FROM marmalade-making to trampolining, Jane Stillwell’s Artweeks Taster exhibition is a light-hearted, sometimes off-the-wall look at what inspires some of the artists taking part in this year’s Artweeks festival.

Mrs Stillwell, from Great Rollright, said: “I took my camera out into the villages around Chipping Norton and Banbury, to discover the activities that provide the inspiration for our local designer-makers.

“All the artists were delighted to be involved – although taking photos on the hoof was quite a challenge at times.

“I photographed more than 40 local artists in their own environments and when I went to meet many of them, I didn’t know what to expect when I got there.

“I hadn’t met many of them before and then, from a quick chat, had to capture their passion and inspiration with a sense of fun and that twinkle in their eye.”

As a result, artists are captured doing everything from riding a hobby-horse to hugging trees.

The man hugging a giant oak tree is sculptor Chris Townsend, who works at Crown Farm in Ascott-under-Wychwood, where he creates steel sculptures of trees.

He said: “I actually made the jump into becoming a professional artist through Artweeks in 1999 and I’ve been exhibiting in it ever since.

“I was born in Milton-under-Wychwood and I suppose you could say I’m trying to re-create the ancient forest of Wychwood in steel, so it made sense to have me hugging a tree – although I think some of the photos look quite rude.”

Artweeks is a three-week celebration each May of the county’s artistic and creative talent, and the UK’s oldest and biggest open studios event.

Almost 1,000 artists open their homes and studios and welcome the public to see their creations and watch them work. Last year about 100,000 people visited nearly 500 exhibitions and events.

Artweeks began on Saturday with exhibitions in Oxford, which run until Monday, followed by shows in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse from May 11 to 19 and West and North Oxfordshire from May 18 to May 27. Jane Stillwell’s Artweeks Taster is at The Theatre, in Chipping Norton until Thursday next week.

Artists' portraits

ARTWEEEKS stalwart Anuk Naumann can be seen in her Great Rollright kitchen making marmalade, an activity that inspired the painting Making Marmalade, which is hanging beside her photograph.

She said: “Like many people I dread having my photograph taken but Jane is a great friend and put me at ease. I chose to be photographed making marmalade because my collage features marmalade jars and a cat sitting on a table.”

Mrs Naumann has been exhibiting in Artweeks for more than 20 years and is a former Chipping Norton area Artweeks co-ordinator.

CRABBY Taylor from Chipping Norton is a Raqu ceramicist, which means that after creating herpots she leaves them to smoulder in a dustbin for several days – hence the risqué apron.

When she’s not making pottery she can be found behind the bar at The Theatre.

She said: “The apron was a Christmas present from my daughter Saskia and I love it. As I’m 58 you could say I was one of the original pot smokers.”

WHEN she’s not making ceramics and glasswork, Sally Lyon, 46, can often be found bouncing away happily on her son Joe’s trampoline.

She said: “This will be my fourth Artweeks and when Sally said she wanted to photograph me doing something fun, I jumped on the trampoline and before I knew it she had snapped away.

“Artweeks is a great scheme and I get a lot of enjoyment out of people coming along, looking at my work and telling me what they think of it. This has been a hobby while Joe has been small, but now he’s at school I want to expand and I’m hoping Artweeks can also help with that.”

PAULINE Nolan and Wendy Todd are exhibiting together this year, with an acrylic and embroidery collection called Fantasy and Fabrication at Wendy’s garden studio in Churchill. They were inspired by one of the garden’s ‘residents’.

Pauline, 60, said: “When Jane Stillwell asked to photograph us we chose the hobby-horse in Wendy’s garden to pose with, because it’s fun and that’s what we think our exhibition is too. This is my first time and Wendy’s second Artweeks and we’re very excited about taking part.”

SUSAN Frater and Kate Wilson are exhibiting their work at the new Winebear fine wine shop in Chipping Norton and decided to put themselves on display too – in the shop window.

Mrs Frater, 42, a mother-of-two and drama teacher at Blessed George Napier School in Banbury said: “When Jane took our picture from outside, people started to stop to see what was going on, which was quite amusing.”

The women have called their exhibition Fragments.

Mrs Frater said: “Both of us have children and I create my hand-cast pewter jewellery and Jane paints in the fragments of time we have available to us.”