It’s that time of year in Herefordshire artists’ diaries where hundreds of artists take part in a celebration of all things creative – from oil paintings to mosaics, pottery to crochet, weaving to watercolours and much more.
h.Art – or Herefordshire Art Week – takes place each year across the county for just over a week and brings together arts and crafts which are displayed in a huge variety of venues including high street galleries, quirky venues, artists’ homes and all manor of pop up spaces.
This year, h.Art runs from 2 to 10 September, and in Ross-on-Wye, you can enjoy artwork in six venues around the town centre with another few in outlying villages just a few miles away. Details of the participating venues in the town centre are below.
#1 Made in Ross (h.Art venue ref 58)
Right in the centre of town, upstairs at the iconic Market House, the Made in Ross gallery is putting on its usual wonderful display of arts and crafts from their community of skilled artists and craftspeople who live in and around the town. You’ll find a wide range of hand-made, affordable arts and crafts and artists exhibiting for h.Art Week include Rosie Callinan, Chris Champness, Lisa Coles, Steve Freer, Eleanor Kercher, Frances Warren and Susan White.
#2 St Mary’s Church (h.Art venue ref 59)
St Mary’s Church is once again taking part in h.Art to showcase the work of 15 local artists who work in a variety of media – including Sally Boehme, Romayne Curzon, Caroline Davies, Lisa Dear, Sarah Delahoy, Mary Deaville, Sian Gibbs, Amanda Grey, Rachel Hankins, Monique Oliver, Fiona Reynolds, Vanessa Rhead, John Sherahilo, Karen Tacey and Sharon Yorke. Also at the venue during the week, there will be homemade refreshments on sale and comfortable café style seating so you can relax there enroute to the other h.Art venues during the week.
#3 Freshwater Mosaics (h.Art venue ref 56)
Catherine Van Giap, a professional self-taught mosaic artist, runs Freshwater Mosaics from her home on New Street and creates bespoke mosaic wall hangings, both decorative and fine art based, as well as small oil paintings. Her work is both decorative, using stained glass and vintage china within the pieces, and also fine art based, where she uses her oil paintings as inspiration, turning them into stained glass wall hangings. Catherine has been running her business for 18 years and is also a tutor, holding workshops from her studio as well as using the space to work and sell her mosaics.
#4 Urchins Gallery (h.Art venue ref 57)
Urchins Gallery in Croft Court, is the latest gallery to open in Ross-on-Wye town centre this year and is a brand new venture set up by artists Tara Slater and Julie Cannon to showcase their work. Tara is a printmaker and mixed media artist inspired by a life-long love of animals and with a keen interest in the natural world. She explores these subjects mainly through the medium of linoprint and is also developing work in the relatively unknown medium of paint carving. Julie is a mixed media artist working mainly in watercolours, who has a passion for birdlife and wildlife found on her doorstep in the Forest of Dean. Vintage finds, steampunk and childhood memories all help to inspire Julie daily and find themselves wound into the stories behind her unique illustrations.
#5 Livinloom Home (h.Art venue ref 60)
Run by talented weaver, Gaby Devitt, Livinloom Home is a showroom and crafts shop on Gloucester Road in the basement of a lovely three storey terraced house. Gaby’s work, and a curated collection of makers living in and around Ross-on-Wye, is displayed along the entrance hall and in two rooms and includes a range handwoven fabric footstools, lampshades, cushions and upholstered furniture. Also tucked away in the bookshelves and display cabinets, you’ll find a collection hand thrown ceramics, felting, handcut paper art, beeswax candles and a selection of handmade mirrors. Alongside Gaby, artists exhibiting here include Sharon Curtis, Karen Tacey and Ali Tregaskes.
#6 Brunel Workshops (h.Art venue ref 61)
Ali Tregaskes & Sharon Curtis return to participate in h.Art Week at Brunel Workshops on Station Approach, with their wonderful jewellery and hand-cut paper art & printmaking respectively. Ali creates unique etched and oxidised silver jewellery pieces, inspired by patterns found in nature and architecture. She will happily undertake commissions if you would like a truly unique piece for a gift or a treat for yourself. Sharon works in two media – as a paper-cut artist and also as a printmaker. She became a full-time artist in 2012 following graduation from Hereford College of Art and lives in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside, the inspiration for her vibrant and contemporary art.