Artist Residency No.1

For the duration of 2015 I have successfully secured funding from Arts Council England to explore the direct casting processes of solid lost wax casting and hollow lost wax, taking inspiration and lessons from the Bronze age and the Ancient Greek period. This will cumulate into a small collection of new woven bronze work that will become the basis for a solo show in October. During this period of reach and development I will be travelling through Derbyshire to undertake artist residencies in various public places such as Elvaston Castle, Matlock Mining Museum and Cromford Mill to name but a few. With each venue the surroundings will directly influence the creative outcomes.

The first venue on the residency tour is in the city of Derby within the historic Arboretum Park which is due to celebrate 175 years this September. This historic park was the very first publicly owned landscaped park in England. In 1840 the park was commissioned by Joseph Strutt, a former mayor of Derby and noted philanthropist. The landscape architect John Claudius Loudon was employed to design the parks undulating banks, planting and sculptural features. Loudon’s design was of great significance and influential in the design of New Yorks Central Park.

The aim of the residencies is to allow the public to engage directly with the artist and the art work, to see and learn about the exploration of the ancient lost wax technique, see the experiments in surface patterns achieved through hand weaving techniques and examine the collection of wax forms.

Being resident in the park has been a great experience and discovering it’s historic story has been fascinating, the park has had a troubled past but seems to be embracing a new chapter, one of which is the successful residency program now in its fifth year.

My time at the Arboretum has come to an end and I have loved be able to see the park everyday, watch spring arrive through the windows, see the park life and the people passing by. It’s been inspiring and as a result I have created over 50 pieces whilst resident there.

Chelsea round up - plants

Another Chelsea has come and gone and its time to reflect and plan ahead for the next one. This year saw the toughest build up in every sense, both personally, physically and mentally.  

The run up to Chelsea this year was a real challenge firstly with the plant material that I had chosen to use. I had decided to use a lot of ferns in my planting design to enhance my sculpture and had sourced a local supplier who specialism is British native ferns. Unfortunately none of the ferns had even shown any leaf growth three weeks before Chelsea, so when we did eventually get some good weather there was very little foliage. The second plant supplier, who specialises in British wildflowers and cottage garden plants called me the day before the van was due to be packed to let me know that all the foxgloves had failed and some of the plants had also, like the ferns, not shown much growth.

The weather this year has caused some real head aches thats for sure, when I start planning out my stand design in the summer, I try and select plants that naturally will look their best in the late spring as I’m not a fan of forcing plants, but after this years problems it makes me want to rethink! 

I think that every exhibitor at Chelsea this year had suffered this year with their plant material not enjoying the cloudy wet spring we’ve had.

But this story is one of the many positives about the Chelsea experience, when I got to the planting up stage on site the plants had to be planted more tightly to create a lush feel and I quickly ran out as the few plants that did grow were not very full.Anyway, there I was having a melt down because my planting looked so sparse when one of my neighbouring stands suggested I borrow some of their plants, I felt so relieved and so grateful, it turned out that the plants belonged to Chris Beardshaw who was more than happy to help out.

I completed my planting which looked amazing, the ferns and wildflowers looked great supported by Chris Beardshaws Ladies Mantle, London Pride and Grasses.