From
Saturday 20th March: Listening to John Le Carré,
Philip Pullman, Patti Smith, Martin Amis, Joanne Harris,
Hilary Mantel, or Richard Dawkins. Debating issues with
Ed Vaizey, Peter Hitchens, Chris Woodhead, Shirley Williams,
or Ian Blair. Or dining with A S Byatt or Lynne Truss.
What better way to begin your day? Or end it? Take a
day, a weekend, the week for a little learning, inspiration
and fun. It’s all happening at the Sunday Times Oxford
Literary Festival, now in its 14th season and opening this
year on Saturday 20th March.
Oxfordshire
Visual Arts Festival PO Box 559, Abingdon, Oxon.
OX14 9EF. Tel: 01865 865596 . www.artweeks.org
Artweeks
Saturday
8th - Monday 31st May: 474 sites across Oxfordshire
displaying stunning visual art - painting, sculpture, photography,
jewellery, printmaking, ceramics, glass, mosaics, furniture,
textiles & more.......A rare opportunity
to meet the artists in their own homes & studios. Everyone
welcome. Admission free. See our website for details of
where to get your free Guide.
Oxford
Mineral and Fossil Show Exeter Hall, Kidlington, North Oxford
OX5 1AB.
Tel: 01209 822007. Web: www.lowestone.com
Sunday
7th March: A mineral and fossil show for collectors.
Crystals, gemstones, fossils, jewellery, related books
and equipment. Free admission so bring family and friends. Time: 10:30am - 4pm
Thursday
15th - Sunday 18th April: Every Spring Christ Church
holds a Special Interest Weekend, open to all with a choice
of themes. As well as setting standards of sound scholarship,
these programs are designed to be readily accessible to
the enquiring visitors wishing to discover more on a topic
of current or historic interests. The programmes are lead
by speakers of distinction in their fields, including Oxford
tutors.
Science
Oxford Live 41-5 London Place, St Clements,
Oxford OX4 1BD. Tel: 01865 728953. www.scienceoxfordlive.com
The Case for Chiropractic
Thursday
4th March: Are therapies like chiropractic brilliant
or bogus?
Joining us on the Science Oxford Live sofa will be local
chiropractor Finn O’Brien. Together we will examine the effects
of bad posture in modern life, explore how chiropractors
treat such problems, and ask whether there is any scientific
basis for the benefits that people get from such “alternative
therapies”. Time: 7.30pm, Costs: £3/SO
Live Friends Free.
Electronic Patient Records
Monday
8th March: We are told that if the NHS keeps our
medical records electronically, it will make healthcare
quicker and more efficient. But do the disadvantages outweigh
the advantages? This event will give you the opportunity
to learn, discuss and express opinions on the subject.
It’s an important issue – and your views count!. Time: 7.30pm, Costs: £3/SO Live
Friends Free.
The Bloodhound Engineering
Adventure
Wednesday
10th March: Bloodhound is one of the most exciting
British Engineering projects in decades. Aiming to design
and build a car capable of travelling at 1000mph, the science
involved is truly breathtaking. Come along to discover
how the car works and the main engineering challenges to
be overcome. Suitable for 7+ Time: 6.30pm – 8pm. Costs:
£3/SO Live Friends Free.
Focus on Low Carbon Living
Friday
12th and Saturday 13th March:Students across the
UK have been exploring how energy functions in their daily
lives, and what steps can be taken to reduce energy use
or be more energy-efficient. Science Oxford Live is delighted
to bring you their results, as they help us focus on what
Low Carbon Living would actually mean. Time: 10am – 5pm. Costs:
£3/SO Live Friends Free.
Fabulous Finds
Saturday
13th March: A chance for you to bring along your
fossil, rock & mineral finds for our expert geologists
to identify, or simply come to see our collections and
what other people have brought in. A mini-exhibition of
the work of the Oxfordshire Geology Trust will be on display
so come along & find out what we do. Time: 1pm, Costs: £3/SO
Live Friends Free.
Tuesday
16th February - Monday 12th April: 2010 Dancin'
Oxford Festival. We believe we have something for everyone
programmed this year, whether you simply want to sit back
and watch, like to join in and try a new dance form or
get involved in a workshop. The dance forms this year include
African, ballet, ballroom, bangra/bollywood, ceroc, charleston,
contemporay, flamenco, family, film, hip hop, historical,
jazz, kathak, Latin American, rags sharqi, salsa, samba
reggae, street, tango, tap, tea dance and zumba.
