Dear Blogger
Newsletter from the Willow Gallery, Oswestry
Winter Lockdown 2021 Under national lockdown restrictions, both gallery and café remain closed. Unavoidably, no date has been set as to when we will be able to re-open. Meanwhile our online shop remains open - and we'll update our website and social media platforms as we receive further information or guidance.
Wishing everyone well during these troubled times, and we hope all our artists are finding lots of subjects - and inspiration - albeit closer to home! And please send us your news, images, videos &c. | |  DEFIBRILLATOR INSTALLED
AT THE WILLOW
A life-saving defibrillator unit has been installed outside the Willow Gallery, one of now several peppered around the town centre. The defibrillators can help resuscitate people who have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, and are designed to be used by members of the public without any formal training.
For details of the defibs available in and around Oswestry, see www.oneoswestry.co.uk/live-work/defib-locations/ | | | | ART AND CRAFTS FROM OUR ONLINE SHOP | | | LANDSCAPES IN DIFFERENT MEDIA | |  DIANA BAUR
Sunset Bird
Mixed media
 THOMAS PETIT
Moors
Hand-blown glass vase [detail]  ROSEY PAUL
After the Rain
Felted wool |  RUTH GIBSON
Murmeration Megaliths
Printed & glazed stoneware
STEFANIE GUNDLACH
On the Moors
Watercolour
GILL CROZIER
Pink Beach & Cave
Acrylic on board | | EARTHENWARE BY WILLIE CARTER
 | At his workshop in Cheshire, Willie produces a range of thrown and hand-built pieces, from egg cups to huge platters, each individually brush decorated in vibrant Mediterranean colours. LEFT: Harbour platter BELOW: Chicken bowl
 | | ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMMA GILES
Working with pen, ink and a little touch of colour on handmade paper
RIGHT: Love is...Unconditional
BELOW: Moonlight Sonata  | | BEE PRINTS, CARDS, TEXTILES & PLACEMATS BY TERESKA SHEPHERD
A portion of every sale is donated to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust | |  BE MY VALENTINE CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT
Card by HAZEL McNAB
Locket by SARA PIPER HEAP
Glass mosaic by LINDSEY KENNEDY
Ring by SORREL SEVIER
Pendant by TAMALA DESIGNS
Stained-glass hearts by SIÂN HUGHES | | | NEW YEAR SALES FOR LESLEY
Two beautiful mixed-media compositions by local artist Lesley Fisher, both featuring the fish pond at Tresco Abbey Gardens (Isles of Scilly)
LEFT: Lake at Tresco Abbey Gardens RIGHT: Where Fishes Play | | 
Buy art over 10 months with an interest-free loan
Find out more on our website | | MINDFUL MUSEUMS
A feast for the eyes
with Lindsey Kennedy A series of short videos offering you a mindful exploration of artworks and objects held in the collection of Shropshire Museums
Listen to the videos on the Shropshire Museums website | | |  THE GREAT BIG ART EXHIBITION
Museums and leading artists are inviting the public to take part in what they hope will be the biggest art exhibition ever mounted.
The Great Big Art Exhibition has been launched by Sir Antony  Gormley who is asking artists of all ages to make an artwork and place it in their front window, balcony or garden. Leading artists - including Anish Kapoor, Sonia Boyce and Ai Weiwei - will choose a different theme each fortnight. The opening theme, chosen by Sir Antony, is animals. The next theme will be portraits.
The Angel of the North sculptor says the aim is to create a countrywide show inspired by the rainbow images people made to celebrate the NHS and keyworkers during the first lockdown. Details of how to take part, including a free activity pack, are available from arts organisation FirstSite. PAINTING ABOVE RIGHT: Chalky by © IRENE MUIR | | | Rejected Tintin cover design sets record for comic book art with €3.2m auction price  A picture by the Belgian illustrator Hergé has set a new record for the most expensive work of comic book art, selling online for €3.2 million in Paris, following a battle between three bidders.
The 1936 gouache, ink and watercolour painting was originally intended as the cover image for The Blue Lotus, Hergé's fifth book about boy reporter Tintin and his dog, Snowy. The tale unfolds in China at the time of the Japanese invasion of 1931, when Tintin gets drawn into a dangerous mystery involving opium dens, chloroform, spy networks, drive-by shootings, kidnappings and a poison that causes insanity. The painting shows the young hero and his faithful Snowy hiding in a porcelain jar. The artwork was ultimately too costly for publisher Louis Casterman to mass reproduce because (a victim of its own craftsmanship) it featured too many colours. The artist therefore produced a more simplified design while the rejected original was folded in six and tucked away in a drawer for decades. Tintin first appeared in a cartoon strip in 1929 and went on to star in 24 books. Hergé died in 1983. | | Paintings on a plate
Uffizi Gallery creates cooking show inspired by art
 The Uffizi in Florence is collaborating with chefs from around the country to produce recipes inspired by the gallery's collection of artworks. The initiative is titled Uffizi da Mangiare (Uffizi on a Plate). Artworks providing inspiration for Italian chefs include a painting by Botticelli, Caravaggio's portrait of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and several still-life studies of fruit, meat and seafood.
The weekly recipe show is being made available on the Uffizi Facebook page each week. Says director Eike Schmidt: 'We thought that since people can't go to restaurants right now and can't go to museums, why don't we ask some of our well-known chefs to be inspired by our paintings.'  RIGHT: A 1736 painting by Lombard artist Giacomo Ceruti shows a boy with a basket of fish and a crab. To go with the seafood, distinguished Tuscan chef Fabio Picchi suggests a beautiful home-made mayonnaise! Boy with a Basket of Fish | | |  Pink seesaws across US-Mexico border named Design of the Year 2020
A seesaw installation on the US-Mexico border created by California-based architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello has been named the 2020 Beazley Design of the Year by London's Design Museum. The installation, dubbed the Teeter Totter Wall, consisted of three bright pink seesaws installed through the slats of the 20ft steel border wall, with one seat in El Paso (Texas) and the other in Ciudad Juárez (Mexico). Only in place for about 40 minutes, the project made a lasting impression, allowing children and adults from both sides to interact with one another and achieving a sense of unity at the divisive border that was highly politicised under the Trump administration. On his first day in office, Joe Biden ordered a halt on the construction of the wall. | | | Snow can brighten the landscape and lift dampened spirits - but also create a more hazardous environment. With possibly more snow to come, please take care, stay safe and keep complying with Covid rules! Marysia's Snow Mademoiselle | | Tel: 01691 657575
email: willowgalleryoswestry.gmail.com
Website: willowgalleryoswestry.org
Facebook: Willow
Address: 56 Willow Street, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 1AD
Gallery and Café currently closed under lockdown restrictions
Editor: Hilary Moorcroft
February 2021 | | | | | |
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