The entries are in for this year’s Oxfordshire Artweeks, a three week county-wide sumptuous festival of visual arts. And it looks like a bumper year with nearly 400 exhibitions spaces and over 1,000 artists participating. Now in its 27th year, the Festival expects almost 60,000 people to visit the workshops, galleries, studios and homes around the county.
Oxfordshire Artweeks, which runs from Saturday 2nd May – Monday 25th May, this year features several new initiatives and exhibitions. The Henley Trail, (23 -25 May) is a trail of 20 artists open studios in and around the Henley area. All Saints Methodist Church in Abingdon (16-25 May), is joining Artweeks for the first time in celebration of its 50l anniversary.
Sponsors d’Overbroeck’s and Leckford Place School are running an art competition for their local Primary Schools on the theme of ‘My Journey to School’. Winners will be exhibiting at Leckford Place School (15 – 17th May) and will win vouchers for art equipment.
Artweeks’ members have received a unique invitation to design a wine label for Oxford Wine Company which will be launching a new premium, full- bodied red wine from an estate in the Languedoc region of France this year. They want a distinctive, artist-designed label for the limited edition of 600 bottles in conjunction with world renowned winemaker David Morrison. The winner will be announced at an Artweeks Fund Raising Dinner at Corpus Christi on 20th March. The Prison Phoenix Trust, a Summertown-based charity, is exhibiting prisoners’ art for the first time. The work, created over the last two decades, from decorated envelopes to sculpture, can be seen at Prama House, 267 Banbury Road, Summertown, 9-15 May. The exhibition prominently features work of an inmate serving a life sentence at Her Majesty’s Prison Wake field in Yorkshire, as do drawings of illustrator Korky Paul, who collaborated on a yoga book for prisoners. The Charity encourages prisoners throughout the UK and Ireland in their spiritual lives through yoga and meditation, offering support through teaching, correspondence, books and newsletters.
Oxfordshire Artweeks are organised into three geographical areas

• North Exhibitions: Saturday 2nd – Sunday 10th May
• City Exhibitions: Saturday 9th – Sunday 17th May
• South Exhibition: Saturday 16th – Monday 25th May

All exhibitions are free

Artweeks’ Fundraising Dinner: Tickets are £75 from The Artweeks’ Office : 01865 865596 or by email on oxfordartweeks@yahoo.co.uk

Oxfordshire Artweeks brochures will be available from the beginning of April from libraries, Tourist Information Centres, museums, galleries, shops and many other public venues, or online at www.artweeks.org