ACCIDENT OF BIRTH
A unique and moving photographic Oxhibition at Salisbury Oxfam Gallery
January 7th – 29th 2010

Salisbury based photographer Clare Allen Crook is holding an exhibition of photographs entitled Accident of Birth documenting her work with the Sri Lankan people following the tsunami in 2004.

Clare has worked as a photographer in London, New York, Afghanistan, Italy, Africa and Bermuda. In 2004, Clare was caught up in the tsunami in Sri Lanka and decided to remain there to make a photographic record of the aftermath and subsequent rebuilding process. On her return to the UK she became co-founder of a charity called Rebuilding Sri Lanka, which has remained operational ever since, providing sustained support and rehabilitation to the coastal villages and communities affected by the tsunami.

Clare says: “It is an accident of birth that separates us from the millions of people living in acute poverty throughout the world and the answer is not a complicated one. They need our help and we can give it to them. It is my hope that this exhibition will generate an understanding and compassion for a scarcely known country and the serious plight of its remarkable people.”

All sales and proceeds raised by Accident of Birth will go to Rebuilding Sri Lanka and Oxfam International.

Rebuilding Sri Lanka is a registered charity (No. 1109622). For more information on its work, visit www.rebuildingsrilanka.org.uk

We are pleased to announce that there will be a new Oxhibition from 21st November at Salisbury Oxfam’s Gallery.

Since we opened our gallery in April 2008, we have been contacted by many local artists, so this prompted us to have this wide ranging exhibition, we will be show casing the works of more than 15 artists until Christmas.

Also, please join us for “Meet the Artists” day, on Saturday 21st November between 11am and 2:30pm, where you will have opportunity to enjoy a variety of art works with drinks, nibbles, and meet the exhibitors.

Our latest Oxhibition is now open in the gallery above Salisbury Oxfam bookshop. It will be open from the 10th October through until the 12th November.

There will also be a chance to Meet the Artists and get a further insight into the work at a special event on Saturday 17th October between 10am and 4pm.

Victoria Maxwell

Victoria has spent much of her life travelling down to South Devon, exploring the dramatic coastline, whether it be rock pooling on a hot summers day or battling along the coast path against the sea mist and horizontal rain in the depths of winter.

‘This is where my inspirations lie – my bolt hole and sanctuary from the stresses of everyday life. My paintings respond to the physicality of the landscape that inspires me and try to portray the crashing, dramatic beauty which fills all of our senses.’

She graduated Nottingham Trent University with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and she spent a year travelling and working through New Zealand, Australia and Asia. On returning home she began working with various art organisations and for a council in their Art Development Office running art workshops and youth club activities.

Victoria has lived in Salisbury for five years and currently teaches Art and Design at Bishop Wordsworth’s School. She is also the school leader for a number of expeditions across the world.  Along with groups of students she has travelled to Morocco, Peru and Africa where they have done hugely rewarding charitable work as well as exploring the countries and cultures.  Spending time in such dramatically diverse landscapes has continued to fuel her passion for capturing the world around her.

‘It is so wonderful to have the opportunity to draw inspiration from different climates and cultures and I know that all these experiences inevitably filter into my work.’

For the moment though, her artistic heart remains firm to the coastal paths of South Devon and she is delighted to have the opportunity to share some of her work with you.

Odyssey is a group of textile artists who met whilst studying embroidery and stitched textiles at East Berkshire College in Windsor. Formed in 2001, the group organises exhibitions to showcase the work of its members, as well as meeting regularly to provide support and encouragement to each other.

In autumn 2003, we booked our first exhibiting venue, signed the contracts and committed ourselves to putting on a joint exhibition. As well as scary, it was exhilarating, a lot of fun – and we haven’t looked back since!
The strengths of our group lie in our shared history, our willingness to support each other, and our diverse approaches to textiles. By continuing to meet regularly and offer critical support to each other, we hope that we will be able to continue to develop our skills and expertise in order to explore further the expressive potential of textiles.

Members: Ann Beare, Ewa Exley, Judi Fairbairn, Elizabeth Hinkes, Jackie Langfeld, Caroline Leonard, Pennie Marsden, Jacqui Nash, Nicky Ransom

Salisbury Oxfam is very pleased to announce our next Oxhibition by two exciting local artists. This exhibition will run from August 21st to 30th September 2009 with a Private View event on the evening of Thursday August 20th.

Deb O’Shaughnessy
Deb O’Shaughnessy studied English Literature at University before training in Probation work. She has spent 20 years working as a Probation Officer in London then Wiltshire, being based in Salisbury for the last 11 years working with offenders on a part-time basis.

She is a self-taught artist whose work has been exhibited at a variety of galleries in Wiltshire and has sold privately across the country. Her art is driven by a love of colours: over the last few years, she has become increasingly interested in colour for its own sake rather than as a means to represent form. She is inspired by the way in which colours can jostle, sit, clash or glow on the canvas, taking on a life and a mood of their own.

Painting primarily with a knife, her work is also characterised by texture, with shapes building up on the surface of the canvas through the process of painting.

As well as larger paintings in oil or acrylic, she makes small collages. These “re-cycle” old paintings on paper by cutting and re-assembling them in a similar way to the 19th century quilt-makers who used scraps and remnants of fabric to make crazy quilts.

Deb O’Shaughnessy paints from her studio in Wiltshire which she shares with two guinea pigs and a collection of wellington boots.

Gill Marriner-Edwards
Gill began her formal art training at 13 when she attended Sutton East School in Surrey. It was a unique and exciting educational experience. Pupils were encouraged to develop their artistic skills with a curriculum that dedicated almost 50% per cent of each school day to the Arts.

At 18,Gill studied Art at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire. She has taught, worked for the Nature Conservancy and been a Careers Adviser. Gill is now a full time artist and occasional sculptor.

Her current works trace the vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines that enclose and silhouette the manmade structures and shapes seen by the dock and harbour side. With echoes of an extremely cold Purbeck Coast at New Year (a ‘real winter‘ in Swanage) the abstracted and etched forms of the work represent the wintery bleakness of the quayside with its’ weathered structures, engineered to hold back the tides, the vertical masts reaching to the sky and the steps down to the sea.

Salisbury Oxfam is having an ‘Africa Week’ to help raise funds for the Kilimanjaro Charity Climb in July 2010 by Shaula Maitland and Sophie Tadhunter. Mount Kilimanjaro stands at a mighty 19,330 ft, making it the highest point in Africa. Shaula and Sophie aim to raise £5000. through local fundraising events and sponsorship. All the money raised for Oxfam will be used in Ethiopia to aid:

• Access to education for all Children
• Improvement of basic health care
• HIV/AIDS awareness
• Access to water
• Reducing violence towards women
• Sustainable farming

The ‘Africa Week’ will run from Saturday 25th July – Friday 31st July 2009.

There will be events running throughout the week including:

• Saturday 25th July – African Drummers performing in the main shop throughout the day, Fairtrade Food tasting in the Art Gallery (Oxhibitions), Local artist Rod Hague will be having an Art Workshop in the Art Gallery to run alongside his current exhibition ‘African Afternoon’
• Wednesday 29th July – Rita’s African Art Workshop for Children. To sign up for this visit the Oxfam shop where further details will be available.
• Friday 31st July – A talk by Mary Malpas, an Oxfam employee, on Oxfam in Africa, in the Art Gallery at 11.30am.

For further information please contact the Media Team on 01722 337187 or email media@salisburyoxfam.org.uk

What can I do?

• Come along to the many events we are having!
• Let your friends know! You can even download and display a poster from here.