Welcome to our Events page
Dragonfly Framing organises a selection of events each year to both engage and support local artists as well as provide attractions within the Bicester area.
We are co-ordinators for the popular Oxfordshire Artweeks that happens every May and run our own exhibition each year to help raise the profiles of artists and of course our chosen charity.
In 2024 the Bicester Art Network voted to have Bicester Autism as its chosen charity and there will be a series of activities to help raise much needed funds for them during this year.
We really hope that you'll join us as either a visitor or an artist and come along to support our events and we look forward to seeing soon, thank you.
We have recently agree a new venue (see the events below for location details) for our Artist Gatherings so that we can reduce costs, and move back to meeting on the third Wednesday of each month.
Oxfordshire Artweeks Exhibition 2025
Oxfordshire Artweeks Exhibition 2025
May 17–26, 2025 | 10-5 Mon-Sat 11-4 SUN & Bank holidays | 48–50 Sheep Street, Bicester
Step into a celebration of creativity and community at the Oxfordshire Artweeks Exhibition, hosted in the heart of Bicester! From May 17th to May 26th, 2025, the vibrant venue at 48–50 Sheep Street will come alive with a stunning showcase of artwork from 28 talented local artists, all part of the Bicester Art Network.
This dynamic exhibition offers something for everyone, from captivating paintings and intricate sculptures to thought-provoking photography, ceramics, and textiles. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a casual browser, or simply looking for a unique way to spend a day, this event promises to inspire and delight.
What to Expect:
• A Diverse Collection: Explore a wide variety of styles and mediums, reflecting the diverse talents and perspectives of our local artists.
• Meet the Artists: Engage with the creators behind the artwork and gain insight into their creative processes.
• Interactive Opportunities: Enjoy live demonstrations and workshops (select dates) that allow you to try your hand at different artistic techniques.
• Art for Everyone: With works available for purchase, this is a fantastic opportunity to support local talent and take home a unique piece of art.
The exhibition is free to attend, making it an accessible and welcoming space for all. Whether you’re a long-time supporter of the arts or a newcomer to the scene, we look forward to sharing this extraordinary celebration with you.
Mark your calendar and join us at 48–50 Sheep Street, Bicester, for an unforgettable exploration of the local art scene during Oxfordshire Artweeks!
Speakers
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I am inspired by countryside walks and the changes in weather and season upon the landscape and enjoy translating these scenic discoveries into colourful linocuts. Themes for my work include trees, water and flowers and more recently a trip to Japan. My work is impressionistic in style; I’m interested in colour, light, depth and detail. Most of my prints are reduction linocuts which are relief prints formed with layers of colour which are cut and printed from the same block of lino, destroying the block in the process. I create a small, limited edition of every work, as each piece is created by hand, small variations make each one original.
I’ve been a full-time printmaker since 2012 when I moved to Bicester and created a simple printmaking studio at home so that I could develop my skills to the highest standards. I am a best seller on the Artfinder online marketplace and my linocuts have been displayed at the Royal Academy, the Bankside Gallery and Mall Galleries in London. My work sells to collectors across the UK and internationally.
I teach group lino cutting workshops at the Phoenix Studio in Towersey and other venues. Check my website for upcoming courses for adults at Stowe School. -
I am a painter inspired by nature and the animals/birds within it. I find joy when i see the creature emerging from the paper or canvas before me. I started painting and doing creative courses 8 years ago to relax but it wasn’t until i reduced my hours at work 4 years ago that i found the space to explore my own creativity.
I like to use watercolour, acrylic and mixed media. More recently, i have explored techniques using gouache resist with Indian ink and gel plate printing to make my work less predictable and hopefully more exciting.
This year i joined a wonderful long-standing art group at Piddington in Oxfordshire and we meet to paint and share ideas once a week.
I have recently embarked on a mastery course with Milan Institute in the USA to help my goal of becoming a professional artist. -
This year, I am exhibiting a very eclectic art selection, from seascape through to Still Life, human subject and even delicious food! I tend to paint a subject that attracts my attention, whether it is related to the balance of colours, the composition or the theme.
I am French and have lived in Oxfordshire for over 30 years. I started crafting and drawing with my daughters when they were growing up. In 2018, I set up a website and joined the Bicester Art Network, which was a newly created group of enthusiastic local artists. I started taking part in exhibitions and craft fairs and selling my art.
Although I first created my art using watercolour, acrylic and collage, I now almost exclusively use technical technology, designing on my iPad using a couple of fabulous Apps. I usually work from pictures which appeal to me, whether they are from holiday escapes or a bunch of flowers on a table, a personal experience or inspiration from a movie… I challenge myself painting various themes and playing with colours and shades. I am self-taught and love challenging myself with new styles.
