A huge thankyou ...

.. to everyone who contributed to another successful art fair. Whether you were an exhibitor, a customer or one of our many wonderful helpers, a sponsor or a local advertiser, the art fair team would like to say a big thankyou to you for your support. We would also like to congratulate all those junor artists whose work was selected to be displayed in our Primary art Competition; we hope you enjoyed exhibiting aongside our local artists and our featured Cuban artist - our visitors certainly enjoyed seeing your work. We hope to have raised a significant amount for The Beaconsfield School, and will be back in autumn to do it all again. Friday 16th & Saturday 17th November are the dates for the autumn 2012 event, so put them in your diary and we look forward to seeing you all again.

Stop Press! a splash of colour all the way from Cuba

As always the Beaconsfield Art fair is a showcase for the work of local artists, but this year we are delighted to bring you, as a special feature, the work of a celebrated international artist!

Jose Fuster is a charismatic and celebrated Cuban artist, famous for his paintings and ceramics. His work is permanently displayed in the Centro de Estudios Cubanos in New York and The National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba. His work has won National Awards, and his style of painting has been described as ‘naïve … accessible, thought provoking’; it is wonderfully vibrant, embodying life in Cuba. Jose Fuster, born in 1946, has transformed the life and houses of a whole town in Havana. In the UK, Soy Cuba has run two major solo exhibitions of Fuster’s work (Oxford and London) and he has a growing number of collectors worldwide. Having been approached by a local gallery, we are delighted to be able to show his work as part of The Beaconsfield Art Fair.

Tell all about it ....

Take a look at the website for an updated list of exhibitors (well, the people who got their forms in by the deadline anyway!). Additional entries are still trickling though but the eatalogue together and getting our advertising sorted out. If you can help us promote the event in anyway - maybe link to our website www.thebeaconsfieldartfair.moonfruit.com from your own, or share the evite with anyone who might be interested (you can download it from our website or email us at ptfa.bucksgfl.org.uk if you don't have a copy) or put up posters in your local area (again you can download these from our website or email us at ptfa.bucksgfl.org.uk). The more widely we can promote this event, the more successful it will be for both our artists and our fundraising. We look forward to seeing you - and all your friends - in just a few weeks :)

Did you get your entry in on time?

Many of you did, but I suspect there will be some late entries (dare I say 'as always!'). If you missed the deadline, but would still like to be considered for entry to the spring event on 18th & 19th May, then I urge you to contact us as soon as possible. You can email to ptfa@bucksgfl.org.uk or you can call Jill directly on 01753 645859. Hurry though; we have a deadline for catalogue printing and whilst we try to accomodate as many entries as we can, once we are full we do, sadly, have to turn people away. We look forward to seeing everyone again in a few weeks time, artists and visitors alike. Now, could that rain just save itself for the nighttime and the sun shine on us all!

Getting ready for the next one .....

And so it's time for the art fair team to come out of hibernation because spring is very definitely on the way. First task is to get the artist invitations out, and we hope to have them in the post around the end of the month. Remember we had to turn exhibitors away when our last event was oversubscribed, so if you'd like to take part do get your forms back promptly. More details will follow, but in the meantime there's lots of information to be found on our website. Hope to see you there on Friday 18th or Saturday 19th May, whether as an exhibitor or as a visitor.

Many thanks to all involved ......

Thanks to everyone for all your support! It was great to see so many new artists, crafspeople and visitors this time - do continue to spread the word for us. We had some lovely feedback, and hope to have raised a significant amount of money for The Beaconsfield School (where our current project involves improvements within the Library). The art fair team will be taking a short (and much needed) break right now, before looking at what we might improve next time then getting straight on to organising spring 2012. For those of you who are superorganised and wish to get the dates in your diary now - our spring 2012 event will be held on 18th & 19th May 2012. Look out for photos from autumn 2011 which should appear on our website soon ... well, relatively soon anyway!

Just one week to go now!

Sadly this year we've had to turn applications away. We've been oversubscribed for crafts, so do please book early for our next event in spring 2012. Several artists sent in applications just too long after the closing deadline; we do try to be flexible as far as possible but it's equally important that our finished result is professional. So sadly - to that end - we have had to say no to a few people this year. Hopefully they will try again in spring, and we urge everyone to check our website and make timely returns. It's great that word continues to spread; new artists and new crafts keep the event fresh and interesting. Having said that, we love our familiar faces too! Do come along this Friday 18th November or Saturday 19th November. We're hoping to beat our previous fundraising records - support us to help us achieve that goal. We look forward to giving you a warm welcome and an enjoyable visit.