We headed to art in action this weekend, I’d never been before and when we heard it was to be the last one the date was put in the calendar and guarded! The first thing that struck me once we got through the entry gate was how big the site was. Art in action is held at Waterperry gardens which by day is a horticultural college which also runs art courses. Once through the entrance we found ourselves in a rather pleasant orchard.
The other side of the orchard were the first lot of tents, we started off with sustenance…
… in the form of a waffle with berries and cream & then onwards (after passing the yarny ladies and string duo).
We made our way into the jewelery tent where I promptly fell in love with a silver hawkmoth made by Lucy Jade Sylvester.
clever picture made with rust!
After being forcibly removed by Jam we wandered over to the ceramics tent (below Daniel Wright’s beautiful ceramics).
The final exhibitions for this part of the showground were the woodworkers. There was turning
and these absolutely stunning vases/urns by Phil Irons
We then made our way towards the main house stopping to eat lunch beneath this rather lovely tree on the way
Round by the tree were the fantastic metal and glass sculptures of Jenny Pickford
After the sculpture we headed to the print making tent
where we saw innovative prints by Diana Ashdown (The first one is actually modelled on somewhere in Oxford…)
and these gorgeous vibrant prints by Fred Mutebi
After print making we found ourselves watching skeps being woven by the Natural Beekeeping Trust stand
We then meandered across to the textiles tent where we saw these delicate embroidered butterflies by Jane E. Hall
And some beautiful machine embroidery combined with painting and quilting techniques by Wendy Dolan (who also runs courses, just saying…)
From the textile tent it was another stroll across the lawn and past these colour packed borders to the sculptures.
And what sculptures they were! First up we saw old friend Rachel Ducker with her amazing wire human forms
tactile fish
and then onto the perfectly formed clay work of Brendan Hesmondhalgh (particularly loved his fox and carp, in the below photo he is in the process of constructing a bull).
Finally it was onto the illustration and newcomers tents. In the illustration tent we ran into the haunting owls of Catherine Hyde (no pics I’m afraid I was too busy talking, but you can find her website here) and the fabulous papercuts of Sarah Morpeth.
And then when we thought we wouldn’t see much more we wandered into the newcomers tent… Oh my goodness!
The wonderful wire & ceramic sculptures of James Ort
And beautifully detailed mosaics by Rachel Evans
In progress
As you may be able to tell we had a fantastic time & loved looking round all the tents at all the wonderful art work (but where was the stained glass?!?). I was really sorry to hear that this would be the last Art in Action but I hope it may come back in some form at some point in the future. Till then remember…
