NEIL D’Arcy-Jones picks five of the best events coming up this week.

• James Dodds: Wood to Water, Firstsite Art Gallery, Lewis Gardens, Colchester, until Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Free. 01206 577067. A FINAL chance to see the Wivenhoe artist’s evocative pieces, inherently East Anglia but also universal in their beauty. I for one am definitely going to miss it, especially the boat outside!

• Suffolk Villages Festival Spring Concerts, Nayland Village Hall, Church Lane, Nayland, Sunday, 6pm. £18 (reserved), £12 (unreserved). 01904 651485. IF music be the food of love then get yourself along to Suffolk Villages Festival first concert of the year. Celebrating Valentine’s Day, the theme of love in its various aspects will be running through the works performed by sopranos Claire Tomlin and Emma Bishton, bass violinist Louise Jameson, all led by the festival’s artisitic director Peter Holman on the harpischord.

• SlackFolk, Piatto Café, Priory Walk, Colchester, tomorrow, 2pm. Free. 07850 773291. THE monthly music meeting has managed to secure another cracking line-up for this weekend’s offering. Not only is there the delightfully talented Sheri Kershaw Band on the bill but also a chance to hear popular local favourites Grasshopper.

• Boris and Ingrid, Mercury Studio Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, today and tomorrow, 8pm. £12 to £10. 01206 573948. MORE cutting-edge theatre at the Colchester theatre’s new studio space this time from 2Theatre. This marks the premiere of their new show, an absurd physical comedy which combines puppetry, shadow-theatre and live music played on household objects.

• Film in a Day (age 12+) and Stop Motion Animation (age 9+), Signals Media Arts Centre, St Runwald Street, Colchester, Tuesday (Film in a Day) and Wednesday (Stop Motion) 10am. £30. 01206 560255. ALWAYS a firm half term treat for the filmmakers of the future, there are two workshops on offer, one where you can write, shoot and edit your own film, and the other where you can create your own stories using card, paint, and modelling clay.