‘Art in Architecture’ - a watercolour exhibition at Croome

illustration of croome court by Jilly Oxlade-Arnott — An illustration by Jilly Oxlade-Arnott

A popular Worcester artist has launched a fine line ink and watercolour exhibition of buildings that are of architectural and historical importance to the National Trust, the local area and nationally.

Jilly Oxlade-Arnott is known for her unique watercolour and fine line ink depictions of historically or nationally significant architecture.

She is a Worcester based architectural watercolour artist from a family of draftsmen, painters, potters and sculptors. Having two distinct styles, a more traditional ‘Classique’ which is bright watercolour with detailed fine line ink whereas ‘Vivid’ is simplistic bold lines on layers of pure vibrant colours, inspired by the pop art genre and is best seen on large scale canvases.

Jilly is rapidly gaining recognition not just in her own right as an artist, but as a proactive curator of pop-up art galleries. She also assists and introduces new talents, from all artistic mediums, through temporary conversion of unoccupied and unloved buildings in urban centres.

The exhibition of over 30 works is on show from 12 May at Croome until the end of September 2018.

Jilly Oxlade Arnott outside Croome Court with her artwork — Jilly Oxlade-Arnott outside Croome Court

“It is an incredible honour to be asked to show my work in such a wonderful location and in celebration of such a globally historic event, my ‘Art in Architecture’ Exhibition is to be displayed in the Library of Croome Court as part of its ‘Women and Power – 100 years of extraordinary women’ event this summer. I am really excited to be unveiling a new collection especially for this exhibition, depicting the buildings and architecture of the Croome Estate, as well as showing works of Worcester and my bold and dramatic, Pop Art inspired Vivid collection.” - Jilly Oxlade-Arnott.

Architecture and its appreciation is of importance to Jilly, who commented, “Buildings are the foundation of our lives, the interaction we all have with them may be inconsequential but if, once in a while you stop, look up, you’ll be surprised by what you’ve missed and how varied and intricate the urban landscape can really be.”

The new ‘Croome Collection’ has been created especially for the ‘Art in Architecture’ exhibition at Croome and will illustrate many of the fine buildings that can be discovered within its parkland such as the Island Pavilion, Rotunda and Dunstall Castle just to name a few.

" “After admiring Jilly’s superbly detailed work for a while, I’m very excited that we’re finally able to open an exhibition of her work at Croome, ‘Art in Architecture’ will be part of a range of female focused exhibitions which open throughout this year."

- Amy Forster-Smith, Croome’s Visitor Experience Manager.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase her artworks through a sealed bidding system with 20% of sales going to Croome’s restoration projects.

Jilly is also offering one lucky visitor the opportunity to win a private commission of a building of their choice which visitors can enter by completing a ‘Competition Entry Form’ – the winning entry will be drawn by the artist at the end of the exhibition.