Home & GardenGardens To VisitAll on show at the Naked Gardeners' sculpture exhibition All on show at the Naked Gardeners' sculpture exhibition
19/06/2007
As part of the Royal Society of British Sculptors ongoing centenary celebrations, a major exhibition of the largest number of pieces by members of the Society to be seen in one location, will be brought together for the first time in the stunning location of the Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, from 28 July until 21 October 2007.
The exhibition will be opened by the well known art historian, broadcaster and landscape designer, Sir Roy Strong, at 12 noon on Saturday 28th July.
Entitled SPECTRUM, it comprises 60 pieces by 45 of the Society’s international membership, with each piece having been personally chosen by the creators of the Abbey House Gardens, Ian and Barbara Pollard, who are probably better known as ‘The Naked Gardeners’.
In selecting the work Ian and Barbara want to showcase the wide variety of talent, quality and creative impulses, as well as conceptual thought that influences the members of the Society. They have also chosen pieces that they instantly knew would have a suitable location in the garden to complement their size and scale.
In particular, the exhibition will feature well known artists such as William Pye, who has created a bronze water sculpture called ‘Vessel 2’ and Warwickshire based Marigold Hodgkinson whose work is a sequence of four painted wood resin pieces, called ‘River of Life’. This piece has been designed especially for the exhibition and will be anchored into the river, with the current causing each piece to move independently in the flow of the water.
Local West Country sculptors are also well represented with work by Somerset artist Giles Penny who will be exhibiting a piece called ‘Man and Shadow’ and Gloucestershire based Barry Mason who has created a piece in patinated copper on a stainless steel armature, entitled ‘Mostar’.
The setting at the Abbey House Gardens is a remarkable achievement in itself, created from scratch by the Pollards in only 10 years; it now attracts over 60,000 visitors a year, many returning regularly to enjoy the seasons.
Although only five acres in total, the unique site which is set against the dramatic backdrop of Malmesbury Abbey offers a wide range of microclimates. Its situation on the crest of an ancient hilltop, with the river Inglebourne flowing through the garden on its way to the Avon, provides a richness and variety of landscape, ranging from formal “rooms” to open vistas and as a site for the sympathetic exhibition of sculpture, it is unsurpassed.
The garden also has a large sheltered Belvedere and a C13th room for displaying some of the more delicate works.
Ian and Barbara have been gathering notoriety as the ‘Naked Gardeners’ since 2001 when BBC ‘Gardeners World’ came to film the development of their garden and Ian remarked to the crew that he would have felt much more comfortable had he been able to be completely naked. For Ian and Barbara being naked is the most natural thing in the world and when appropriate, they will often work in the gardens without clothes. This is usually on warm days, before visitors arrive or after they have left and on special ‘clothes optional days’, which they hold for visitors to the gardens on occasional days during the warmer months.
The gardens are open daily from 11 am to 5:30 pm until 21 October. Admission costs £6:50 for adults and £2:50 for children aged between five and 15. Under fives are free. £1 off for concessions.
All of the pieces will be for sale, with a percentage of all sales going to the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
For further information on the Abbey House Gardens call 01666 822212 or visit the website by clicking into the link below.
The list of exhibitors is:
Carole Andrews, Mary Anstee-Parry, Patrick Barker, Peter Bevan, Helaine Blumenfeld, Francoise Bissara-Frereau, Richard Bray, James Castle, David Cornell, Janine Creaye, Nathan David, Chris Dunseath, Joan Edlis, Miles Halpin, Michie Herbert, Simon Hitchens, Marigold Hodgkinson, Deirdre Hubbard, Leslie Johnson, Immanuel Klein, Robert Koegel, Diane MacLean, Barry Mason, David Mayne, Nicholas Moreton, Gudrun Nielsen, Peter Newsome, Rob Olins, Giles Penny, William Pye, Ian Rank-Broadley, Suzanne Redstone, Mark Richards, Jac Scott, Eric Stanford, Nicholas Stephens, Jilly Sutton, Christy Symington, Almuth Tebbenhoff, Jill Tweed, Deborah Van der Beek, Johannes von Stumm, Cathy Ward, Julian Wild and David Worthington.