| SHAPING UP FOR THE FUTURE While the future remains somewhat uncertain, if all goes to plan we hope to re-open the gallery on 12 April - and can't wait to welcome visitors again. Our café must of course remain closed until at least 17 May.
We can now - tentatively - start to plan dates for future exhibitions. These will include our long-postponed Painting with Words and also a mixed exhibition of new works (it's not too late to submit your work for either of these). We'll continue to update you via our social media, website and newsletters - and let us all hope that the worse of this is over. | | | 
AT THE WILLOW GALLERY Office / Studio space
First floor / Two rooms
Own shower & WC
Independent access / Parking
Affordable / Flexible
Enquiries
willowgalleryoswestry@gmail.com | Ubiquitous symbol of a pandemic  DARREN FRASER's self-portrait in oil with mask. Catch up with Darren below following his move to Spain. | | | * * * * * * *
ONLINE AT THE WILLOW
With our doors closed until April 12, our online shop does remain open with a selection of work from the gallery | |  JACQUELINE ABBOTT
Fire
Glass window bend |  JOHN WOODYATT Porth Ysgo, Llyn
Acrylic
The secluded cove on the Llyn Peninsula nestles within the cliffs between Porth Neigwl/Hell's Mouth and Aberdaron | | | In two evocative watercolours, Leaf Fall and Morning Mist, Shropshire artist REG TURRELL encapsulates the changes autumn brings and the emergence of the winter landscape | | | We also have a large selection of greetings cards featuring the beautifuly-reproduced work of many of our regular artists. You will also find art prints. See these on our website and on Willow Facebook. | |  IAN PHILLIPS
Bwylch Graig Fawr
(from linocut)  ALEXI FRANCIS
Badgers' sett
(concertina card with tag)  LOUISE STAFFORD Surveying the Land
(from watercolour)  DAVID BANNISTER
Dreaming of Droving
(from acrylic on canvas) |  REBECCA STOCKBURN
Blue tit (3D art)  LEO DONAGHY
Golden Moon (Chinese brush painting)  HOLLY HAYWARD
Martha & The Miner's Lamp
(from oil on canvas)  TERESKA SHEPHERD
Butterfly Moon (mixed media) | | 
Sunday 14 March 
GIFT IDEA FOR A BOOK-LOVING MUM In Me and My Mam, local author Vicky Turrell writes of growing up in rural Yorkshire and the complex relationship between her and her mother as the frugal Fifties transform into the Swinging Sixties. Launched at the Willow Gallery in September 2019, Vicky's always engaging memoir captures a way of life that has almost disappeared - though older mums, of course, will have experienced the era firsthand!
The book (price £6.50) can be ordered from the Willow, Booka Bookshop and Leaf by Leaf Press.
Vicky is the author of another autobiographical novel, It's Not a Boy! (she was born on VE Day into a farming family who had wanted a son), and two other popular books, Robin on My Tea Cup and Ducklings on My Doorstep. She is currently completing her fifth book, this time about her father. She also writes a regular column for the Shropshire Star. | | | RECENT SALES
Quirky wildlife art by EMMA GILES, perfect to brighten up your day
See more of Emma's creations on Facebook | |  | Love is...Seeing you
Pen & ink on handmade paper |  | Bug Watching
Ceramic | |  | | [LEFT] JULIE JAMES-TURNER's Baby Bunting creations, each one different with vintage doll faces and [RIGHT] DIANA BAUR's Madonna of the Cwtch (being Welsh for hug) limited-edition prints have also been catching the online eye and finding new homes. | | JENNY'S WINTER SKETCHBOOK
Textile artist Jenny O'Leary shows how her sketchbook has acted as an illustrated diary of the winter months as well as a starting point for more developed work. Whatever the season, Jenny has a sketchbook on the go.
