Festival will be a visual feast (From Stroud News and Journal)

Festival will be a visual feast

The highlight of the artistic year in the Stroud Valleys, the Visual Arts Festival, which incorporates open studios, exhibitions, demonstrations and events, gets underway this week and continues throughout June. Skip Walker has been talking to the organisers to discover what makes this event, now in its sixth year and involving 194 artists, so special.

ANYONE who has ever visited an artist in his or her studio will know just what a special experience that is, even if, like me, you know next to nothing about art.

The smell of paint mingled with glue, wood, metal, varnish and usually not a small amount of dust is an intoxicating combination and the organisation of the studio itself often reveals as much about the artist, maybe more, than the art works themselves.

Starting this weekend and continuing for the whole of June the Stroud Valleys Visual Arts Festival provides the opportunity to visit 96 artists in 54 open studios throughout the Five Valleys.

There are also 34 places where the work of a further 98 artists, many of national and international standing, is on display, and several sculptures in the streets of Stroud town centre.

The studios are open at weekends (and often during the week by appointment) while the exhibitions are also open during the week.

The range and depth of the artistic and creative talent in the Stroud Valleys is one of its unique features and there can be nowhere else in the nation which has such a vast sea of creativity from which to draw.

Recognising this as a valuable local asset six years ago organisers Neil Walker and Jo Leahy, who run Stroud Valleys Artspace studios and workshops in the centre of Stroud, persuaded a number of local artists and craftsmen to open their studios to the public for one grand weekend.

This proved so popular that the open studios event has grown substantially each year to become an enthusiastically awaited date in the national artistic calendar and is now one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the country.

And this year the importance of the festival has been recognised by the award of a prestigious grant from the Arts Council of Great Britain to allow an international artist to work with groups within the community.

International banner designer Shona Watt, responsible amongst other things for the flags and banners on the Millennium Bridge in London and at the Eden Project in Cornwall, will be working with local residents to design and make flags for the festival.

Until recently working on a commission for the United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Shona has already worked with a number of primary schools to produce banners which will be on display in Stroud next month bringing the town alive with colour and movement.

Sculptures are also to be sited in public places around the town and named artists include Dan Chadwick, Barry Mason, Neville Gabie and Paul Grellier.

Among the many exhibitions taking place throughout the festival will be landscsape painting from three acclaimed artists - Sue Rae, Rebecca McPherson and Rosemary Martin - at the George Room in the Subscription Rooms in Stroud.

Organised by Stroud's Rope Store Gallery this exhibition opens on June 8 and runs until June 14, open from 10am to 5pm.

At Touche in John Street, Stroud the works of Richard Straley (landscapes of the Stroud Valleys), Fiona Meadley (recently shortlisted for the Zelli Porcelain award), Ian Shearman (watercolours and ceramics) and Amanda Cook (mirrors and glass) will be on display for the whole of June from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday and also on Sundays for the first two weekends.

From May 28 to June 29 the landscape and seascape paintings of Stroud artist Owen James will be on display at the Rope Store Gallery in the Shambles, Stroud.

From June 8-14 the Stroud School of Art end of year show will be held at the Stroud College campus, Stratford Road and from June 18-21 the work of 160 students will be on display at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud.

The work of Nigel Edwards and Jan Finch will be on display at Mills Cafe, Witheys Yard throughout June while over the way at Woodruffs there is an exhibition of the backlit paintings of Rufus Fry, also throughout the month.

There are two "taster" exhibitions during the festival where selected work from artists taking part in the festival will be shown. This year for the first time the Museum in the Park, at Stratford Park, will host one of the taster exhibitions and a big feature will be a variety of workshops throughout June.

The other taster is at 9 John Street, Stroud where more work from all the participating artists will hang.

In the lovely setting of Derham House in Minchinhampton the work of more than 25 local and national artists and craftsmen has been brought together to celebrate the summer as part of the festival from now until June 14.

An exhibition of some of the best in decorative and applied art, the work includes fragile porcelain vessels from Daniel Fisher, bound raku containers by Kate Schuricht and domestic ware from Judith Rowe.

There are also innovative textiles, glass and jewellery collections and plenty of paintings.

Derham House, overlooking Gatcombe Park, is the family home of Jane and Paul Archer.

It is only possible to give the smallest flavour here of the treats that are in store next month.

For the full picture a comprehensive free brochure, worth keeping in its own right, with details of all the events taking place during the festival is available from the Stroud Tourist Office or by telephoning 01453 753799.