Lindi Bilgorri talks to some of the artists whose work is featuring at the 22nd Art In Action show

ARTISTS, craftpeople and connoisseurs in food and drink are are showing their work and demonstrating their art at the 22nd Art in Action at Waterperry House in Oxfordshire.

Exhibitors come from all over the country and many are from around the world.

The idea behind the festival is not a commercial one, but to show the work of people who have become masters in their field.

When you have marvelled at the crafts, you can have-a-go in the practical classes.

And Waddesdon Manor is sending its expert wine consultant of the Rothschild estates, Ben Hawkins, to chat and talk about wines.

Among the many stalls at the fair, talent has come from Buckinghamshire. Below are local craft people showing their work.

Art in Action at Waterperry House, near Wheatley, Oxford runs from Thursday, July 16 to Saturday, July 19 from 10.30am to 5.30pm

DAVID Sherwood is keeping old traditions alive with his work.

David makes trug baskets which, in bygone times, were used to carry farm produce. These days they make interesting features in a kitchen to display flowers, eggs or fruit.

David, from Henley, creates his trug baskets using a similar method to the trug-makers of years ago.

"Trug baskets most probably go back from when the first nails were mass produced," he says.

Queen Victoria first made them fashionable when she ordered the basket from a trug-maker.

The baskets are made out of sweet chestnut and willow wood and although they look quite fragile, they are very strong but surprisingly light.

David began the craft when he took over a trug-making business 20 years ago in Sussex, the heartland of trug-making.

He says: "The business was owned by a brother and sister who were the third generation of trug-makers in their family. As they didn't have any children to take over the business, they sold it to me."

David, who was formerly a teacher, had never made a trug before but he learnt his craft from the couple.

Now David is one of six traditional trug-makers in the country.

His baskets have attracted the attention of the Royal family.

"I have made a trug basket for the Queen and delivered my trug basket to Buckingham Palace."

He has made trug baskets for other members of the Royal family including Princess Anne and the Duchess of Kent.

David makes an assortment of trugs from the popular oblong shape to the more unusual round and square baskets.

VISITORS will have the opportunity to design and make their own mirror frame, under the guidance of students from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.

The students will also be be giving demonstrations of furniture making.

Only five out of 70 students on the Furniture Design and Craftsmanship Course have been selected to attend Art in Action.

Phil Hussey, course tutor, explains: "The students have been chosen because the items that they are making at Art in Action are visually interesting. They will be making chairs, a CD rack and an unusual waste paper basket.

"The course is one of the premier courses in the country and many of the furniture makers who we share the tent with are ex-students from the college."

AMERSHAM potter Rena Green is going to give a few youngsters the chance to throw a pot in one of the practical classes at Art in Action.

Her stoneware bowls, jugs and teapots glazed with fruit, flowers and zig-zags will also be on sale.

She is one of the many teachers who are giving children and adults a little taster of various crafts.

The practical classes included copper enamelling, batik, clay modelling, pottery throwing and handbuilding, raku, silk painting, felt making, woodturning and many other crafts.

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