Jenny runs regular workshops at the Willow, focussing particularly on the ancient art of batik. She looks forward to resuming classes when she and her students can once again work safely together. | | | | DAVEY'S DRAWING ROOM  Online bi-weekly Zoom meeting
for anyone wishing to learn how to draw or refine/brush up on their existing skills
Tues & Thurs
1.30-2.30pm
In Davey's Drawing Room you will be drawing from photographs or digital images, and will have open dialogue with a practicing interdisciplinary artist with over 10 years experience in art tuition at all levels
1-to-1 tutoring also available
| | FIRE HORSE QIGONG  Join a session to meet your needs
Mon-Fri 9-9.30am
Start the day with a 20-30 minute session of simple-to-follow Qigong movements - sitting and standing stretches and breathing exercises
Wed 6-6.45pm Early evening 45-60 minute sessions of dynamic Qigong: learn and practice traditional, energy-enhancing forms and sequences such as Baduanjin, Shibashi and Eight Animals | | | CLASSES ARE DONATION-BASED | | 
The gallery is a participant in the Own Art interest-free loan scheme, a great way to make art more accessible
Please see our website for details | | GIFT VOUCHERS
Can be redeemed online or (when we're open again) at the gallery
Buy your gift voucher online | | | ¡HOLA! FROM BEATRIZ AND FROM DARREN
Many regular visitors and exhibitors will remember Beatriz Cabrera and Darren Fraser who, before relocating to Spain with their children, played an enormous rôle in helping to run the gallery. They ask to be remembered to you all, and send their good wishes. In turn, we thought you would like to hear some news of them. | | | Sculptor Beatriz shared the studio space above the Dunbabin Room with Darren. She also ran workshops and exhibited work in the gallery. She is now working as a curator at the Adsubian Gallery in L'Atzúbia (province of Alicante). Check out the gallery here. |  Sculptures by Beatriz, in bronze then painted | | | Beatriz using stone as a sculptural medium | |  | | Darren's studio at the Willow | | | Painter/sculptor Darren was a popular tutor at the Willow. He is fascinated by the nature of personality and individuality, and looks for and explores this in all his works - of strangers as well as people he knows, people in disguise, clowns, animals. His paintings are characterised by intense colours and simplified forms. Since moving to L'Atzúbia he has continued to develop his skills as a sculptor, principally working in bronze. He also continues to teach. | |
ABOVE: Bella
LEFT: Baco | | |  | | The Apprentice | | CAPTAIN TOM DIES AGED 100
 The WW2 veteran became an inspiration to millions while walking 100 laps of his garden as he approached his own centenary. He set out to raise £1000 for health workers and he ended up raising £33 million. In tribute, a Spitfire and a Hurricane perfomed a flypast over his home, and he was knighted at Windsor Castle. RIGHT: Captain Tom has inspired many artistic tributes, including this pastel portrait by ANDREA NAYLOR | |  ONLINE TALKS
Wed 10 March, 7.30pm
BOATMEN, BUGS & BEETLES
River Projects Manager Pete Lambert gives an insight into the Natural England-funded Shropshire Pond Creation Scheme
Wed 17 March, 7.30-8.30pm
IN CONVERSATION WITH DOMINIC DYER
One of Britain's leading wildlife protection campaigners on DEFRA's new plans to irradicate bovine TB that will include phasing out the culling of badgers
| | | | LEGO VAN GOGH Courtesy of Truman Cheng Vincent van Gogh's 1889 beguiling masterpiece The Starry Night has been turned into a 3D Lego set and is due to be released shortly. Created by 25-year-old PhD student Truman Cheng, the design uses a mix of over 1500 pieces, including thin plate pieces positioned in different directions to approximate van Gogh's swirling sky. There is also a minifigure of the artist with a brush, palette, easel and mini replica of The Starry Night on a printed tile. Lego has come a long way! | | | Van Gogh's posthumously famous painting depicts the pre-dawn view from his window in the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where he spent 12 months seeking reprieve from his mental illness. The village is an imaginary component, a place of quiet order in contrast to the exploding stars above. Since 1941 Starry Night has been in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. | | | Purple dye once more precious than gold Archæologists in Israel have found textile scraps containing purple dye dating to around 1000BC, when King David was said to have ruled the area in Israel's southern tip, including Timna, an ancient copper production district where the discovery was made. The find and its implications are outlined in a paper written by researchers from Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University and the Israel Antiquities Authority. | |  Wool fibres dyed pink-purple hue (photo Dafna Gazit courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority) | | | The purple dye - described in the Bible as argaman, a precious colour reserved for royals and priests - comes from the dye-producing glands of live murex sea snails found on the shores of the Mediterrean. That means the recently-discovered fabric, found deep in the desert near the Red Sea, is especially noteworthy for having travelled so far from where it was produced, and suggests a more complex social system than had been typically associated with the nomadic peoples of Timna. In the ancient world the gorgeous shade of purple, the fact that it does not fade, and the difficulty in producing the dye made it the most highly valued of the dyes, which often cost more than gold. Earlier excavations had turned up samples of the purple dye on mollusc shells and fragments of pottery in the area, but no fabric textiles. Although evidence of purple dye near the Mediterranean has been found and dated to the Middle Bronze Age, this new discovery is the oldest such find ever made in the Southern Levant - and, through analysis of the textiles, researchers can glean more information about the lives of Iron Age people in the area and extend their understanding of the region's cultural and societal values. | | | Footnote: The Phoniceans first used murex sea snails to create the purple dye called Tyrian purple because the finest dye came from the coastal city of Tyre. The main chemical constituent is a substance known as dibromoindigo, a derivative of indigo dye containing the halogen element bromine. Unlike indigo dye, Tyrian purple has never been commercially synthesised: hence its cost and rarity. The colour can be rendered on a computer screen using the hexadecimal code #66023C. | | Metal detectorist unearths trove of 1000-year-old Viking jewellery on the Isle of Man Courtesy of Manx National Heritage Museum
A gold arm ring, silver armband and large silver brooch are among the treasures believed to have been buried around AD950 when the island was under the rule of the Scandinavian Kings of Dublin. The objects were buried in the ground - perhaps stashed during an invasion with the intention of the owner to reclaim them at a later stage. They will go on display at the Manx Museum in Douglas. | | | Blue beads found in Alaska may be the first European artefacts in North America Courtesy of American Antiquity
The beads, about the size of blueberries, were made in Venice and found by archæologists in Northern Alaska. They are believed to be over 540 years old - older than Columbus' 1492 voyage. They would have been valuable trade items centuries ago, and would likely have been taken along the Silk Road to China, through Siberia and eventually into what is now Alaska via the Bering Strait. | | | 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
March 2021 | | |
