Capability Brown 300 exhibition at Syon Park July 2016

Design work by Ian Estevens 

Well here we are in June and I must admit running a little behind from our original plan to be open for May, but on the plus side things are coming together quite smoothly. 

One of the reasons we have been delayed was that we had to wait for the roof to be installed. 

It's now in situ and looking great!

Here are some images of the space a few months ago.

And here is the brand new roof...

The seating has been removed the hanging baskets have been cleared and the walls are being built around the entire space to create an open light environment. 
The fence at the front entrance will be removed which will also help to create the illusion of space and the signage will be moved to the outside entrance. 

Brian kindly prepared a few samples for the walls, the idea is to keep it light by using a birch ply treated with Danish oil to help waterproof the surfaces and protect against rain. 
Although we have the roof the space is still partially open at two ends. 

The plinths will also be built using the same methods to create a clean contemporary feel to the exhibition. 

Plants are going into large wooden planters either side of the central space creating an opening for the title of the exhibition.

The walls have been completed and plinths planters are in position and whilst Ian and I are in the process of finalising the graphics there has been enough time to see how the space stands up to rainfall. 
With an exhibition partially exposed to the elements it's been slightly more challenging particularly when it comes to considering the placement and display of objects.

This was the space a week ago.. 

29th June 2016 
With two weeks to go we are finalising the design work and gathering the objects together to be displayed on to the plinths.
These are currently being divided into tools and plants. 
Every object selected has been carefully extracted from the original household vouchers Susan has been transcribing. 

It's surprising how many objects particularly the building materials such as nails and screws have remained much the same. The language may have changed slightly but I'm sure within the building trade nails are still referred to as 8d,10d,12d, 
As I found out last week this equates to the size of the nail. for example a 10d = 3''
The letter D is an abbreviation for a penny, but the D originally came from the old Roman coin the Denarius where carpentry nails were bought by the pennyweight. 

Here is an example of vellum parchment this was used for the original garden plan drawings. The receipts were written for 2 skins of vellum for plans. 
The skin used for Syon parks design work would have been calf and I managed to get hold of some remnants from a company called William Cowley in Buckinghamshire http://www.williamcowley.co.uk who have been making Vellum using traditional methods since 1870. 

Wednesday 6th July 2016
With one week to go until opening the install for all the graphics begun. It was a resonably early start to the day with fair weather making it easier for the everyone working on site that day.

All the plants were selected according to the original plant list for Syon that entire list can be seen around the edges of each planter. 

Monday 11th July 2016
With two days to go until opening the printers installing the graphics started their second day on site. We encountered a few technical issues the previous week which slowed us all down slightly, but we swiftly made it back on track and everything had been positioned onto the walls by 1.30pm leaving myself and Topher to finish the final planting and positioning of artefacts. 

As it would have been impossible to include all the plants and tools that were originally used or planted. 
Small transparent containers filled with seeds give a more rounded idea of the range of flowers, herbs and vegetables that were documented on the receipts. 

These include onions, spinach, red and white clover, spring bulbs, carrots, mustard cress. 


Here's an example of one voucher invoiced to the Earl of Northumberland in 1756 for garden tools and equiptment.

Image belongs to the Northumberland Estate

The people and workers plinth in progress showing tools plant seeds and other materials such as hay seed, dung and brick. 

The exhibition officially opened on Thursday 14th July to the public and Syon visitors and will continue until the house and garden closes for the winter season on Sunday 30th October 2016. 

 

You will be able to visit the exhibition without having to pay to go into the house and garden. This was something Susan and I felt was really important for it to be open and available to everyone. Whether you are an avid follower of Brown or a new convert to his work.  

I'd like to say a big thank you to:
Susan Darling 
Ian Estevens 
Topher Martyn 
Exhibit-Graphics http://www.exhibit-graphics.co.uk
Brian and his team at Syon Park 

It's been a real collaborative process from start to finish. 

My Inspiration

For a while now I've been trying to make sense of the many many different strands of focus and interests that make up my practice.

Because I don't make collections of work or have a range of objects I'm reconised by or known for I think I can often feel as though I have many separate elements.

However, on closer inspection I really don't think that is necessarily the case.

There are key ideas and points of reference I take for my conceptual thinking and in this post I hope to be able to show some of the inspiration, sources of research and smilarities that run throughout my multi layered working methods. 