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Challoner Spokes is a British painter living and working in Oxfordshire. Her paintings are full of colour and contrasts, depicting themes of pattern, nature and memory.
Born in 1982 in Hertfordshire, Challoner has always enjoyed painting and drawing. A self-taught artist, she has a BA Hons from University of Kent and learnt her creative foundation skills from professional artists.
As well as an experienced visual artist, Challoner specialises in creative education and training for adult learners. With well over a decade of experience, she is passionate about arts and helping others develop their skills. Since 2013 she has been delivering comprehensive art courses, workshops and demonstrations covering drawing, oil pastels, watercolours and acrylic painting*.
Challoner’s paintings and prints are held in private collections in the UK, Netherlands and USA. She moved to Oxfordshire in 2018 and lived happily ever after..
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David R Meeks - born in Kettering Northamptonshire. David now lives in Oxfordshire working as a professional artist and tutor.
He received no formal training whatsoever. He relies purely on his own talent and natural versatility. His work has been published as greeting cards as well as open and limited prints.
His paintings and prints are now eagerly collected by UK and overseas visitors. His success has led to his paintings being in many private collections in this country and abroad. His work can be found as far a field as America, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, where his water colours of the Oxfordshire countryside have become renowned for their pleasing professional appeal. -
Graham is a professional picture framer and founder of Dragonfly Framing in Bicester. He started his career within the horticultural industry some 35 years ago. Having started growing fruit trees and shrubs in the fields around the south coast before moving into the retail sector. Latterly Graham spent a decade in marketing, winning awards from the Marketing Society for his efforts, before finally deciding to take the plunge and set up his new business in a completely new sector, Picture Framing.
With his keen interest in the arts, photography, the natural world and of course horticulture, Picture Framing was not the most obvious choice of a future career. However, his desire to present his photography to a wider audience and to find a creative outlet that offered a better work/life balance than working away from home the majority of the time was high on the list of priorities. His love of art and horticultural background, influences his photography, and the practical side of picture framing appealed very much to his practical and creative skills. Having invested in the tools of the trade and training Graham launched Dragonfly Framing in February 2017 and hasn’t looked back since.
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I’ve always had a passion for arts, crafts and being creative. During a career break after my children were born I began initially to make jewellery for friends and family. This started as a therapeutic hobby alongside being a busy mum but as I learned more and focused my skills I realised I was hooked!
Along with sterling silver, I like to work with Precious Metal Clay (PMC) a fine silver clay mix which when fired is 99.9% pure silver. Using PMC enables me to create small intricate designs which are then sometimes complemented with enamel, precious and semi precious stones, beads and shells. Each piece is uniquely designed and created by myself and always carefully considered.
My inspiration comes from a childhood in Cornwall and a love for travel. Living in rural Oxfordshire, my walks with the family provide me with endless sources of collections. I am also a keen photographer and gardener. All this feeds into my design process. -
I began my artistic journey as a picture restorer in London before going on to study at art college, where I focused mainly on print work, and was awarded my degree.
Art has always been a much-loved part of my life, whether it has been a hobby or career, developing many different skills and styles.I have now refined my own sometimes impressionistic, sometimes abstract landscape; having fallen in love with the freedom and adaptability of acrylic paint.
I can never tell at the beginning how the painting will evolve, but I allow myself to go to the canvas or board with a free mind knowing that whatever I paint, it is not only about the final image, but vitally, my feelings toward it.
Using colour mark and layers to convey the enormous depth that there is both visually and psychologically within the composition, my work is not only about the scene, but about the emotions I experienced during its creation.
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Miranda Markham
Miranda Markham is an Oxfordshire based artist painting in watercolour and oil. She took up painting 8 years ago and enjoys painting across a wide variety of subjects although her speciality is still life and portraiture. Her style is loose and impressionistic inspired by her frequent trips to France and the beautiful summer light.
Miranda founded the Art in the Countryside charity exhibition in Newton Purcell where she partners with organiser Graham Perryman every June to celebrate local artists exhibiting and selling their work with a rural theme.
Miranda paints and sells her work throughout the year and is available for commissions -
Polly Rose Pincott is an Oxfordshire based Portrait Artist. She works in a variety of medium, predominantly oil paint, pencil and charcoal.
'Within my portraits I aim to achieve a boldness of character, alongside an offering of contemplative vulnerability. They rely not on apparent narrative but mood and sensitivity. My portraits tend to orbit around themes of nostalgia, sentiment and the human condition, the sitter represented with both a sense of strength and calm. I am searching for a balance and sense of spirit for the viewer to connect with. '
Polly Pincott was a semi finalist on the 2024 Series 11 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. She is a proud member of the Oxford Art Society and was a shortlisted artist selected to exhibit at the British Art Prize 2023
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"After studying Fashion Design at Art College my career has taken me from designing premium small leather goods to product design and development in the bespoke toiletries sector. A number of years ago I established my own freelance Graphic Design business, this has enabled me focus on developing my art practice.