See website for full programme of events: www.dancinoxford.co.uk
Crossing Borders: Hebrew
Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures
Until
3rd May: The Bodleian Library winter exhibition
tells the story of how together Jews, Christians and Muslims
have contributed to the development of the book. It illustrates
the cultural exchange, the social interaction and the religious
toleration between Jews and non-Jews in the Muslim and
the Christian worlds during the late Middle Ages. The exhibition
draws on the Bodleian Hebrew holdings, one of the largest
and most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts in
the world.
Every
Tuesday, Fridays and Saturday: Oxford Castle Arts & Crafts
Christmas Market in the Market Square area. Come and browse
and find a wonderful special Christmas gift, accompanied
by wonderful festive music. Time:
From 11am
Carluccio's Events
Brunch Every Saturday and Sunday: As of January we are offering
a special Italian Brunch every saturday and sunday morning
between 9am and 11.30am. Set price for all you can eat
continental buffet including juice and coffee.
Location: Carluccio’s, Oxford Castle
Jazz / Other ‘Live’ Music Evenings
On the last Thursday
of every month: Join us for an evening of ‘live’
Jazz on the last Thursday of every month, live acoustic
music every Friday night from 7.30pm – 9.30pm while you
enjoy a tasteful meal accompanied by a delicious glass
of wine.
If you thought
Oxford was just about elegant spires and world-class academia
then think again! Oxford Castle Unlocked reveals Oxford’s
less well known history, one that is rich with tales of
great escapes, betrayal and even romance - all within the
walls of the ancient castle and prison.
Sights and Secrets Walking
Tour
Every
Saturday and Sunday: Do you know which restaurant
used to be the prison laundry? Or what's hidden inside
the Castle Mound? Explore the wider Oxford Castle site
and its 1000 years of history in our special Sights and
Secrets Tour in the company of one of our costumed tour
guides. The tour includes exclusive access to the Punishment
Cells and 13th Century Well Chamber.
Our expert guides will keep you engaged and entertained
as we take you to parts of Oxford Castle not on the tourist
trail.
Tours run at 12.30pm and 4.00pm
every Saturday and Sunday and leave from the gift shop
at Oxford Castle – Unlocked.Adult - £5.00 Child – £4.00
Pre-Booking Recommended. Bookings Line 0845 070 6255
“Milk and No Sugar?”
– the history in your coffee cup
Saturday
6th March: Muriel Passey, graduate of St Anne’s
College, talks on how coffee drinking became a popular
activity and Oxford’s part in its history. The talk is
given in association with St Anne’s Association of Senior
Members, Oxford Branch. £6 per person to include a cup
of coffee. To book call 01865 260668, e-mail education@oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk or
visit Oxford Castle Unlocked. Time: 11am – 12.30pm,
Limited places.
“The night-time haven
of the wandering tribes”:
The common lodging-house in Victorian England.
Thursday
11th March: By the early 19th century lodging-houses
were common in English market towns and cities but had
an evil reputation as overcrowded, unsanitary dens of
iniquity. Using examples from Oxfordshire, local historian
Liz Woolley investigates life in common lodging-houses
and tries to cast them in a more positive light. £5 per
person. To book call 01865 260668, email education@oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk or visit Oxford Castle Unlocked. Time: 6pm – 7.30pm.
Mother’s Day Celebrations
Sunday
14th March:Mother’s Day Celebrations. Mums go FREE
when accompanied by a paying child! Children's activities
include: Mother’s Day card making and Arts and Crafts
Activities
Mr Alexander’s Travelling
Show
Saturday
27th & Sunday 28th March: Join us at Oxford
Castle - Unlocked for an unique and captivating blend
of magic, juggling, unicycling, balance and illusion.
Until
Saturday 3rd April 2010: A unique
Oxford history researched, designed, produced and created
by young people from the Oxford Youth Theatre Production
Company.
During the exhibition’s run there will be craft workshops with Company members,
a dance performance with the OYT Dance Company and a new version of King Lear
with the OYT Theatre Company.
Ashmolean
Museum Beaumont Street, Oxford.
Tel: 01865 278000 www.ashmolean.org
Now Open!
