AS THE ‘Beast from the East’ batters Oxford and promises more snow to come, Cowley Road Carnival organisers are turning up the heat on preparations for the city’s biggest summer street party.

Paintings will spill from the canvas when the colourful celebration returns on July 1, with ‘Icons of Art’ announced as the 2018 theme.

Revellers will don costumes and man floats inspired by famous artists for the fiesta, which last year attracted crowds of 50,000.

Simon Tipping, procession coordinator from organising charity Cowley Road Works, said: “According to the Oxford English Dictionary an icon is a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.

“For 2018 we want to celebrate the artists and their works which stand out for their contribution to art and culture in their own and subsequent generations.

“2018 represents anniversaries for many great iconic artists; men and women who changed the way society thinks, feels and behaves; creative men and women whose work has influence and meaning.”

Notable anniversaries include a century since the death of art nouveau painter Gustav Klimt and 250 years since that of Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, who was famous for his detailed landscapes of Venice.

Local artistic connections that could be honoured include Antony Gormley, whose sculpture of a man overlooks Broad Street from Oxford University’s Exeter College, or even Headington’s Shark House.

Mr Tipping said organisers are looking to ‘raise the creative bar’ for July’s procession, with particular emphasis on floats with height and moving parts.

Three workshops will be held in the run up to the summer carnival to give schools and community groups tips.

On March 19 there will be a workshop on how to make theatrical masks and costume making, on March 24 on how to make back packs, wings, sparkly costumes and large structures and June 9 on how to make carnival giants – large carnival structures for the road.

The carnival is the flagship event of the year for organisers CRW and last July the event generated more than £1million for the area. Hundreds of performers danced, sang, played music and performed spoken word on 34 stages, with 650 people in total involved. Anyone interested in taking part in one of the workshops should register with Mr Tipping by Monday via producer@cowleyroadworks.org.