Installation

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!

Loveliness

I thought I’d share this poem with you all:  Everything in the Garden is Lovely

Utopian Eden

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.

Esotera means ‘of the earth’.. esoteric means ‘mystical, unusual, rare.’  The garden symbolises a love for the land and relationship with the earth, the owners at Esotera work hard together to create from nothing an idyllic garden (Eden), make a huge contribution to society (Utopian), build things from found materials – including houses of various sorts, the garden is very harmonious with nature, rich in wildlife, creatures everywhere.   Nature has repossessed, like a return to Eden.  ‘Eden’ is almost tangible at Esotera…

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.

Esotera featured in Country Living – May ’13

A friend pointed out this wonderful 5-page article featuring Esotera in Country Living (May ’13).  It shows the garden I’ve been allotted in full bloom and as I’ve only seen the garden in winter, it has got me even more excited about the prospect of making some work here, amongst the elegant alliums and plum-coloured papavas.  The article focuses on the creative collaboration between Esotera’s lovely owners Andrew and Shirley Harvey, their ingenious transformation of a field, imaginative use of reclaimed items and sensitivity to wildlife.  And we are mentioned at the end!

Ideas are growing…

It was great to meet and catch up with fellow artists and SAW organisers last week at the Spring Soiree and Abundance launch.  I have been thinking about how to develop my initial ideas for the installation at Esotera.  Having taken a few photos when I first visited the garden in February, I’ve since made some rough sketches which are gradually evolving.  I’d like to create an element of surprise, use found and recycled materials related to the garden and make something large and challenging.  Below are a few images of where I’ve got to so far:

Trail Map