Oxfordshire artists unite with exhibition for COP-26

The exhibition ‘Heart of Nature’ grew from September’s ‘Oxfordshire Great Big Green Week’ and as part of the WWF ‘Just Imagine’ project -imagining different potential futures and creating art which puts nature at the heart of our decision making; to be exhibited coinciding with the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP-26).

‘Heart of Nature’ will be open from the 1st to the 14th Nov over two sites, at Ayres House Studios Gallery and Garden, off Station Road, and at St Peters Church, Thames Street, both in Wallingford.

Oxford based illustrator Jack Cowley (WWF Just Imagine Winner) and Ayres House Studio artists, Emma Souter and Karen Goonewardene, ran free workshops during September supported by the WWF. From this process, Emma and Karen are curating the exhibit which includes work by professional artist and the public, at Ayres House Studios Gallery & Garden.

“The drawing workshop offered the opportunity for the public to really put nature at the heart of their decision-making, reconnecting with it through drawing. Exploring the studios’ wild garden together, we selected something that caught the individual participants interest and imagination and took it into the studio to study. Participants were encouraged to play with scale and make a large drawing of a small part of nature. Some of the outcomes of this experience will be on show during the exhibition. The workshop mirrored my own process studying Bramble roots”, explains Karen talking about her work and the exhibit. “Scaling up and revealing an essential yet hidden part of nature, elevates the root to a position of reverence. These fascinating ‘creatures’ have a life of their own, emphasized in this exhibition through close observational drawings and sculptures that reveal different characters and growth histories. Research has shown that plants are also conscious sentient beings and have the ability to perceive, experience and feel things. They can smell, hear, learn, communicate, make decisions and remember. This exhibition enhances the visitor’s reconnection with both nature and themselves.”

In addition there will be selected works from studio artists, Jack Cowley and the hugely successful ‘Green Art Trail’; which was a collaboration between Watlington Artists and various local environmental groups, to raise awareness of local habitats and biodiversity.

At their second site of St Peters Church will be a clay community art installation facilitated by Adumbration Arts. Talking about the ‘Please handle with care’ project, Emma Souter Says. “I wanted to create a project that was truly inclusive, we’ve had some really lovely workshops with families, the public, schools, care homes and charities, from professional artists, learners with difficulties to early years groups. So far we’ve had participants from age 93-3. Each has been given a piece of clay roughly the size of their fist, which has been kindly donated by ‘Scolaquip’, to represent a life form, be it plant, animal, single celled, extinct or imagined. I can’t wait to carefully assemble all these individual clay pieces together as one body. Air dried clay can be very brittle, so I really will have to look after them! Hopefully by the end of the exhibit, there will be around 900 clay figures. I am interested to see how the piece will come together in the setting of St Peters Church alongside the root sculptures and drawings of Karen Goonewardene from the 1st-2nd and the installation of glowing ‘Exo Earth’ photographs by John Hailstone, from the 5th-14th.

John is based in Wallingford and specialises in fine art, commissioned and event photography with a particular focus on nature and live music. Exo Earth is an exhibition of glowing photographic canvases that explore speculative worlds that orbit stars other than our Sun, in particular those that lie within a star’s habitable zone where life may exist. This exhibition is an extension of a previous work, inspired by the over 4000 exo planets that astronomers have now discovered.

Original photographs of the Earth and its lifeforms have been altered in form and colour to embody new earths beyond our own. Discover the worlds of Aether, Gaia, Thalassa, Chronos, Ananke, Eros, Tartarus, Erebus, Nyx & Hypnos and the new worlds of Prometheus, Ourea, Nesoi, Chaos & Nemesis. The exhibitions will be enhanced with ambient music by British music composer and ambient musician Simon Wilkinson. A percentage of the exhibition sales will go to support St.Peter’s Church and the Churches Conservation Trust. The Trust's Community Officer, Patrick Joel said “Choosing historic churches for displaying arts and crafts benefits everyone - makers and artists, collectors and consumers and the wide community of people who love visiting these special important buildings, and who love to find them open and in use. Exhibitions and artists residencies can also help generate crucial funds to help pay for maintaining these unique spaces and so The Churches Conservation Trust looks forward to welcoming many more in the future following this exhibit.”

Both sites open 11am-5pm. Only a 5 minute flat walk between venues or parking available at both.

Venues and opening dates:

1st-14th Nov*

St Peters Church, Thame Street, Wallingford, OX10 0BH
*Closed 3rd-4th& 8th-10th

Ayres House Studios, Ayres Yard, Station Rd, Wallingford. OX10 0JZ
*Closed Weds 3rd &10th

For further details about ‘Heart of Nature’ go to www.ayreshousestudios.co.uk and for ‘exo earth’ go to www.granizo.uk