Artweeks

Artweeks’s goal for 2010 is to encourage new audiences to visit artists’ studios and workshops. Organisers hope the festival will appeal to those who find the idea of visiting a gallery rather daunting.

They also hope that families will plan an entire day out around Artweeks activities, which is why several areas have designed trail maps that enable visitors to plan their route and incorporate a pub lunch and perhaps a walk into their day. These maps can be picked up at participating art studios.

Artweeks 2010 begins in the city (May 8 to 16). A trail map showing all sites from Hinksey to Beaumont Street lists 18 sites that will take the art lover from one end of the city to another, with suggested walking routes between sites.

Whilst visiting 18 sites in one day would prove a daunting prospect, visitors can select a small area within the city and walk another area the following weekend.

By starting at Brewer Street and visiting the William Walton Centre of Christ Church Cathedral School, you will be able to view some splendid mixed media work created by members from the community of Christ Church Cathedral School, then take a relaxing walk round Christ Church Meadow, where you can soak in the beauty of nature and the river which has inspired Oxford artists through the years.

Follow this with a trip to the gallery on the ground floor of Oxford Town Hall, adjacent to a cafe where all-day refreshments are available and you can view a group show by leading ceramic artists.

By then walking to the Covered Market, where artist Ron Ford is displaying his contemporary watercolours and acrylic paintings, you will find yourself in a completely different environment, but one which has also inspired artists to create paintings that depict its bustling atmosphere and splendid Victorian structure.

You can now make your way to Broad Street and Blackwell’s Caffé Nero, where the semi-abstract oil paintings by Christine Fertey-Green are on display.

As this delightful little café serves delicious cakes and some of the best coffee in Oxford, it offers the chance to relax for a few moments and take refreshments while absorbing Christine’s amazing paintings.

If you leave Blackwells and head for St Edmund Hall, which can be found by travelling down Queen’s Lane, one of the oldest lanes in Oxford, and one which simply throbs with history, you have another treat in store.

This college has been involved in Artweeks since its inception, and always puts on a great show of work which has not only been created by the fellows, scholars and students, but those who work in the college kitchens and gardens too. It really is well worth a visit as this is an Artweeks show that never disappoints.

You can go home now, or carry on to Antiques on the High where a group of 12 artists and craftspeople are displaying their work during the entire festival.

Of course this is but one of several Artweeks walks you can enjoy within the city.

Jericho offers an abundance of artists too, and Summertown is not to be missed. Then there is Wolvercote where you will discover five artists exhibiting in Rowland’s Close, two in Elmthorpe Road, and several in the nearby Banbury Road.

For those who would like to know more about Oxford’s gargoyles and grotesques created by artists many centuries ago, a two-hour walking tour has been organised for Wednesday, May 19, at 2pm. Numbers for this tour are limited, so please book in advance on 01865 865596.

Free Artweeks brochures are available at all venues — just look for the blue and yellow flag outside the door.

You can also pick a copy up at tourist offices, hotels and libraries, or you can go online at artweeks.org Artists in south Oxfordshire are opening their doors from May 15 to 23 and those in north Oxfordshire from May 22 to May 31. Entrance to all venues is free.