th August to 27th October to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria and raise funds for local charities.

The colourful individual lions are sponsored by a range of businesses and organisations and have been decorated by leading artists, designers and illustrators. There’s also a mini pride of lion cubs which have been decorated by schools across the area.

The display also has a serious message with the aim of highlighting the plight of lions, which have become endangered with only 15,000 left in the wild.

The pride will go on show on the streets of Windsor, Eton, Ascot, Datchet, Maidenhead and beyond for the duration before being auctioned off for charity.

You’ll be able to ‘go on safari’ and follow the lion trail with maps available from the start of August and take a tour of the borough visiting the noble beasts on the streets.

The lions were created by sculptor Alan Dun who had previously created the Lions of Bath in 2010 and last year’s Owls of Bath.

Having shaped and moulded the original lion, a fibreglass mould was made to create the prototype from which the pride was born.
He also sculpted the lion cub to be decorated by schools, charities and community groups to then display on the trail.

Once the lions are taken off display they will be restored by the artists and then gathered together for one last roar goodbye on 9th and 10th November before the charity auction on 21st November.

All proceeds from the auction will go to local charities – Thames Hospice which provides care for people with life-limiting illnesses in East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire; Windsor Lions Club which helps a wide range of people and organisations in the community; Look Good Feel Better equips people to face cancer with confidence and wildlife charity Tusk.

Lions represent nobility, royalty, strength and stateliness so are the perfect choice for the Royal Borough and to raise awareness of their decline – over the past 50 years, the number of wild lions in Africa have fallen from 200,000 to less than 15,000. Tusk, which is working to highlight the decrease in numbers, has declared 2019 to be the Year of the Lion.

Find out more

Visit the Lions of Windsor site

Click here

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Presence, Cornerstone

Karen Neville

Posted on

art

Kate Aries

Four emerging Oxford based artists are showcasing their work in an exhibition at Didcot’s Cornerstone.

Presence is a group exhibition featuring the work of Kate Aries, Manon Franklin-Fraiture, James Lester and Jack Whitney.
Combining drawing, textile, illustration and digital artworks, the artists have created new works that question what is means to exist in the contemporary world, physically, sexually, virtually and digitally.

Visitors will be able to engage with works perceptually and/or physically, encouraging them to also contemplate these questions.
Kate Aries explores perception and illusion through experimentation with the camera, using different techniques to obscure and restrict her body. Kate’s practice focuses not only on embodied experience, but also the manipulated and processed image in our changing society.

James Lester
Jack Whitney
Manon Franklin-Fraiture

Manon Franklin-Fraiture’s quirky illustrations incorporate conversations and questions she overhears and brings them to life, shining a light on how human existence can be in our modern life.
James Lester is a portraiture artist whose work contemplates the shaping of humanity within a modern context. Throughout the duration of the exhibition James will be creating large-scale charcoal murals of an array of celebrity figures, offering visitors the chance to watch the artist in action.

Jack Whitney’s practice challenges normative notions of gender, sexuality and politics, for this exhibition Jack has used embroidery as a way of drawing humorous yet thought provoking images.

Exhibition

Presence runs from today, 6th, until 18th August and is free to attend.

Visit the Cornerstone site for more information about this or any of the other productions on.

Click here

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Whiteknights Studio Trail

Round & About

Posted on

art

Join the studio trail around Whiteknights and uncover some treasures

Thirty-eight artists, designers and makers in the Whiteknights area of Reading will once again open their doors for the Whiteknights Studio Trail.

Artists will invite people to come, view and buy their work, enjoy a pleasant stroll around the area and have cake and tea at various venues.

The trail which takes in 21 venues on Saturday, 15th and Sunday, 16th June, will also showcase Reading’s creative community by including events, activities and demonstrations. Visitors can see and buy artworks ranging from fine art paintings, ceramics and printmaking to jewellery, furniture and photography.

Join the walk around the area and wander into artists’ homes and studios. Discover the wealth of creativity in the area, such as the piece pictured from Carole Stephens, as well as buy artwork at affordable prices. You can browse and chat with the artist about their work while stopping for lunch and refreshments on the way.

This year the Whiteknights Studio Trail is trialling a new enterprise, Whiteknights Studio Trail Introduces encouraging young artists between the ages of 16 and 21 to develop their creativity – three have been chosen including Bulmershe School student Charlie who uses ink and acrylic for her self portraits.

Among other artists exhibiting their work are those working in mixed media, ceramics, photography, quilting, sculpture, glass and jewellery workers. Twelve of the venues will also feature demonstrations of tools and techniques used by the artists to make their work.

The studio trail is about more than just art with open houses and open gardens to be enjoyed too.

 For more details about the artists and their work and to see the map of venues involved, visit Studio Trail

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Artists open studios

Round & About

Posted on

art

Art lovers in Surrey are in for a real treat over the next few days when 297 artists open their studios as part of the largest Surrey Artists’ Open Studios to date.

