Join us for our 3rd Winter exhibition of work from local artists. All work for sale and can be taken away on the day. Also featuring a special ‘£20 and Under’ area, offering the perfect way to pick up unique and unusual gifts and cards for Christmas whilst supporting local artists and have a good time! Don’t miss and please share. All welcome. Thursday 5th Dec 6-8pm
Call for submissions – Winter
For the last two years, our Winter open exhibition has proved very popular so it is back again this year – we do hope you will join us. The theme of ‘winter’ is open to very wide interpretation so we are looking for work which reflects the mood, feel or season of winter, in any media or combination of media. Alongside the exhibition will be an area for selling cards, small prints and other items under £20 in value, providing an ideal selling opportunity for gifts and cards before Christmas. Continue reading “Call for submissions – Winter”
Last chance to see: Signatus extended til Nov 16th
If you haven’t see the Signatus installation yet, there is one more chance – due to a late change in our schedule, it has been extended until Saturday November 16th open Fridays & Saturdays 12-3pm. Continue reading “Last chance to see: Signatus extended til Nov 16th”
All Hallows art & music evening Oct 25th
Join us for a fabulous evening of art and live music, including the infamous Danse Macabre, played by renowned local musician Tom Woolsgrove, whilst enjoying the spiritual experience of the Signatus art installation, on Friday 25th October between 6-8pm in recognition of the ancient All Hallow’s festival and in support of World Mental Health Day, admission free.
Danse Macabre is a symphonic poem by composer Saint Saens, in which according to legend, ‘Death’ appears at midnight each year on Halloween and calls forth the dead from their graves, to dance their dance of death whilst he plays his fiddle.
This is going to be a fabulous event. A selection of prints and cards will be available to buy with a percentage of any sales, along with any donations received, will be in support of Mind, so come along and enjoy a fabulous evening of art and music whilst supporting a very good cause.
Positive response to Signatus
Signatus is receiving a lot of very positive response from visitors who are finding the experience both captivating and thought=provoking. This new installation by resident artist Denise Swanson marks a departure from the abstract nature photography she is normally associated with, featuring prints made completely by hand, using plants.
The work is the result of a year long residency in the print room at UCLan in Preston, in which she explored how more traditional methods of printmaking could be incorporated into her practice and used to express ideas In creating this work, after much research and experimentation, she evolved a means of fusing old and new, as well as eastern and western printmaking traditions, to come up with a unique series of works, studying the signatures made by different leafs from a carefully chosen selection of plants. The overall effect has an almost Zen quality and offers a good opportunity to relax, unwind and chill over a cup of tea.
The installation is open Wednesdays through to Saturdays until November 3rd, from 11am to 4pm. Visitors are offered a free cup of Sage & Myrtle or Burdock & Hawthorn tea to compliment their experience.
Signatus: new installation opens Oct 3rd
This new installation explores the leaf as a sign, highlighting it’s accepted role in identifying species coupled with an inherent spiritual significance; acknowledged by many cultures around the world.
Signatus is a showcase of original work, created in the past year, as a result of a residency in the print room at UCLan on the AA2A scheme, in which the artist developed a unique method of printmaking, fusing elements from eastern and western traditions.
Denise Swanson is a resident artist and co-founder at Oxheys Mill Studios
The exhibition opens with a Private View on Thursday 3rd Oct between 6-8pm – light refreshments included. It is then runs until November 3rd, open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11am-4pm.
LAN Open closes for another year
The Lancashire Artists Network Open exhibition for 2013 has now closed and artists have collected their work which ranged from a life-size rhino head, a white peacock and a brown hare, to genetically modified vegetables, an iguana behind bars, a pussy riot head, a preying mantis and some delightful prints, drawings and paintings. A fabulous exhibition which was well received and well attended. Here are some of the works that were on display.
To find out more about LAN visit http://lanarts.org
Last chance to see: LAN Open exhibition
The LAN Open exhibition for 2013 closes on Saturday 21st September so if you have not yet had a chance to visit, do come along. It has been a fantastic show, with a real diverse selection of work and the feedback, both from participating artists and from visitors, has been really encouraging. The Preview event was packed – a really busy night with a high turnout of visitors and after the first 10 minutes, no chance to take any photos!
Comments in our Visitors Book show that it was well received. People commented on how professional the show looked, on the quality of the artwork and on the sympathetic curation. Comments such as ‘a classy show’, ‘good enough for Manchester or London’ and ‘what a show – very professionally staged’ made all the hard work installing and curating worthwhile.
Several pieces sold within the first few days of the show opening and there has been a steady flow of visitors each day since it opened, with the positive feedback continuing so we are really pleased with the outcome.
A full list of the works included, with details of prices, is available at Oxheys and also at Korova where additional work is in display.
There are many thought-provoking responses to the optional ‘protest’ theme, which really gave the show an edge and a nucleus. The stars of the show included ‘Hare’ by sculptor David Sinnott and ‘Mantis’ by Rebecca Barwell but many of the other works warrant mention especially Shan Murrell’s collage prints, ‘Albino Peacock’, Tracy Hill’s prints, Stan Cropper’s watercolours, ‘Orchid Girls’ and many others.
You will just have to come and look for yourselves if you haven’t yet been. More work is displayed in the upstairs meeting room and also in Korova Arts Cafe, who also provided the catering and pop-up bar for the private view event.
Several pieces have sold and will be available for buyers to collect next Saturday 21st. Artists can collect their work on Sunday 22nd September.
If you are an artist based in Lancashire and want to find out more about LAN visit lanarts.org
These photos were taken as the first guests arrived
Recent changes, new resident & available space
It has been a busy summer at Oxheys with lots of work and a few changes. In the basement, Joe, one of the founding artists, moved out of his studio and was soon replaced by Terry, a ceramist, currently doing an MA at UCLan. Terry originally set about cleaning up and repainting one of the open plan basement spaces that became available but when Joe’s self-contained space became free, it was more suitable so he jumped at the chance, started building his workbenches and soon had his kiln and wheel set up.
Continue reading “Recent changes, new resident & available space”
20:20 – a successful experiment
The 20:20 print exchange was an experiment to see whether this type of format for a show would work. We were not really sure if it would work but thought it was worth a try – after all, nothing ventured and all that. The show closed on Saturday and with only a handful of prints left, it proved to have been a very successful experiment and one we will no doubt repeat in the future.
Everyone who came said how much they enjoyed it and how refreshing it was to find original art at affordable prices that they could take away with them. Most were also fascinated by the different types of print and the techniques used – we frequently found ourselves explaining the processes of how the prints were made.
Run as a fund-raising exercise for both ArtLab Contemporary Print Studio and Oxheys, it was a great success, raising some very welcome funds indeed. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who visited and who bought a print – many bought several and other just kept coming back and buying more!
Thank you all for your support for local artists!