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Allie Ridley: Stone Gallery, Burford
2:55pm Wednesday 8th July 2009
Visiting The Stone Gallery, Burford, is akin to walking into an Aladdin’s Cave full of beautiful hand-crafted jewellery. At the moment, a splendid collection of 60 brightly coloured paintings adorns the walls too. They are the work of African-born Allie Ridley, who now lives in Shipton-under-Wychwood.
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Stylish Style: Christ Church Picture Gallery
2:36pm Wednesday 8th July 2009
The art of mid-16th century Italy was condemned by the 19th-century art critic John Ruskin who associated it with artistic decline and decadence. But by the 1960s it had been elevated by art historian John Shearman to a “silver-tongued language of articulate, if unnatural, beauty” and summed up as “the stylish style”. This “stylish style” or Mannerism – the word taken from maniera, the Italian for ‘style’ – developed mainly in Rome between about 1530 and 1590, marking a move away from the poise and clarity of the Renaissance towards the drama of the Baroque.
Robert Mapplethorpe and Silke Otto-Knapp: Modern Art Oxford
2:34pm Wednesday 8th July 2009
The works of two quite different artists are now on show at Modern Art Oxford. Polaroids: Mapplethorpe gives us a chance to view the early instant photography of the late Robert Mapplethorpe, which offers a compelling insight into the celebrated and controversial photographer’s formative years.
Henry VIII: A 500th Anniversary Exhibition: Windsor Castle
9:18am Thursday 25th June 2009
THERESA THOMPSON on the Henry VIII exhibition down the river at Windsor
The English Landscape: Iona Gallery, Woodstock
3:30pm Wednesday 17th June 2009
The sun shines out of almost every picture on show at the Iona Gallery, Woodstock. Maybe that’s because the title of the exhibition is The English Landscape. The show features work by six eminent landscape artists, including Ian Staples who lives and works in north Oxfordshire.
Wood engraving exhibitions: Oxford
6:20am Thursday 11th June 2009
THERESA THOMPSON on two North Oxford wood engraving exhibitions
In My View: O3 Gallery
4:57pm Wednesday 10th June 2009
Photographer Sarah Howard says that successful photography is dependent on good light and is about being in the right place at the right time. What she fails to admit is that it is dependent on talent, too, and on having an eye for a good picture.
Feast for eyes at Ashmolean
6:40am Thursday 4th June 2009
SYLVIA VETTA on a striking exhibition of photos at the Ashmolean Museum
Turner/Rothko: Tate Britain
12:32pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Is it a Turner? Is it a Rothko? With Turner’s Three Seascapes (see right) placed next to Mark Rothko’s Untitled in the Clore Galleries at Tate Britain, you can see why you might wonder.
Art From the Heart: Piddington
12:26pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Do discover the brilliant colours of Africa hidden away in a farm near High Wycombe, overflowing with the work of some gifted artists who use only local materials for their handmade creations. Going into the blue and white bedroom you will be tempted by Laura’s Fine Linens made of 100 per cent cotton: classic tablecloths, Rose Bud sheets and hand embroidered cream and gold duvet covers. Enjoy, too, Ronel Jordaan’s whimsical ornamental rock cushions, pebble carpets, bowls and Grazing Sheep, all made of felt. Hanging nearby are two of Arthur Azevedo’s deceptively simple pen drawings that describe, with a few confident lines, the Stray Dog and the Literary Cow.
Chris Andrews: Blackwell's
12:27pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Oxford photographer Chris Andrews always aims to show us the world as it is – but he often has to rise long before the dawn chorus to do this. The early morning sun and the mist that covers the landscape as a new day emerges throw a gentle light on a scene – it’s this mist and light which illuminates most of his pictures and turns them into works of art. Eighteen of his recent pictures and a couple of classic shots are on show in the coffee shop at Blackwell, Broad Street, until June 30. This time Chris has concentrated on taking some glorious pictures of Oxford college gardens, but he has added an eye-catching study of a large male lion sitting proudly in his natural habitat too. This study shows just how superbly nature allows some creatures to blend into the landscape they inhabit. Central Oxford from Trinity College Tower is one of Chris’s classic shots. He says that the skyline, when seen from the tower, has altered so little, that this picture is timeless. Spires from South Hinksey is a particularly atmospheric shot, which was taken some time ago. Chris says that the moment he first viewed this scene in the middle of the day he knew it was worth returning to the spot in the early morning. By doing so he has encapsulated the enchantment of a new day perfectly. The gardens in this collection include Wadham College, Rewley House, St John’s College and a glorious flower border in the Botanic Garden. Not all the pictures were taken during the summer months. His View over Christ Church Meadow in Winter, which captures Christ Church on the day a light frost adds a whiteness to both the buildings and the meadow. It is a superb illustration of the way frost can transform Oxford’s buildings in January. All the prints on show are printed on canvas, which adds an extra dimension to their beauty. Books from Chris’s Little Souvenir Books series, feature in the display, along with his Cotswold and Oxford books and calendars. Helen Peacocke
Society of Wood Engravers: Art Jericho
12:31pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009
The society, founded in 1921 in the 1920s by artists themselves, including Eric Gill and Lucian Pissarro, is the principal rallying point for wood engraving and other relief print making. Wood engraving involves cutting the wood on the hard end of the grain rather than on the plank. The wood is then engraved using sharp implements.
Oxford Brookes graduation art show
2:30pm Thursday 21st May 2009
SYLVIA VETTA was given a glimpse of the Oxford Brookes University art graduate show
The Shah's Treasures: British Museum
2:33pm Wednesday 20th May 2009
If you want to understand modern Iran, the British Museum asserts, the best way is to start with the reign of Shah Abbas I. He came to the throne in 1587, the fifth ruler of the Safavid dynasty, and is remembered as one of the country’s most influential kings. The British Museum’s exhibition Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran is timely, therefore, given that Iran recently marked the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that put an end to the rule of the Shahs.
School prints: Dadbrook Gallery
10:36am Thursday 14th May 2009
Would you consider going to an exhibition of school prints? If you are tempted to rule it out, perhaps you may think again when I mention artists involved: John Nash, Eric Ravilious, John Piper Felixs Topolski, L.S. Lowry, Henry Moore, George Braque, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Interested? So was Clico Kingsbury, who runs the Dadbrook Gallery, in Cuddington, near Thame. She was inspired by a book called The School Prints, A Romantic Project, by Ruth Artmonsky. It turns out to be more than a romantic project, indeed a brave one.
Fatal Attraction: Diana and Actaeon — The Forbidden Gaze
10:29am Thursday 14th May 2009
THERESA THOMPSON on an exhibition that explores depiction of the female form
Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism: Tate Modern
10:11am Thursday 7th May 2009
Theresa Thompson reviews Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism at Tate Modern until May 17
Worn to be wild: Banbury Museum
10:01am Thursday 7th May 2009
SYLVIA VETTA talks to the woman behind an unusual collection at Banbury Museum
Brenda Hayden, Chipping Norton Theatre
1:53pm Wednesday 6th May 2009
Artist Brenda Hayden succeeds in her intention of creating pieces that invite one to explore one’s own vision and understanding of what makes up the coast.
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