Supported
by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Asmolean has undergone
a £61 million redevelopment. Award-winning architect Rick
Mather has designed a new building to replace all but the
Grade 1 listed Cockerell building. His design has doubled
the existing gallery space, allow environmental control,
and create a dedicated Education Centre and conservation
facilities. The Ashmolean, at long last, has a world-class
building to match its world-class collections.
Building the New Ashmolean:
Drawings and Prints by Weimin He
Until
Sunday 28th February:Weimin He, Ashmolean artist
in residence, has produced a unique account of the Museum
development in ink drawings, pen sketches and woodblock
prints.
Inspired by the noise, dust and busy atmosphere of the
construction site, he has chronicled the transformation
of the Ashmolean from demolition of the old building
in 2006 to completion of the new building in 2009. Spending
many days on site with BAM, the construction company,
he recorded the builders at work lifting roof beams,
welding metal rods and pouring cement into the mixer,
as well as illustrating the Museum staff involved with
the project.
For this series, Weimin employed Chinese
drawing and woodblock printmaking methods. His portraits
are drawn on pi, xuan papers or album leaves, with brushes
and inks that have been used for over a millennium in
China.
The Ashmolean Museum
exhibits new acquisition of contemporary art: Roger Wagner's
Menorah
Friday
12th - Wednesday 24th March:The largest contemporary
painting ever acquired by the Ashmolean Museum, Menorah
by Roger Wagner, will go on temporary display in the
Museum’s new exhibition gallery in the lead up to the
Easter holiday. The acquisition was made in 2009 through
Anthony Mould Ltd and with the generous support of Blackwall
Green Insurance, the Jerusalem Trust, Guy & Rose
Monson and other anonymous donors.
Accompanying the display
will be an exhibition of 22 paintings by Wagner, illustrating
his new translation of the Book of Psalms.
The Pre-Raphaelites and
Italy
Wednesday
15th September - Sunday 5th December: The Ashmolean
will inaugurate the major new exhibition programme with
a show dedicated to the
Pre-Raphaelites in Italy in the
four new temporary exhibition galleries.
Italy, its landscape, literature, art, and history, was
a central reference point for the movement known as Pre-Raphaelitism
in the 1850s and 1860s. The exhibition will explore the
Pre-Raphaelites’ interest in Italian literature and landscape
for the first time.
Museum
of the History of Science Broad Street, Oxford OX1
3AZ. Tel: 01865 277280 www.mhs.ox.ac.uk
Oxford and the Royal
Society in the Seventeenth Century
Tuesday
9 March: Public lecture by Dr William Poole. The
Royal Society of London was founded in 1660, so celebrates
its 350th anniversary in 2010. Oxford played an important
part in its early history and the Museum occupies the
only surviving building from the programme for the improvement
of natural knowledge that inspired the Society’s foundation.
Dr William Poole of New College, who will curate the
Bodleian Library’s exhibition this year on the life and
work of John Aubrey, contributes to our year-long season
of events at the Museum on the 17th-century story of
Oxford and the Royal Society. Time: 7pm.
Steampunk
Until
Sunday 11 April: We present the world’s first
exhibition of Steampunk art!
Imagine the technology of today
with the aesthetic of Victorian science. From redesigned
practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition,
curated by Art Donovan, showcases the work of eighteen
Steampunk artists from across the globe.
Expect ’steam-powered’
computer mice, clockwork hearts, brass goggles and the
latest state-of-the-Steampunk-art eye-pod…
A programme of
Steampunk-related events will run alongside the exhibition
– pick up a leaflet from the Museum... Time: 7pm.
Pitt
Rivers Museum Access through the Oxford University
Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW.
Tel: 01865 270927.
Web: www.prm.ox.ac.uk.
Admission: Free.
Albania and the Balkans
Monday
1st February – Sunday 4th July:Drawings and photographs
from the Edith Durham Collection. This archive case display
shows drawings and photographs by the traveller, artist,
and writer Edith Durham (1863–1944), who became widely
known for her published accounts of Albania and the Balkans
in the early 20th century.
DisGuise and Dolls
Until
Sunday 21st March: A selection of work inspired
by the displays in the Pitt Rivers Museum by Oxford Brookes
Foundation Students. Using the many representations of
the human form on display in the Museum's cases as a
starting point, students have explored the use and meaning
of dolls in our lives today. Many have explored representations
of their ‘self’ or ‘alter ego’ and have experimented
with different materials such as re-assembling found
objects to trapping light within cast forms.