If I begin with ceramics as this is always at the core of my thinking despite the fact I may not always use it or indeed fire it. Most of my exploratory work begins around either clay, clay materials in their raw form or clay soils.  

 Puddle clay from Stoke on Trent 

Raw clay before it's processed into bags or made it's way through a pug mill. 

This is one stage I love about this material, It can be seen in clay pits in such large quantites and it hi-lights how enormous, heavy, and dense this is but for me it really inspired ideas of being able to built on a large scale. 

On the other end of the spectrum I adore using porcelain it's a material that really needs to be handled with care and experience. Where I'm at this present moment with porcelain is trying to reliquish control and push it to it's breaking point.  

Brick a clay material I fell in love with during my MA. 
By using multiples allows you to build sizeable pieces of work but I'm also drawn to materials that may be considered mundane or ordinary. Most of us may be confronted with brick on a daily basis but it becomes somewhat invisible or we take it for granted as a standard building block for houses and buildings. 

Once you step away and begin to look more carefully at the range of bricks the different colours and textures used and how they have been positioned together it becomes more evident that the common brick offers so much more. 

  

The Red House 

Cambridge 

Continuing with the possible idea of the mundane the next subject has recently become prominent after my exhibition last year at Siobhan Davies dance where I was looking at local London clay and soils specific to Southwark. This has opened up a new fascination with soils and geology across the UK. 

Wherever, I visit I take a roll of small plastic bags and a small trowel with me to remove a sample and come home to test it out on to canvas.

Layers for the Human Nature Season at Siobhan Davies 2014

The act of making is obviously an huge part of what I do and this can often be overlooked when confronted with a final piece of work. Process and working methods are equally important, sometimes I find it can be more important and revealing that's one reason I always like to give an insight into each project from start to finish. 

Mark-making 

Whether this is on paper, Canvas or clay. Texture and surface normally plays a part in what  I explore and it maybe linked back to my fascination with the handling of materials and tactility. 

Moving on to art movements other artists designers and architects I've already mentioned Richard Serra, Anselm Kiefer and Peter Zumthor in previous posts. 

I haven't talked about Minimalism or Land Art in any great depth. Two movements that have had an influence on my work to date and continues to.
I've recently been reading a book called Minimalism: Origins by Edward Strikland.  

One difficult question I was asked was: What is your aesthetic? 
I find that fairly tricky to answer however, I will attempt to and the two words that immediately come to mind are Minimal and Raw. 

I try not to overly complicate work but when you are working with materials that have normally come straight from the ground I like to keep them as pure as possible you are ultimately dealing with an unrefined quality. 

Here are two examples of work I'm particularly fond of in the Forest of Dean and think they both encapsulate my description.

Raw By Neville Gabie, located 2001

http://www.forestofdean-sculpture.org.uk/index.php/sculptures/96

By David Nash, charred larch 
http://www.forestofdean-sculpture.org.uk/index.php/sculptures/60

Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail

Architectural spaces, Phenomenology 

Something I always strive for in my work is to involve the audience or to allow the viewer to be able to react with the work on a sensory level. I'm not interested in making precious work that can't be touched, walked through, sat on. This is a common notion born from the context of the gallery and I'm certainly not a fan of the plinth. 
The plinth for me conjures up the notion of unapproachable work that can simply be viewed or enjoyed from afar. 

Phenomenology is a subject I attempted to begin to understand about four or five years ago. It's often talked about in the context of architecture and architectural practice.
It's a huge area to try and condense down into a few sentences. 
Essentially it has been born from philosophy and psychology based around the work of Edmund Husserl, and later developed by Heidegger.

Phenomenology is the human perception of a place space or experience. it's not tangible and this makes it a complex area to try and define.
Despite that being the case it's something I try and capture within parts of my research and development of an idea or project. 

Whether this is through tactility, sound, light, dark, small confined spaces, or the positioning of the work itself. Every small detail and subtle nuance is considered. 

Winchester Cathedral Crypt.

Finally gardens are another important part of my practice. Fascinated with space, colour, planting, I grow plants myself this has to help with my understanding and appreciation. Gardens are more than simply places to step outside into. 
Gardens are to be truly experienced and there is a sense of freedom that can be gained from a garden. During my MA I spent a lot of my research visiting different kinds of garden spaces. From the highly formal layout of Sissinghurst to the French show in Chaumont exhibiting more experimental spaces.