I work mainly in acrylics, utilizing my own photographs as inspiration for many of my paintings. Recently I’ve become fascinated by the process of digitally overlaying two photos and adjusting the transparency and colour balance to create vibrant, unique and often unexpected images that I then interpret in paint. This method allows the exploration of many subject matters, with endless possibilities...."
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I’m a self-taught photographer who used the advent of the digital era to learn, experiment and develop my own style.
I’m a member of the Royal Photographic Society and have gained it’s LRPS distinction (Licentiate of the RPS).
My work covers many photographic genres, all of which I approach with an eye for composition and creativity. Inspired by both natural and manmade forms I create vibrant colour abstracts, moody monochrome landscapes , detailed natural history images and all points between. I mainly use “in camera techniques” to create my images but also use software to finish images off, or to create and enhance abstracts. My aim is to generate an emotional connection with myself and, hopefully, other viewers, to the finished image.
I’ve been exhibiting for about 15 years at Art and Craft fairs, Open Studios/Art Weeks events and has held successful exhibitions in the “A Little Bird Told Me” gallery in Wendover, the “Stables Gallery” of the Claydon Estate near Buckingham, Stonework Thame, “The Old Fire Station” gallery” in Henley and “Art in the “Leamington Spa Park Art”.
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Susan Harding
I've been taking photographs since I was 11 years old. Starting with a twin lens camera that once belonged to my father.
I mostly take pictures of wildlife and fauna as well as military aircraft.
Resently I decided to print some of favourites out. -
Valerie Syposz was born in Ottawa, Canada. She obtained a BFA (2008) from Concordia University, where she studied a wide array of print media. In 2010 Syposz was selected as a Japanese Government MEXT Scholar and moved to Tokyo. She received an MFA (2013) in printmaking from Tokyo University of the Arts, focusing on ball-grained plate lithography.
Syposz continues to focus her creation on printmaking in its many forms, usually with hand-printed techniques. She has always found inspiration by observing the world around her. Over the years, Syposz' works have evolved from mirroring her experienced reality into more subjective interpretations. What was previously a reflection of the outer world is now a glimpse into the inner world of those portrayed. Starting from life drawings, Syposz develops each image instinctively, first by sketching and then throughout the platemaking and printing process. The resulting prints form a series of slightly peculiar and dreamlike figurative works.
Syposz has held solo exhibitions in Canada, Japan, Australia, Norway, and Korea. She has participated in multiple artist-in-residence programs, including at Guanlan Original Printmaking Base, Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder and the Ottawa School of Art. Syposz continues to exhibit extensively in group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. -
Victoria Stanway became a professional artist in 2008 to meet demand for her paintings. Working from her studio in Oxfordshire her practice has focused predominantly on the landscape in various forms and methods.
Her first series of work entitled 'Landscapes of the Mind'. are inspired by a combination of fading memories, and dreams, often citing references from her past, conjuring mindscapes that are thought provoking and emotive.
Victoria comments on her motivation for this first series.
"I grew up in a dying milltown in east Lancashire, which consisted of rows and rows of back to back terraces, redundant textile mills, and factories all crammed in together in a chaotic fashion, but it was surrounded by luminous countryside which I would escape to. These paintings are often fragmented, contrasting and blurring the references, reflecting my feelings towards them.
You can sometimes see reoccurring symbols in the paintings, such as buildings and windows, often with strange characters I remember from my youth lurking in the shadows. The terraced houses represent oppressive, claustrophobic, restricting memories, of feeling stifled and hemmed in as a child. I take these ideas further in some paintings, constructing narratives which have had a cathartic impact on my practice"
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Born in Lancashire, I have lived in Oxfordshire for approximately 30 years. I only came to the discovery that I could draw in 2018 on the death of my father. I picked up a pencil and drew a lily and couldn't quite believe I'd done it. I then went on to draw a few pencil portraits for friends and relatives.
Drawing then stopped until I was furloughed in 2020 when I decided to try coloured pencils. From that point on I have been on a rollercoaster of a journey which resulted in my first exhibiting in Oxfordshire Artweeks, followed by Artists in the Countryside in 2022. Initially my work was animal portraits but as my confidence has grown I have explored other subjects and, more recently, a different medium. I draw what inspires me and as a country girl I am very much drawn to wildlife, the countryside and the coast. I do however love challenging myself and as a result braved human portraits and the human form. My new medium is pastel pencil which I am loving.
This has turned into a real passion for me, it’s my yoga with pencils, my happy place, my escape! I particularly love taking the opportunity to showcase my work and I am very happy to talk to people about it. It has been quite a journey and being completely self-taught I hope I can inspire others just to try.