Saturday was the big day for me to install the main bulk of my work at Esotera. I am eternally grateful to Nick Weaver and Nigel Evans for their invaluable help carting, transporting and installing my work – the 3 of us driving in convoy with full loads meant that I didn’t have to do several trips the same day. I was installing from 8.30am-7pm, aided by some lovely refreshments courtesy of Shirley and Andrew Harvey. Thanks also to Jason Nosworthy, who helped with the landscaping side of things. Apart from the grass not growing quite enough to enclose the site for my main installation at Esotera (a set of silver birch trees), I am really pleased with the site – its dappled light and colours give it a magical quality, which just happens to play and harmonise with my work. Until the work was installed (partly) on Saturday, I had no clear idea of these effects.
I still have a serpent and giant nest to finish, so won’t linger. I plan to add a fuller write up about the final installations after completion later this week, when a photographer will visit the site to take better pics. Then it’s the opening/talk/workshop/private view on Saturday… Good luck everyone!
In addition to collecting materials on walks in the area and at Pylle scrapyard, my work has relied on the kindness of numerous local donors, who have given me recycled materials and/or their time. A huge thank you to the following: Sam Garland, John Shepherd Feeders, Ridgeway Garage, Station Road Garage, Pete Reakes, Fon Cosens, Somerset Earth Science Centre, Andrew and Shirley Harvey, Vicky Grinter, Georgia Grinter, Caroline James, Jason Nosworthy, Nigel Evans, Peter Osborne, Denise Campbell, Nick Weaver, Adrian Candy.
I have struggled to keep up with my own self-inflicted deadlines for making the Abundance installations, especially during this school summer holiday, although I am making progress. With September nearly upon us, I’ll need to accelerate in order to get it all completed on time.
My large ‘fallen nest’ is coming along ok and I hope to complete it in the next week. Other parts to the lichen-inspired installation have now been shaped and patinated using reclaimed copper and lead. I have a couple more items to make, and will then set it all out again in my garden as a mock up. It’s been great fun exploring techniques and finding new ways of working with materials.
We are meeting with the owners at Esotera this Friday for a final update on the work and Art Weeks arrangements. Very soon it will be time to install…. better get moving!
Pieces are steadily coming together. The aim is to create a mass of giant growing forms, inspired by lichen, linked to the Eden concept and utilising found objects. It involves hours of weaving, wrapping and forming, using soft and hard materials together, which is relatively new for me and occasionally I wonder if I’ll ever get it finished. Anyway, it’s becoming a daily activity and no matter what else the day holds, I try to spend a few hours on the Abundance work. I’m hooked on what I’m making, and what I would really like is to have no other interruptions but life isn’t that simple..
Earlier this week we went to Esotera again to measure the installation area and confirm a few details with Zoe. A landscape designer friend, Jason, came along to help work out where the grass might be allowed to grow a little, in order to create more of an enclosure for the work. Owners Andrew and Shirley have been very accommodating with this.
On reading the other Abundance artist posts, I like the idea that there seems to be several crossovers in our work; connections which somehow tie the Trail together.
Today was a perfect day to revisit Esotera. My first visit with Zoe was on a grim winter’s day. But today blazing sunshine had brought out new flowers from bulbs, ferns were unravelling, ducks, chickens, fish and a very sociable cat ‘Gengis’ were all glorifying our brilliant 1st of May.
As I wandered around, I could understand why Esotera gets so many visitors who stay for hours. The owners and garden envelop you into their world – a place at peace with itself, whilst buzzing with the magic of life and I found it hard to leave! Undecided about the exact location of my installation, with several possibilities, I took plenty of photos and absorbed the ambience. It helped to confirm my ideas for the project, and 3 hours later I left, armed with a load of reclaimed materials for my work there, generously donated by the owners Shirley and Andrew.
My ideas have moved on to something a little more ambitious. The work will be time-consuming but fun to make! My thoughts have lingered on Genesis’ Garden of Eden – the most abundant garden where plants, creatures and humans grow and roam freely in complete harmony. It is the first Utopian concept, explored by many including Plato, Thomas More etc… Utopian ideals encompass world peace, enlightenment, labour, arts and science, fulfillment, harmony between man and nature, all needs supplied by the abundance of nature.
Next week I’m revisiting the garden to get more of a feel for it, discuss my ideas with Shirley and Andrew, see the garden blooming and arrange practicalities.