The Arts Area
Amongst the bands, hat stalls, and dog burgers bars there lies a haven of green tranquillity and hothouse of artistic creativity...
Located on the opposite side of Midsummer Common to the river, under the trees by Brunswick Walk, the Arts Area has grown over the years into a showcase and outlet for the multitudinous talents of local artists and crafts people. Participate, browse, ponder, be amazed and amused, watch a film, enjoy some art, make your own, buy some crafts, sit and enjoy. The choice is yours, the pleasure is ours.
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Welcome to the Arts Area
A Word from JC
The Arts Area, so called because it is an area of Strawberry Fair concerned with art related things, as opposed to the usual music related stuff the rest of them seem so obsessed with, was originally inspired by a piece of temporary fencing surrounding a building site.?
I was cycling by aforementioned fencing, commonly referred to as 'Harris fencing' by those intimately involved with the product, (the entire Strawberry Fair committee included), when the idea popped into my head that it was ideally suited for hanging paintings on, an activity I was rather preoccupied with at the time. From this the 'Gallery' was born, a marquee based around the hanging of art on Harris fencing. Since then we have found ever more imaginative uses for Harris fencing and have even expanded into the misuse of putlocks, pa's and string.
A couple of years after the first piece of fencing was subverted, I was approached by, now this is what I love about SF, by Robert, the son of the people who had dragged me into the Fair twenty odd years previously, (I think the 'invite' went something like: 'its your turn'). And maybe it will be your turn one day dear reader? How about it eh? However I digress. He had been brought up as a SF child, you know, ignored for most of April, May and June and turned loose on the common for a couple of weeks every year to struggle for survival with his brother and a couple of increasingly tatty old dogs.
So I run into him one day and he says to me, 'I'm ready', I have finished my education, forgiven the Fair for my mud and dog slobber stained childhood and feel the need to add my bit to SF to complete the healing process. What can I do? So we look around and what do we find but a Friday before the fair common full of unused kit, most prominent of all, a damn great, light proof tent, right next to the art covered Harris fencing. Obvious wasn't it! We started a film festival.
And like Topsy it grew and expanded, and along with it the rest of the Arts Area, branching out into installations, sculpture, photography, interactive and performance art.
The inclusive atmosphere of the arts area in particular, and SF in general has attracted a fantastic bunch of creative and motivated people, giving to the Fair a very different angle and an open ended and progressive direction. The result is something we hope you will find great pleasure and inspiration in, and, should you feel inclined, you are more than welcome to join.
Introducing: The 2010 Arts Area Crew
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Simon Mullen
Strawberry Fair Film Festival organiser and master of ceremony. Such a live wire he crackles
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Cathy Dunbar
Artist, knitter and Jack (or should it be Jill?) of all art related jobs.
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Caroline Mead
Administration and mistress of the minuets
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Helen Judge
Artist and poster design supremo.
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Liz Ledger
Strawberry Fair Craft Tent organiser and style guru
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JC
thats me! Arts Area co-ordinator and SF oracle, (I remember that in 1986...blah, blah, drone...)
Strawberry Fair Arts Area in 2009
Check out the list of attractions we ran in 2009.
Contacting the Arts Area
The Arts Area needs artists and volunteers! If you’re an artist and want to realise your project in a dynamic and unpredictable open space, or you want to help out in any way, or if you just have a comment or a question, email
We ♥ The Fair
