Esther Lafferty looks ahead to an Artweeks bank holiday bonanza as she visits a series of secret artist studios in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside

Nestled between Witney, Woodstock and Charlbury, a pretty 10 miles from the Oxford ring road, there’s a hive of artistic activity deep in the woods of Wilcote, at the Hunts Copse studios.

It’s a microcosm of Artweeks itself with sculpture and ceramics, mixed media work, drawings, printmaking, stone-carving and mosaics by a series of talented professional artists who normally sell their work through galleries at home and internationally, and open their doors to let you see.

These include Richard Fox, a sculptor whose work is focused on form and balance. He creates lines in space with impressive tactile curves of wood, each with a symmetry, a seductive delicacy and a smoothness of shape that is perfect for peaceful contemplation. Of the woods he uses, which are all native to the UK, Richard’s particular favourite is sycamore. He describes how because it is pale in colour, the grain catches the light in such a way that its appearance changes as the sculpture rotates. The sculptures are designed to be turned by hand because they are each on a 'pin' fixed on the base of the sculpture, giving these large-scale ribbons of wood an interactive dimension and the fluidity of ever changing views.

Inspired by the woods around her, Wilcote artist Jane Hathaway uses mixed materials on board producing striking colours and landscapes with a twist in bold tones. Each piece is created using a combination of oils, acrylic, metal sheets and layered tissue paper with a smooth varnish for a rich finish. Although born in Oxford, Jane spent her childhood in Australia, an influence that seems to permeate her work, with its strong bold tones, rich reds and vibrant oranges often combined with a sense of space. Jane’s scenes however are largely locally-inspired and often woodland based – look out for the 'Hansel and Gretel' house hidden in the trees – with a feeling of fantasy and fairy-tale that everyone can enjoy.

Ceramicist Crabby Taylor spent her childhood running wild in Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie country, climbing trees, building rafts on waterways, dams in streams and fires in the local quarry. Now playing with fire in the wilds of Wilcote, she creates stylish ‘Raku’ ceramics in her working practice, a process which involves removing pottery from the kiln while at bright red heat and placing it into containers with combustible materials. This encapsulates the pleasure of her care-free childhood with inspiration from her travels through Asia. "I even formed many early pieces in the base of a wok," she explains, "and circles of clay still form the basis of my ceramics today, simple shapes including standing and open forms and tactile pebbles."

Using wax for textured effect, iron for a rusty hue, copper for green and even banana for purple, the creation of each of Crabby’s ceramics is a dirty, laborious and often frustrating process. Each piece is fired to approximately 1000°C in an old metal dustbin before being smothered in smouldering sawdust for several days, and for every piece that reaches completion, many have fallen by the wayside from thermal shock.

Rest awhile, or lunch perhaps, in the grounds of Gorselands Hall in North Leigh which is hosting a celebration of creativity for Artweeks including jewellery by Lisa Marie, designer-goldsmith, who prefers working with recycled gems, gold and silver, as a way of ensuring that the sources of her materials are ethical, though the end result will be a brand-new design. Her collections include exquisite rings, both stylishly simple or with stylized curves, set in yellow or white gold, each with stones in a variety of colours to surprise and amaze.

For colours for the wall, in neighbouring Long Hanborough, painter Maureen Gillespie invites you into her charming Rosemary studio, with its view across the Windrush valley to Blenheim. Here you can enjoy windswept landscapes with terrific energy and vibrant colours, inspired by both the riches of a traditional Irish upbringing, coastal scenes and the more serene Oxfordshire countryside.

And with open studios and pop-up exhibitions sprinkled liberally across North Oxfordshire, in villages from Banbury to Burford to Bicester, whether your enthusiasm is pots or paintings, silver or ceramics, there are plenty more nooks and crannies to explore under the auspices of Artweeks this final weekend.

Artweeks continues until Monday. Go to artweeks.org