Issue 22 - July 2012 (PDF) - Chipping Norton Times

22
Caroline Ritson wins The Big Oxfordshire Artweeks Poll
The people of Oxfordshire voted Caroline Ritson’s work
‘Greenman found on Wittenham Clumps’ as the image which
captures the spirit of Oxfordshire in The Big Oxfordshire
Artweeks Poll run by local web publisher, Artistpublisher.com.
Jane Tomlinson’s work ‘Towards Uffington’ came second and
Anna Dillon’s work ‘Devil’s Delight’ came third. More than 600
votes were placed between 2nd April and 27th May mainly online
at www.artistpublishers.com and in person at The Jam Factory
in Oxford. You can buy the winners wonderful pictures of
Oxfordshire as well as the other 27 entrants work in
greeting card or print formats from www.artistpublishers.com.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Oxfordshire Artweeks,
Artistpublishers.com launched an Oxfordshire-wide public vote
for a piece of work being exhibited during Artweeks which
summed up living in the county. 30 artists taking part in
Oxfordshire Artweeks submitted a work of their choice – not
necessarily a landscape but an image that captured the spirit of
the county. Work in a variety of mediums was submitted
including photography, paintings, wood carving and
embroidery. Caroline Ritson exhibited at Chipping Norton
Theatre from 5-12 May as part of the 2012 Oxfordshire
Artweek.
Caroline is inspired by the myth of the greenman, painting in
rich detail the faces that she finds in hedgerows and foliage,
working mainly in Acrylic, layering and texturing her work.
HOLST’S PIANO PIECE
RE-DISCOVERED
For years the manuscript of a piano piece by the great
Gloucestershire composer Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934), who wrote
The Planets, languished in the darkness of a library - but now A
Piece for Yvonne is being published for the first time. The piece was
written in 1924 for an 8 year old girl called Yvonne O’Neill who was
the daughter of respected musicians in London whom Holst knew.
Judging by the marks on the manuscript (in the Britten- Pears
Library, Aldeburgh, Suffolk) it was played by Yvonne before being
lost in obscurity, unlisted even by the composer. However,
Raymond Head of Chipping Norton, a well known Holst scholar
teacher and composer, who appeared in a recent BBC TV film by
Tony Palmer about the composer, decided that other people should
have the enjoyment of playing it and so has published it. It is a
fascinating and delightful piece that should appeal to young and old
alike – it is quite easy - and is in an attractive dance style although
written in 7 beats in a bar!
The piece sheds new light on this fascinating and modest composer
– at the time Holst was suddenly becoming famous through the
worldwide success of The Planets - yet he could still take the time to
compose something special for the daughter of a friend. A Piece for
Yvonne - published by Sky Dance Press - available from
Blackwell’s, Oxford and Holst Birthplace Museum, Cheltenham.
For information contact Raymond Head - 01608 642025