They are spaces that are in a constant state of transformation not only with the plants life cycle but also with the weather conditions and changing of the seasons means that gardens are never static. You experience these fleeting moments and then it moves into the next phase and this continues all year round. 

Japanese Garden Vancouver 

Ightham Mote

The High Line New York

Garden tour of Syon Park

On Wednesday afternoon I was very lucky to be able to go on a garden tour of Syon Park. One of Capability Brown's landscape gardens and with the 300th year birth of Brown next year in 2016 this garden will most likely be on the receiving end of more attention.

The garden has two lakes the first one we encountered snakes through the landscape. There are two garden spaces essentially one is open to the public the other is private we were fortunate to be able walk both of them. 

Here we began to see the typical open expansive landscape Brown is celebrated for.

A parkland vista where every angle was carefully considered and constructed to create a line of vision. Of course not all of the original intended views still exist today. Trees have grown other buildings have been built and some pathways may have changed slightly in two and a half centuries. However, it still remains a wonderful legacy and example of Brown's work. 

 A fallen Oak tree has been left marks the different feel in the the second part of the garden. The great element of this portion of the gardens that it remains less manicured, the grasses are longer there is a distinct feel of the english meadow and openness. 

The second lake where the cow's are grazing across the lake side.

Here are two images of the HaHa the original brick construction dividing the land at two different levels. The HaHa historically came about the keep the grazing cattle from coming too far in land.

For next years celebrations more information can be found at  www.capabilitybrown.org outlining events across the country to mark the birth  of Lancelot Brown.

Siobhan Davies Dance: Growing Season 2014

 In December 2013 I was approached by Alison Proctor the Programme and Producing Manager at  Siobhan Davies Dance in South London for a meeting regarding their upcoming exhibition programme for 2014 called The Growing Season. www.siobhandavies.com

Throughout 2014 the studio will be host and curate a series of exhibitions, presentations, workshops and performances based around growth, plants, gardens and gardening. 
Here's a link to Human - Nature 
www.siobhandavies.com/works/human-nature

I am thrilled to be part of this wonderful project and to be involved with such a fantastic group of people who are looking after me throughout this process. 
The exhibition will open 17th July - 28th September. 

Over the next few months I will be posting my work in progress and my journey as this project begins to unfold and develop.

The garden at Lady Margaret Hall Oxford

As it's swiftly approaching a year since I installed Pause into Lady Margaret Hall I wanted to write a little bit about the garden itself. Although there are images on the website I don't think it really captures what the garden is fully about and the clear reasons I selected this site in the first place.

It's probably two years ago I first visited this beautiful space with the intention of finding a site to install my final design. At that point the design had reached a screaming Holt as I needed to understand the context in which it was going to sit. Without the site..... Site specific work cannot exist so the search spanned the entire summer months where most of my time consisted of garden visits up and down the country.


The 12 acre grounds sits at the bottom of Norham Gardens near University Parks in Oxford. The initial view of the college opens up into a traditional formal quadrangle resembling many Oxbridge colleges. As you walk around, there is an entrance on the left hand side which takes you through to something far more unexpected. Throughout this space there is a juxtaposition between the formal and informal. 

The success of this garden is really down to the vision of the head gardener Ben Pritchard and his team. It clearly resonates that of a creative mind and vision. There are many different routes you can choose as you walk this space and along the way stumble across interesting features planting and seating. Moving from enclosed spaces to open lucid planting unlike the formal settings in most of the colleges closer to town. Lady Margaret Hall has the space to be slightly more quirky with their garden. I think this reflects their more liberal attitude.
 Lady Margaret Hall was the first college in Oxford to accept women in 1878 and has continued be maintain a reputation for being more open minded. That also helped with my decision to approach the college to begin with.

These large stoneware pots sit in the sunken garden made by Sven Byers.

The original buildings instantly became important for me to look at as there was a lot of differing brickwork ranging from early 20th century up to present day with the new accommodation at the back of the site. As I was using red brick there was a narrative immediately developing between site and object.

 The fellows garden is probably the most formal space surrounded by hedging enclosing this area. Hinting at more traditional features through the use of topiary, clean lines, and contained planting.

