Open Studios
Open Studios allow visitors to see members at work in a friendly and welcoming environment. The Society participated, as a collective of 12 artists, in Swindon Open Studios during September 2019. In 2023, we featured working artists at our annual exhibition in August. In 2024, ten members took part in Oxfordshire Artweeks from 4th to 12th May at Buscot Park.
LAS at Oxfordshire Artweeks 2024
Lord Faringdon, our Patron, kindly allowed the Society to have a week-long Open Studios event at Buscot Park. Buscot Park is in Oxfordshire so this enabled the Society to participate in Oxfordshire Artweeks which is a county-wide event throughout May.
Ten of our members showed their work and demonstrated their skills from Saturday 4th to Sunday 12th May inclusive, 2pm to 6pm every day. The Open Studios venue was in the squash courts opposite the theatre and near the outdoor swimming pool.
Visitors could park in the main car park (or adjoining field overflow car park) and follow the signs to the venue. The car park and Open Studios venue were both free.
National Trust members were asked to register as a normal visitor at the ticket office even if they were only going to the Open Studios event; this enabled Buscot Park to receive valuable funding for every visit. NT members were, of course, free to wander anywhere they wished in the gardens and grounds, including the House.
Visitors who were not a National Trust member and only wanted to visit the Open Studios event could proceed directly from the car park following the signs to the venue. Visitors who wanted to wander through the gardens and grounds or to visit the House as well were asked to pay at the ticket office as Buscot Park is a National Trust property with admission charges.
The excellent cafe and marquee (near the car park) were open every day (except the Tuesday following the Bank Holiday weekend) for afternoon tea and cake thus making the visit even more enjoyable!
Zoe Hing participated in the event and writes ...
Not even eight days a week (The Beatles), it was a nine-day week at Oxfordshire Artweeks Open Studios
Lord Faringdon very generously allowed Lechlade Art Society to set up a working studio in his squash court. On Friday 3rd May, a group of ten members set up display screens to exhibit their work and brought easels, canvasses and much art equipment to demonstrate during the nine day event. It was a wintery cold wet afternoon too!
However the sun shone for the Bank Holiday weekend and nearly 200 visitors came to visit us each day. This included Lord Faringdon, his family and many of the house staff and volunteers. It was also great to see so many Lechlade Art Society members showing their support for the event.
There was an enthusiastic interest from visitors and many questions were fired at the artists. These ranged from ‘Where is that?’ To ‘Are you making that up?’
The sun shone and the temperature rose steadily during the rest of the week. Our group also made some sales of cards and pictures. It clearly sparked a lot of interest in the Lechlade Art Society which hopefully will result in some new members over time.
Your Committee is now working on the next Annual Exhibition in August. If you haven't taken part before why not consider entering this year? Details will be winging their way to you shortly. It's not difficult to enter work and it really is a very worthwhile event.
A total of over 1150 people (excluding children) visited the Open Studios event. Some photographs follow (courtesy of Zoe Hing).
For full details about Oxfordshire Artweeks, click on the (time limited) links below.
The Oxfordshire Artweeks 2024 Festival website
LAS Open Studios at Buscot Park (Venue 498)
Download the Oxfordshire Art Weeks’ 2024 Festival Guidebook which covers all venues in Oxfordshire throughout the month of May (pdf, 8.5MB)