Participants 2026
Artists D - I
Alex Dufort - Photography
Alex Dufort was a commercial photographer who created portraits of people and food for magazines and books. For many years, he worked for The Sunday Times Magazine, House and Garden, and BBC publications.
He has devoted the past five years of his creative life to recording the landscape around Presteigne, focusing on the border hill country 400 metres above sea level and higher, particularly the Radnor Forest, whose undulating skyline is currently under threat from planning proposals for a group of thirty one 300 metre high turbine towers.
Venue 21 - Mark Richards Studio, 4 Artisan Row, Broadaxe Business Park, LD8 2BQ
Fred Fair - Painting and Drawing
Architect-trained portrait artist mostly working ink.
Fred's approach to art is defined by his love of drawing and intaglio printing. He uses line to produce work imbued with expression and character.
He frequently draws using the humble Bic biro, a medium suited to his style, which introduces a character of its own. He also works in ink, charcoal, pencils and washes.
Venue 3 - Upstairs @ The Salty Dog, 14 High Street LD8 2BA
Anita Farkas - Textiles
Under the moniker of ‘Her Name Salt’, Anita Farkas is a textile practitioner working across artisan crafts, including weaving and spinning.
Her practice is rooted in the legacy of her late grandmother, whose materials and tools continue to inspire her work.
Exploring memory and tactility embedded within fibre, each thread carries traces of history and transformation. Making becomes both an act of remembrance and continuation, holding past and present in dialogue, and serving as a celebration of the craft of previous generations.
Intentional simplicity, the thoughtful use of natural fibre, paired with low-intervention techniques also reflects care for sustainability.
Venue 15 - Number 50, Broad Street, LD8 2AA
Elaine Fraser-King - Jewellery
I design and create silver jewellery using semi-precious stones, sea glass, found pottery and upcycled vintage elements such as rosaries, fabric, maps and other ephemera. I especially like to use techniques and materials that produce unusual, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Venue 19 - Presteigne Youth Centre, 44 Hereford St, LD8 2AT
Nigel Griffin - Painting and Drawing
When I was a child, I was very keen on drawing and was fascinated by shapes. I didn't have any formal art training until recently, when recuperating from an accident, I was able to attend local art classes. Then I began to take the first steps in watercolour.
As a hill walker, I have been inspired to interpret our local landscapes (and beyond) through this medium. I have recently been experimenting with a range of other subjects, but will develop a series of landscapes for Open Studios.
Venue 11 - Golwg Yr Eglwys, Canon’s Lane, LD8 2HEA
Charles Gundy - Painting and Drawing
My practice has primarily been painting, where I explore the symbolic and emotional potential of surface.
Through painting, I became interested in the way materials can communicate thoughts and feelings and how images can create new ways of seeing. More recently, my practice has become increasingly focused on contemporary craft, object-making, and material exploration.
I am interested in intuitive processes and the potential of found natural materials. My approach is open-ended and experimental, driven by curiosity and the possibilities that emerge through working directly with materials and space.
Venue 20 - David Colwell Designs, 3 Artisan Row, Broadaxe Business Park, LD8 2BQ
Bernie Gurr - Printmaker and Painter
My artwork is both a reflection on our humanity in all its glory and on the landscape we live in. My art reveals the whimsy in our lives just as much as the gravity we all encounter. At its heart, each work is inspired by a story which I invite the viewer to engage with and to add to. It is a conversation started by me!
Venue 18 - Teller House. 6 Hereford Street. LD8 2AW
Sally Hamer - Ceramics
I have always enjoyed working in clay, and making these ceramic platters provides me with a blank canvas to decorate.
I throw the dishes into a large mould and decorate the terracotta clay with white and coloured slips and underglazes whilst the clay is still leather hard. I usually start with a few vague and flamboyant brush strokes until I decide how the design will take shape.
My references are often taken from Nature, landscapes and birds; sometimes they are inspired by Renaissance paintings and sculpture.
Venue 4 - Mansion House, 42 High Street, LD8 2BE
Beth Harrison-Arno - Sculpture
I work using dried flowers and some textile embellishments to create decorative pieces of work that are heavily influenced by colour, shape and texture.
I'm interested in conveying a sense of movement and becoming, just as the rhythm of nature is always moving and becoming.
I never use floral foam or dyed, bleached materials and source the majority of my flowers locally, although sometimes I look to other areas of the U.K. This can create restrictions in terms of availability and palette but it is important to me to focus on what is in keeping with the seasons here and to support local growers who care about the land.
Venue 10 - Newell House, 5 Broad Street, LD8 2AA
Rhiannon Hooson - Painting
My work explores the tension between the domestic vignettes of the still life, and the ways in which we conjure these safe but separate spaces into being.
Our comforting domesticity is constructed around us piece by piece, a spell brought into being by the placing of objects. We lay the table. We put flowers in a vase. But these comfortable spaces are easily ruptured by something wilder, something unknowable - a constant tension between the real and the imagined.
Venue 16 - The Library, Market Hall, Broad Street LD8 2AD
Melissa Hunt - Jewellery
I graduated from Sir John Cass School of Art, Whitechapel, London in 1994 and then found a workspace at Great Western Studios in west London.
In 2014 the building was demolished to make way for the Crossrail route, so I relocated to Shropshire. I now rent a barn on the Harley Estate in Brampton Bryan, SY7 0DH, where I make pieces combining precious metals and repurposed items, run courses, and work to commission.
Venue 21 - Mark Richards Studio, 4 Artisan Row, Broadaxe Business Park, LD8 2BQ
Hayley Hutton - Textiles
Hayley Hutton Textiles is a hand weaving and hand dye studio focusing on soft furnishings such as blankets, cushions and upholstery fabrics along with personal attire, shawls and scarves.
Working mainly with natural fibres, extra fine merino lambs wool, cashmere and silk, but also linen, cotton and lyocell.
Inspiration is drawn from seasonal colours, textures within nature and the beauty of the Herefordshire, Shropshire and Welsh border.
Hayley will present an array of hand woven soft furnishings, accessories and attire along with hand dyed yarns for both weaving and knitting. Weaving demonstration and have a go will be available.
Venue 19 - Presteigne Youth Centre, 44 Hereford St, LD8 2AT
Sharon Ingoldby - Furniture
I am a furniture artist based in Kington, Herefordshire.
I use Folkart and naive art as my inspiration to give old unwanted furniture a new lease of life.
My focus is to create age and patina and recreate time worn pieces, that look full of history and charm.
I take on commissions and work with clients across the UK and overseas.
Venue 19 - Presteigne Youth Centre, 44 Hereford St, LD8 2AT