This seat is a memorial to Iris Murdoch who used to spend time in Lady Margaret Hall. I realised as I walked this space that there was seating of various kinds dotted around allowing students and visitors to enjoy the garden. However, there wasn't anything near the Woodland area which in my opinion is the most beautiful spot to be able to take the opportunity to focus a view in much the same way as landscape paintings do.

 The woodland area which sits at the bottom of the Fellows garden overlooking the river Cherwell is a lush green space surrounded by trees creating a canopy the quality of light is also stunning I wanted to position Pause so the sun light would hit the secluded seating space mid afternoon during the summer months. In the spring this area is brimming with daffodils and snowdrops. The thinking underpinning this design was to provide a seating space that enabled several people to share the same space whilst maintaining this idea of quietness and solitude. I'd realised that garden seating is often open and flat which makes you feel as though you are simply taking a moment to sit but it feels so temporary and transient. pause has been designed that the dimensions are larger than regular furniture seating which enables you to feel encompassed by the form. subtle nuances are always hinting at this. curves encase you and support the body in several different ways depending on where you and how you choose to sit.

The Chapel fascinated me as the brickwork's darker than most of the other buildings there and the dimension of the brick is narrower and slightly longer in length. Designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1930's I particularly loved the bulging curves leading out from the windows to the base and rounded edges on the brickwork around the windows. The curve was another element that was strongly visible in my early drawings and models. All of these subtle details was building a synthesis between the site, space and design.

Here are a couple of images of the Pause installed. The grass is still recovering from the large hole that was made for the foundations to be laid. It's going to be interesting to see how it changes with the seasons and how it beds in over the next couple of years. 
It's also interesting to think that it will take on it's own identity within the site and everyone will use it quite differently. I recently popped in to take a few photographs in spring and I found a siamese cat sat there on the open seating taking in the sun. Which instantly brought a smile to my face.  

A big thank you to everyone in Lady Margaret Hall especially Ben Pritchard for being so supportive throughout this process he was able to fully visualise my ideas from our initial meeting. 

Pause being installed

The installation process began Monday 1st August in to Lady Margaret Hall's garden in Oxford.
After several weeks of slightly stressful organisation. Having to synchronise all the materials and machinery on site in order to begin work. I was surprised by how smoothly everything ran throughout the entire process with only a couple of minor hiccups. 

However, throughout this journey I have nothing but praise for all the companies and industrial contacts I have made. Everyone involved has been so supportive offering advice donating materials and showing a genuine interest in seeing this project through.

As the final design is installed in Oxford I wanted to involve local companies

Material sponsorship came from Tuckwells www.tuckwells.co.uk and Blanchfords www.blanchford.co.uk in the form of concrete for the foundations and cement, lime for the mortar.

It took a couple of days for the concrete to dry before the bricks could be laid which gave me a little more time to transport all the bricks from Ibstock in Bristol to Oxford. There were five palettes in total and the overall weight was approx 4 tonnes more than i had expected despite having done my calculations before the firing. This resulted in two separate journeys from Ibstock spread across three days.

Once all the bricks had arrived safely they needed to be placed in order of layer and number. This made the process alot easier when it came to laying the bricks. If you imagine every brick is completely different in size and shape it was very much like a life size jigsaw puzzle.

Friday end of the first day of construction........... 
Darren, Pete and Dan of Creative Brickwork Oxford www.creativebrickwork.net


Monday 7th August
It was good to have a few days rest in order to allow the mortar to dry properly before adding more weight.
As I anticipated the open seating was fairly straight forward it was the secluded space that proved to as difficult to put back together as it was to build in the first place.
There are several bricks in the right hand curve with barely any base to support itself. Therefore a mini scaffolding system comprising of stacked bricks and little help from wire and mesh to hold these pieces in place long enough to dry.

 Here are some detailed sections within the design it was really important to me to have  continuity throughout the mortar. These strong lines which are integral to the piece had to be followed through. Fluidity has always been a main consideration from the very beginning of the research deriving from the large ink drawings.

The final piece my plan is to leave it a few weeks in order for the grass to recover and regrow and then begin to think about a small press launch.
It's a strange feeling I have lived with this project for over two years now it's finally reached it's destination and no one has seen it yet. It feels like a large scale secret waiting to be discovered!