Around two dozen local artists and makers pitched up in Victoria Park on a beautiful bank holiday Sunday to hang their work along the railings and display craftwork on tables alongside the footpath outside the nursery and family hub – the hugely popular Art on the Park was back.
Town mayor David Harman officially opened the day-long event amid the vibrant displays of paintings.
The railings of Victoria Park nursery school were decked out with paintings in a huge range of styles including abstract and stylised works and more traditional landscapes. Created from pen and ink, watercolour, oil, acrylic and photography; there were also images made using pyrography. On tables facing the railings more art was displayed alongside the work of several ceramicists and a variety of crafts, such as wood turning, crochet, and macrame.
The event attracted many visitors and the artists made a good number of sales.
Chair of Art on the Park Gill Durrant said among the highlight were: ”Eight artists from Newbury Art Group displayed their work, including sisters Pearl Hailstone and Beryl Wilson, each with a distinctive personal style of landscape painting. Newcomer Ian Black’s watercolour scenes were colourful and atmospheric; his local scenes proved popular with the public.
“Amber Coote’s paintings were in a variety of mediums, all brightly coloured imaginative abstracts with a psychedelic vibe.
“Another very imaginative artist, Kat Brown, created finely detailed pyrographic pictures of folkloric creatures, some inspired by her love of Dungeons and Dragons. Emily Stevens’ bright bold botanical paintings really stood out on the railings. Another artist favouring flora was Amanda Bates, with a contrasting style of finely drawn and detailed pictures of trees, and paintings of glossy conkers.
“Fiona Cue is a professional photographer of some 30 years standing. She brought along an assortment of high-quality framed photographs with a variety of subject matter including architecture and single flowers.
“Macrame practitioner Shreya Patel’s stall was filled with a huge variety of products made from natural yarns, from fun pumpkins and wall hangings, to practical objects such as dog leads. Shreya teaches macrame locally and on You Tube and has made a huge range of objects over the years. Kathy Shannon also had a large range of items she had crocheted including bags, hats and clothing.
“Martin Eastabrook has been creating pots and other ceramic objects for many years and brought along a wide selection of items including bird feeders, mugs and bowls in many shapes and styles, showing his versatility as a potter. Fellow ceramicist James Trigwell’s bowls and pots displayed his love of colourful glazes, in metallics and deep blues.”
The popular event was revived in 2021 by a group made up from representatives from Newbury Town Council, Newbury Art Group and Newbury District Arts Association after stopping when Parkway was being redeveloped.
