Biggest art event yet

The annual art event, which starts on Saturday (June 11), is also one of the biggest in the UK, and will include a record breaking 323 entries made by over 500 artists including glass workers, ceramicists, jewellery makers, photographers and painters.

Taking place for two weeks through to Sunday June 26 the event will see participants open their studios to the public for free demonstrations, workshops and exhibitions.

Bucks Open Studio organisers Bob and Ann Marshall said: “We are delighted to welcome new creative talent as well as artists and makers who have been doing the event for many years.”

Artists taking part this year include the cartoonist/Illustrator for the late Daily Mail astrologer Jonathan Cainer. Sally Fisher, who was also Mr Cainer’s ex-sister-in-law, had worked for him six days a week every year since 1986.

She is part of a group of artists exhibiting throughout the fortnight at the Obsidian Gallery in Stoke Mandeville.

Another artist exhibiting with others is Martin Upstone, whose ceramic work will be displayed at Queens Park Arts Centre in Aylesbury.

Martin has primary microcephaly which means ‘small head’, a condition which has been in the news a lot recently because of cases in south and central America.

Martin has severe learning difficulties and his fine motor skills are affected, but this has not stopped him achieving the things he likes to do.

His mother Susie is also an artist, making contemporary jewellery, and her work will be displayed as part of the Little Kimble Art Group at the Stewart Hall in Little Kimble.

Textile artist Barbara Shaw is exhibiting at 3 Linden Lea in Wendover with two other artists - Barbara and Graham Jefford who specialise, respectively, in hand stitched beaded jewellery and figurative painting in oils. Ms Shaw will have a picture displayed in parliament towards the end of June as she takes part in an exhibition entitled Tomorrow’s Child which focuses on the first 1001 days of a child’s life, from conception to two years old. Ms Shaw has hand stitched a baby in the womb called The Fabric of Life.

Sculpture in the Garden returns to the Turn End garden in Haddenahm for the third consecutive year, curated by Lendon Scantlebury and running in conjunction with Bucks Open Studios. The exhibition will bring together 35 sculptures in a range of media displayed throughout the garden ‘rooms’ of Turn End.

Full details of all open studios, and the days and times they are open to the public during the fortnight, can be found in the bright yellow directories now available free in libraries, art centres and galleries. Or see www.bucksopenstudios.org.uk