HELEN PEACOCKE previews the very popular celebration of Oxfordshire artists - Artweeks

The studios and homes of more than 400 artists from all over Oxfordshire are busily being prepared for the most important festival of its kind during the year - Artweeks - which begins next week.

Now in its 26th year, Artweeks provides artists of all abilities with a chance to open their studios to the public to talk about their work, which could be anything from the traditional arts of painting, sculpture and pottery to jewellery, furniture, etchings, installations, photography and digital art.

When Artweeks began in 1982 there were no photographers showing their work. Now more than 40 are taking part and what is exciting is the wealth of different images they produce.

This year a great number of very talented photographers are taking part, including Simon Murison-Bowie, of East Oxford, who gained the Mary Moser Award for his work last year. This award is intended to help develop the career of an artist who has taken up the skill as a career later in life.

Other photographers taking part include Nigel Moxley, from Church Enstone, who considers his skill to be an impressionist tool as digital imagery allows him to take original photography into the realm of painting.

Jenny Aston, from Chipping Norton, concentrates on the textures and colours of flowers, fruits and vegetables for her photographs, while Ian Cave, who is also from Chipping Norton, creates colourful images from nature.

Two well-known artists, sculptor Sophie Thompson and painter Jan Harvey, from Milton-under-Wychwood, are working together to support the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, by staging an exhibition entitled Rare.

Sophie works in scrap metal to produce stunning animal sculptures, while Jan has come up with some dramatic landscapes which she finishes in pastels to add a vibrant dimension to the picture.

While painter and printmaker Mike Simmons, from Wallingford, and photographer Richard Lawrence Wade, from Oxford, will be staging one-man shows, many artists, including the 80 artists selected to show their work at Artspace at the Barn Galleries, Henley, prefer to join forces. By coming together they are able provide a range of paintings, pots, jewellery and other works of art.

Artspace artists include potter Charlotte Storrs, whose functional stoneware in soft, neutral tones is particularly popular.

Artists living in the Little Wittenham area are getting together again for what they hope is another successful show at The Barn, Post Box Lane. Those exhibiting include photographer Jane Duff, who enjoys capturing atmospheric images of Morocco.

Artist Joan Durbin, from Didcot, has organised a non-selling taster exhibition at the Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage, with the aim of bringing together diverse examples of the work by artists in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of the White Horse.

Fellows, students and staff at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, have also joined together to show their works when City artists get their turn from May 17 to May 26. Their annual exhibition never fails to display cutting-edge art alongside conventional pieces.

Other groups exhibiting together include artists from the Cutteslowe area of Oxford who are using the Cutteslowe Community Centre for their exhibition, Oxfordshire sculptors who are using the Turrill Sculpture Garden, South Parade, and the students of Sunningwell School of Art have their pictures on show at the school.

Textiles are a popular medium. More than 30 textile artists are taking part this year, including the very talented Anne Griffiths, who will be opening her new studio in Churchill to the public for the first time.

Anne specialises in working with transparent materials to create delicate, yet durable pieces of fabric which can be turned into wall-based art, small garments or accessories. In her latest work she explores the ambiguity and tension that exists in the boundaries between the fibres and open spaces in woven fabrics.

Anne is one of more than 30 artists who have got together to create a Trail Map of the Chipping Norton area in which they all live, which stretches from Milton-under Wychwood to Kingham, Chastleton, Great Rollright, Hook Norton and Westcote Barton. You will find copies of the map at participating studios or at Jaffe & Neale Bookshop and Cafe, Middle Row, Chipping Norton.

Artweeks begins in South Oxfordshire on Saturday, May 3, before moving on to North Oxfordshire on May 10, and finally the City from May 17.

Free catalogues are available from libraries and all participating artists. For further information visit the www.artweeks.org website.