There’s a desperate need for art studio space in Oxford, with about 30 students graduating annually in fine art at Oxford Brookes, and another cohort at Ruskin, not to mention the many artists from elsewhere, drawn by its cultural facilities to practise in the city.

Magdalen Road Studios, in East Oxford, has been helping to satisfy this demand for 11 years. Set up in a former lampshade factory by artists Diana Bell and the late Kevin Slingsby, it has just expanded into a versatile and spacious building almost next door, and now provides workplaces for a further 15 artists, making 25 in all.

“We try hard to encourage younger artists” said Diana. “It’s very difficult for them. The old idea of an artist starving in a garret still holds true — but now it’s an industrial space.

“Some have spent four or five years training and when they finish they have to find money to pay for accommodation, which is even more expensive in Oxford than in some parts of London, and also somewhere to work.

“Most have other jobs to cover their studio rent; for example residencies at schools or museums. The papermaker here, Lucy Baxandall, is working with pupils at John Mason School in Abingdon.”

Lucy’s studio was the kitchen of the Light Bulb Company premises which Diana and her colleagues took over in June 2009.

One benefit of the recession is that such buildings are more available, and at lower cost.

“We couldn’t resist such a wonderful opportunity” Diana said. “We were given two weeks rent free so we had to convert the place in that time, doing all the work ourselves.”

The group runs co-operatively, making joint decisions about who they will rent studio space to. Artists are on yearly contracts, but can sub-let if they’re working away from Oxford for a while.

The new building has a shutter door to enable large work to be moved out, and an area for public art workshops which pays for itself by doubling as a studio for portrait painter Francis O’Neill.

Involvement in public art is a big strength of the Magdalen Road artists, as are their international links.

Last summer, six artists, two each from Romania, Germany and France, worked with six Oxford practitioners on the Art in the Arboretum project at Harcourt. (One of these was Karen Purple, whose Fieldwork exhibition is at the North Wall at St Edward’s School from April 19 to May 6.) There’s also a cultural mix amongst the studio tenants, which makes for an exciting artistic environment. Muhanned Cader, working in Oxford while his wife studies at Ruskin, is from Sri Lanka, where he has recently exhibited pen and ink drawings based on abstractions from landscape photographs.

“The easiest way for me to understand the process of moving from one culture to another is through landscape” he said.

Hungarian installation artist Katalin Hausel, who has also practised in Germany and America, is typical of those to whom the new studios are a godsend.

“I moved to Oxford last year but found no suitable space — only tiny offices with carpeted floor and no natural lighting at astronomical prices.

“Before I moved, I found Magdalen Road Studios on the web. I got an email in March that they were expanding and accepting applications so I went to visit — that was the first space I saw in Oxford that had the potential to become a proper artist’s studio. Concrete flooring, natural light, very high ceiling. I could pick my own space, and commit to a size I could afford.

“I love my studio, and I have been very productive since I started working there in June.”

Designer of ethical fashion, Wuon-Feng Ho, is another grateful newcomer. “It’s nice to have an eclectic variety of artistic disciplines within the same space” she said.

“Having a studio is essential for my business and the expansion has enabled me to be part of the creative hub of the city.”