Culture
I can’t remember when I first came across Comma Press – perhaps when I found that they focused on short stories because they can give a voice to the disenfranchised, those on the fringes of society. Maybe it was stacking the glorious orange copies of Protest (edited by Ra Page) in Blackwell’s. No matter how finding out about the Press came about, when I saw the new advances for The Book of Tehran up for grabs, I realised that (a) I don’t think I’ve ever written about Iranian literature for OX before and (b) I had to read it..
Raymond Martinez
Olives, Pop Stars and Blossom
“Normally if you go to an art school, afterwards the only jobs are teaching, but I have taught practically nothing in my whole life and managed to survive. A lot of it is luck, a lot of it is about being continuous – you’ve got to work. And you’ve got to have something to say.”
Kathy Sledge
“We’ll Always Be Family”
Stress, Smiles and Sleeping Naked
Transforming Emotions with Physical Intelligence
“Are we disturbing you?” Claire Dale asks somebody sat nearby, in light of their reactions to the interview I’m conducting with her and Patricia Peyton, at Oxford Martin School where they’ve just given a talk as part of Oxford Literary Festival. The person says they’re not disturbed, but opines they’ve been hearing something “unnecessarily complicated”...
13-19 May marks Mental Health Awareness Week. As May is our Art Issue, we wanted to explore the relationship between arts and mental health within our community. The Artscape Project is an innovative arts project dedicated to improving mental wellbeing of inpatients through encouraging creativity...
Art and science aren’t always the easiest bedfellows. But for ‘cerebral’ artist Rebecca Ivatts, they merge seamlessly to create astonishingly arresting paintings – many relating to the brain – that are receiving great acclaim from the neuroscience community at Oxford University and beyond...
Review: Amelie
The Musical
I walked into the Watermill not having seen the award-winning Amélie on screen, putting me in a position where I wouldn’t be comparing it with the beauty and charm I’ve heard the film has in spades...
As Artweeks bursts into life across Oxfordshire (4th-27th May), hundreds of artists open their studios, inviting you in to see the places where they design and create unique works of art – from delicate jewellery to grace the smallest digit to giant sculpture to dominate a formal garden. And amongst these artists, you can meet photographers who capture memories and motion, panoramas and people with techniques old and new...
For generations Oxford’s honeyed streets and Oxfordshire’s rolling green landscapes have inspired artists and writers – from JW Turner to Philip Pullman – and the Ridgeway and the Thames, the Clumps and the Cotswolds continue to inspire creatives to put pen to parchment and paint to paper...