Oxfordshire Artsweeks invites public to view its Christmas season

The event features eight weeks of pop-up exhibitions and Christmas Fairs across the county.

A number of Banburyshire’s painters and photographers, glass workers, metal sculptors, wood turners, stone carvers, jewellers, print makers and textile artists will be presenting seasonally-inspired art and crafts to the public for free, in a range of interesting venues.

Swalcliffe painter, Ronny Loxton, who is opening her studio over the weekend of November 18-20 explained how it is important to her that she connects through her art with the countryside where she lives and works.

She said: “This autumn the hedgerows of the fields which surround my studio have been weighed down by incredible amounts of juicy red berries attracting even more birds than usual at this time of year.

“Goldfinches are among the many birds which come to feed just outside my studio and I am able to sit in the window to watch and paint them just a few feet away from me.

“As they have been such a part of my painting life this year, I decided to use them instead of the traditional robin in some of the Christmas cards I have produced this year.

“Outside the studio, I can also see hares and deer run across the expanse of Madmarston Hill as they must have done thousands of years ago, even before the hill was an Iron Age fort.

“The hares have a special charm and link us back through time, history, nature and mythology to the beautiful countryside of North Oxfordshire and all those who have ever lived here. I am capturing this sense in my Christmas exhibition and I’m looking forward to sharing it with local visitors.”

Among the other unique offerings on show, you can find chameleon jugs that bring a character from tropical Madagascar to your table; a canal-side alchemy of textile art in Banbury, a celebration of the acclaimed traditional Gifford’s Circus in Jericho and an exhibition of Arctic art in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Other attractions across the county include a gingerbread house in colourful glass in Holton, delicate contemporary metal design in Stonesfield, hand-made earthenware and stoneware pottery for the festive dinner in Bicester, and hand-made chocolate in Aynho.

For more information on what’s on where across the county visit www.artweeks.org.