THE pink signs are reappearing on Herefordshire’s roadsides, alerting the art-loving public to the fact that Herefordshire Art Week – h.Art – is back.

Running from Saturday until Sunday, September 15, 44 artists are taking part for the first time in this, the 12th annual event.

It offers the opportunity to visit artists’ exhibitions in their open studios and homes, and to see an extensive range of artwork in a stunning variety of locations – castles, manor houses, historic barns, farms and churches, including this year, for the first time, Eardisley’s 12th century St Mary Magdalene Church. It will be the setting for an exhibition by Bronte Woodruff, Julienne Braham and Jason Braham, Anthea Stilwell, Peter Stillwell, photographer Richard Greatrex, Ros Price-Jones and Kim Davis.

While Bronte Woodruff, exhibiting in Eardisley, has taken part in an impressive 10 h.Art events, Jill Barneby of The Print Shed in Madley, who is also on the h.Art steering committee, hasn’t missed a single year, chalking up her 12th studio opening in 2013.

The specialist printmaking studio will showcase an exciting array of contemporary original artist prints, with artists in the studio each day to talk about their work.

Invited folk artist Jane O’Connor exhibits vibrant etchings and beautifully painted crafts in her wonderfully decorated bow top wagon.

On Thursday and Saturday, September 12 and 14, there will be workshops at The Print Shed, at which participants can use the press to make a simple and colourful print using everyday materials.

Jill went to art college only when her two daughters had grown up. “It was a kind of itch that needed scratching,” she says.

“I had wanted to go to art college but life got in the way.” It was while doing the portfolio course at Hereford College of Arts that Jill discovered that printmaking ticked several of the boxes related to how she wanted to work. The Print Shed evolved from her early venture framing pictures, until, as she explains: “I thought it didn’t look too professional bringing clients tramping through the house.

“We had been running a smallholding and had a little shed that housed two or three cows and, without the cows, that became my framing studio.” The calf shed then became home to a printing press when her husband William downsized the farm, and today it’s been absorbed into the large, airy welcoming space that is The Print Shed, an open access studio which welcomes artists every month to make use the facilities.

As always, Jill will offer the chance to print for charity, as visitors are invited to make a colourful square to add to The Print Shed’s Macmillan quilt, a project that runs every day through h.Art week.

Meanwhile, at Hereford Cathedral School there’s a rare opportunity to see fine art and textiles produced by 11 to 18-yearold students, while in Whitchurch, Young Artist Bursary award winner Grace Bentley- Leek presents her traditional landscapes with a modern twist and colourful abstract paintings alongside the intricate embroidery of multi-award winning designer Jan Knibbs.

In Canon Pyon at The Cider House Lodge, you’ll find painting, drawing, sculpture and installation, photography, film and an interactive 3D construction and at the Herefordshire Open Exhibition in Hereford Museum and Gallery, you can enjoy a snapshot of the best new fine art being created in the county, with 28 of the 56 participating artists exhibiting for the first time.

With 119 venues signed up to h.Art week, displaying everything from paintings, photography, ceramics, sculpture, bookart, jewellery, glass and wood turning, anyone in search of the new is guaranteed to find inspiration.

For full details, visit hart.org.uk.