Sycamore Gallery, Enstone (From thisisoxfordshire)

Sycamore Gallery, Enstone

10:13am Thursday 16th April 2009 in Search By Helen Peacocke

Will Taylor and his wife Hazel opened the doors of Sycamore Gallery, Enstone, last October, and it’s already proving a great success, attracting art lovers from all over the county. Before opening, Will and Hazel spent months visiting artists’ studios to view and assess their work. Their aim is to promote talented local artists. They really do mean local.

Some of the artists they encourage live, but a stone’s throw away; others come from Great Rollright, Chipping Norton, Charlbury and nearby hamlets. The gallery comprises three small rooms, each displaying the works of two or three artists. Several particularly atmospheric oil and pastel paintings by Enstone artist Andrea Bates dominate the main room. They hang alongside displays of porcelain jewellery and ceramic works by Selma Stagg, from Chipping Norton. Three of Andrea’s works in pastel were painted in Canada in autumn, when golden brown hues of fallen leaves dominate the forest floor. Her works in oil highlight the intense beauty of the Mediterranean, though her Dancing with the Trees (pictured), could have been painted in any wooded place that attracts a joyful spirit. The more you gaze at this work and the dancer’s celebration of joy, the more you see. Even the trees appear to be dancing.

Photographer Ian Cave, who also lives in Enstone, is exhibiting too. Mounted on board, which is then sealed in plastic, his pictures pulsate with colour, his most effective being Nepalese Pigments, which sets powdered paints one against another. Ian’s other photographs are of mountains and wild landscapes, while one has captured a rainbow glowing within a stunning cloud formation. The gallery is in the centre of Enstone on the A44 and is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm and Sunday from noon to 4pm. The exhibitions are changed every six weeks.

Helen Peacocke