Celebrating 50 years of Cambridge Open Studios

In this 50^th year of Cambridge Open Studios, there will be 350 artists opening their doors free to the public at 229 venues across the county of Cambridgeshire. On show, over four weekends in July, will be painting, photography, jewellery, printmaking, digital art, glass, mixed media, ceramics, drawings, textiles and furniture. Many will have stories behind them.

Let’s start with baskets. How simple and uncomplicated you may think. But, the docky baskets made by Nadine Anderson have a tale that would alarm anyone working today. They are so called because stopping for lunch when you were a Fen farm worker would once have meant your wages were docked. Packed lunches are still called dockies in some parts of Cambridgeshire. Nadine Anderson’s studio in Main Street, Wardy Hill, Ely will be open on the first two weekends of July. Her traditional woven eel traps would still work.

Also at the 50^th anniversary celebration at The riverside Graduate Hotel in Cambridge was Roxana de Rond, the humorously observant Cambridge illustrator who draws people enjoying themselves around the city – including at the Orchard Tea Room in Grantchester. She takes commissions. When asked to draw a picture to celebrate a wedding she drew the couple’s first date.  She is often asked to draw people’s homes, sometimes a home they are moving out of with family memories – sometimes a new home, sometimes both

She says: “The more I know about people, the more I can include in the drawing. Every picture tells a story.” One family had a pet tortoise who liked to escape so the tortoise is in the picture wandering off at the edge of the garden. Roxana also illustrates children’s books. When her own daughters were young, she kept a “drawing diary” of their days. She says: “I like drawing happy memories.” Roxana’s work in Brunswick Terrace, Cambridge will be on show for the first three weekends in July.

Lucyna Mazur, (Lucy) makes colourful bags and cushions inspired by Polish folk art. “They reflect my heritage of Polish culture.” She has been opening her studio in Perne Road Cambridge since 2017. Her mother is originally from Ukraine and her father from Warsaw. Her parents were children during the Second World War but met and married in England where Lucy grew up. Lucy’s art-inspired textiles will be on show at her studio in Perne Road on the first and fourth weekend in July.

Richard Bray brought two of his large sculptures to the celebration, one made from a piece of an old mulberry tree in the garden at Ramsey Abbey and another in the shape of a torso made from a piece of felled oak in Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge. Richard has been opening his studio since the 1990s. His work will be on show in Angle End, Great Wilbraham on the second and fourth weekends.

The very first open studio was by artist Julia Ball who opened her painting studio to the public in 1972. Two years later, she invited a small group of artists to join her, including Christopher Castle and Christine Fox. Julia drew the posters by hand to advertise the event.

The studios of both Julia Ball and another founding artist Elspeth Owen will be open again this year, half a century on. Elspeth’s in Grantchester will be open on weekends two and three and Julia’s in Cambridge on weekends three and four.

The studios are all free entry, on the four weekends in July, 10am to 5pm. There are free yellow brochures around the town or see online at: camopenstudios.org