Running until 16th June, it’s a chance to meet and talk to artists in their place of work, view demonstrations, buy artwork and get involved in creative workshops.

SAOS co-ordinator Caitlin Heffernan said it offers a unique opportunity to meet artists and makers in Surrey, “Many are offering the public the chance to get hands on and discover their own creativity through the many workshops and taster sessions.

“Whatever your interest, painting, printmaking, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry or sculpture, SAOS is a brilliant opportunity to discover the county through the vast network of creative people who live and work here.”

One of those exhibiting is Liphook artist Orlanda Broom who takes her inspiration from nature to create landscapes which represent fantastical and re-imagined places.

After graduating with an MA Fine Art, Barcelona in 1997, Orlanda has been exhibiting and selling her work for the past 15 years and having moved out of London to the Hampshire countryside she has been further inspired.

A recent piece took inspiration from somewhere very different – a 4x4m work for the Four Seasons in New York makes reference to the city and Orlanda decided to use water, reflections and bridge-like shapes to mirror the island of Manhattan. Entitled Manna Hata it is now a favourite selfie spot!

Working on such a large scale, Orlanda’s work benefits from the big open space she works in with a wealth of natural light which helps with the composition of her landscapes which are very full and alive with colour and must be seen in full to be completely appreciated.

Her work will be exhibited at her studio at The Workshop in Iron Hill, Hollycombe, Liphook, on 7th, 8th and 9th June from 11am-5pm and on 6th from 6pm-8.30pm.

For more information about Orlanda’s work visit her website and for more on the open studios event at venues across the county, visit Surrey Open Studios

Orlanda

“I take inspiration from nature. I love botanical art and if I can, I go to botanical gardens to take photos and sketch. I’ve been lucky to have travelled a bit to places like Belize and Tobago, so I have strong memories of those trips and lots of photos.”

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Newbury Contemporary Art Fair

Round & About

Posted on

art

Find work with the wow factor to suit all tastes at the Contemporary Art Fair at Newbury Racecourse

A rich array of contemporary art and artists are showcasing their work at Newbury Racecourse with something for every taste and budget.

More than 160 emerging and established artists are coming together at the Contemporary Art Fair in Newbury with many original pieces available at affordable prices.

Whatever you’re looking for you’re sure to be able to find that wow factor from the more than 5,000 curated artworks on display and if you just want to browse that’s fine too. You can enjoy work in various media from paintings, to fine arts and photography, print, ceramic, glass, sculpture and assemblage.

Seen something you like and want to know more about it or the artist who created it – there’s the chance to chat with them and find out about their inspiration.

The fair on Saturday, 11th and Sunday, 12th May, also offers interactive fun with free valuations, a children’s art activity trail and an outdoor sculpture trail.

Contemporary Art Fairs include every exhibitor creating an original collectible eight-inch square canvas in their own style, which are displayed and then sold for just £45 each with all money raised going to The Prince’s Trust, the total raised to date is £65,000.

The fairs, which also run in Surrey, Windsor and Berkshire, were set up to bring a variety of artists together to give art lovers the opportunity to enjoy everything from limited edition prints to more expensive original pieces.

There’s also a café and wine tasting to enjoy.

 For more information and to book tickets go to www.contemporaryartfairs.co.uk

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter:

Line & light: Art show

Round & About

Posted on

art

From Saturday 9th to Sunday 24th March, enjoy an exhibition of photographs, ceramics and life drawings presented by Gaby Guz and Rob Farrands.

Line and Light is the product of a wintertime collaboration between two artists using three media. It is their first joint exhibition. Rob is a photographer who lives in Oxford and Gaby, an alumna of St John’s, is a ceramicist and artist.

Gaby uses line and light to capture the fleeting poses she likes to draw. Her concerns are to convey the essence and emotion of a subject in the brief time that a dynamic pose allows. Her ceramic vessels are largely monochromatic, with bold black and grey lines spreading across egg-shell like pale surfaces.

Rob’s photographs honour the soft, reduced light of the winter solstice. He has shot directly into the light (often including the sun) and dealt with the resulting technical challenges to produce work with strong monochrome tones. His compositions are intended to arouse both a memory of winter’s darkness and the promise of the coming spring.

Rob’s photographs are all taken in Oxford mostly along the banks of the Thames between Iffley and Sandford. He has previously exhibited at the John Radcliffe Hospital in 2016/17 and also in Art Weeks. Gaby’s raku ceramics are monochrome and provide a perfect complement to Rob’s black and white photographs.

The exhibition is at The Barn Gallery, Kendrew Quad, St John’s College, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3JP. Opening times are 12-5pm weekdays and 11am-6pm Saturdays and Sundays.

Visit gabyguzart.com and  rfarrands.com to see more about Gaby and Rod!

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Choose which newsletter: