Countdown to biggest ever Open Studios Art festival has officially started

The brochures have landed, the countdown has begun, and artists across the whole of Northamptonshire and Rutland have been busy creating work to show off to visitors this September. Running from Melton Mowbray to Middleton Cheney, this event is set to be the biggest ever Open Studios covering the two counties.

A total of 317 local artists are taking part in the hugely successful Open Studios event which returns this September, including the annual takeover of the stable block at Lamport Hall for the central exhibition, and this week sees the launch of Open Studios brochures so visitors can start planning which artists they’d like to visit!

Northamptonshire and Rutland Open Studios invites local people to visit the artists, potters, sculptors, printmakers and craftspeople in their local area, to see where they work and explore the art that people are creating near to you. The brochure details all the artists taking part and is widely distributed to hundreds of public shops, cafés and public places. This year the successful event includes artists from the Rutland area too so there’s lots of new work to explore. And to kick things all off, each artist taking part produces up to 2 pieces for the annual Central Exhibition at Lamport Hall which fills the historic stable block with a vibrant showcase of the artistic talent across Northamptonshire and Rutland.

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The Central Exhibition opens on 1 September at 10am and is open Wednesday to Sunday every week of September 10am-4pm. Entry is free to the exhibition and there is a café and parking on site. There will be a variety of artists on site at Lamport giving live demonstrations and creating art within the gardens each day, and the very popular mini masterpieces mystery postcard sale is making a return where visitors can purchase a postcard for £10 but won’t know which artwork is theirs until the end of the show.

Heidi Clawson who will be exhibiting alongside five others as part of Buckminster Creative Hubplaceholder image
Heidi Clawson who will be exhibiting alongside five others as part of Buckminster Creative Hub

Artists who are opening their studios to visitors are listed in the widely distributed brochure and on the NROS website, and you can expect a warm welcome as well as sneak peek into their creative processes. There is also a raft of group exhibitions at galleries, art centres and museums across the area and pop exhibitions at lots of other venues.

Katie Boyce, Director of NROS said

“We’re thrilled to be able to welcome back all our favourite Northamptonshire artists this year to Lamport and I know that everyone is equally excited to welcome the work of lots of new artists from the Rutland area too – there’ll be so much to see, make sure you give yourself a good few hours to take it all in! The Central Exhibition is a great introduction for visitors to the Open Studios event, and if you see someone whose work you really like, you can then visit them at their studio to see more. The feedback we have had from artists is that they love to welcome visitors and connect to local people interested in art, so please do visit and support the creatives in your area!”

Amongst those artists opening their studios and hosting exhibitins, Heidi (pictured) is a newbie to this years event. Heidi will be exhibiting as part of the Buckminster Creative Hub group on the weekends of 7 & 8th and 14th & 15th September, 11am - 5pm. She exhibits her paintings alongside five other artists and makers celebrating life and nature with the creative mix of paintings, prints, portraits, bronze sculpture, ceramics, and mixed media. The artists will also be providing workshops as part of the festival.

More information about all the artists and events is available on the NROS website at www.NROS.co.uk or you can pick up brochures in loads of places across the two counties for more information.

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