Artweeks may be over – and we hope you enjoyed some of the exhibitions in and around town last month – but there’s still art to be explored in and about Faringdon this summer. Firstly, have you seen the newly decorated bollards in the town square?
Karen Vogt, as seen with her ceramics and stone sculpture in Great Coxwell during Artweeks, is normally drawn to 3D forms rather than colour or texture, relishing the feel of the ancient connection to the earth she feels working with clay and stone – natural materials that are all around us and have been shaped by hand or simple tools over thousands of years. This spring, however, she has put pen to paper to show both the green ambitions of Faringdon and the hidden treasures in the earth beneath our feet on two of the bollards, Under our Feet and Green Faringdon.
Alongside, Helen Martin’s A Walk to the Folly wraps a riot of jungle green around another bollard, and a fourth, by Elena Simeonova, depicts Berners, his fabled White Horse, and a rainbow of pigeons, in ethereal lyrical brushstrokes. There are more pigeons by the children from the Infant School, who have adorned another with a flock of colourful handprint birds, whilst the Folly appears, as you’d expect, replicated small-scale in the art of Faringdon Junior School and illustrator Nina Sweeney depicts Folly Fest celebrations.
Also in town, the members of Faringdon Art Society are hosting a third ‘Artistic Craft Fair’ on Saturday 2 July at the Corn Exchange from 10am-3pm at which twenty artists will be showing art and craft including handcrafted journals, ceramics, fused glass, prints, paintings, cards, knitted wall hangings, cushions, mugs, wire sculpture, mosaics, hand-painted pottery and bespoke wooden bellows. You’ll also find newcomer French jewellery designer and maker Chloe Romanos who creates her silver jewellery in a tiny cottage studio in Stanford-in-the Vale, using traditional silversmithing techniques. Combining precious metals with gemstones such as labradorite, opal, amethyst, and moonstone, and beautiful or interesting found objects like rocks, driftwood, and shells, she creates statement jewellery, designing rings, necklaces, and earrings as perfect miniature pieces of art. Previously, however, she was an archaeologist in Mycenae in Southern Greece and many of her pieces are inspired by her experience and interest in art history and archaeological artefacts.
“When I was a child, I wanted to be an archaeologist, discovering amazing forgotten treasures like Indiana Jones, and at the same time I also dreamt of becoming an artist, expressing myself using other means than voice and words,” she smiles.
Chloe went on to study art history and archaeology in Paris and whilst analysing the texture of handmade pottery at the museum of Mycenae in Greece, she became fascinated by the way time had transformed objects and left them with worn and crackled textured surfaces. “I also realised I’d like to learn an ancient craft and use similar techniques and tools, and actually experience what I had been studying,” she says. “When I discovered silversmithing I was mesmerised by the 'magic' of metal transformation, and the almost endless possibilities. I like the toughness of the material -you need to use some strength to work with it – and I also like that it is messy, and your hands get as dirty as they would at a dig, but with silver or gold dust!
My creations are an expression of emotions, fragments of experiences lived, inspired by treasures that are all around us. Each has a story behind it, from the winged creations inspired by French Art Nouveau to the textured effects reminiscent of the worn aspect of archaeological artefacts dug up from the ground. I also like to let my imagination be guided by memories of inspiring places I have visited or quotes from books and poems I have read.”
And if you fancy picking up a brush yourself then you might consider booking a ‘Brush Party’ with Rachael at The Bell. These evening events take place on the first Wednesday each month (mostly – check online for dates and to book; on Facebook, it’s Brush Party with Rachael for local events) and they are designed to be fun for everyone including, and perhaps especially, those in whom any latent artistic talent has been hitherto undiscovered. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t picked up a paintbrush since school: with a couple of friends, a glass of wine in one hand and a paintbrush and five squeezes of acrylic paint in the other you will be surprised at what you can achieve. The event leaders will guide you simple-step by simple-step to create a finished picture that might even make you proud: when I painted a fox in the woods earlier this year, my youngest showered me with the faint praise: “Wow! It’s not even that bad, Mum!”
