Spring at Magdalen

Anthony went the Magdalen Project on the Somerset/Dorset border to do some measuring up for the Open Day on April 29th when the Scraptors will have a stall about the projected Scraptorzoic Era sculpture trail planned for the farm. Recent additions by Magdalen are these flowerpot old toilets in the spirit of sustainability and these lambs.

Deux Chevaux bonnet found

We are planning for our next project, the Scraptorzoic Era at the Magdalen Project to make sculptures using have the fronts of three iconic cars, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Austin Mini and the Citroen Deux Chevaux. We had the first two but lacked the last until a chance conversation led Anthony to a barn within ten minutes drive where Deux Chevaux seem to have bred. The kind owner donated a bonnet.

Our Scraptorzoic Era Project at Magdalen Farm near Jurassic Coast

We are making some pieces over the winter for our Scraptorzoic Era sculpture trail in the summer. This is Anthony's Scraptoroid Creature photographed with a chicken in the kitchen garden of Paul and Rachel. We scattered some corn to get the chicken in place. We are rasing funds for that venture through crowdfunding. Click on http://www.indiegogo.com/Scraptorzoic-Era  and see post below.  Good perks for those who contribute from $5.

Please consider making a pledge and help us spread the message far and wide. Thanks in advance for anything you can do! 

At Magdalen Project near Crewkerne preparing our next venture

 Above and below we placed a Tribe of Humanoids in a wooded ravine in the farm of the Magdalen Project for a photo shoot. In the summer we will be creating the fauna and flora of the Scaptorzoioc Era on the farm. The heads of  the Humanoids were hoppers for lawn mowers

Bulbous Anthills on Spikes, below

Below, Paul, Fiona and Rachel launching a floating Diatom into a lake

 Magdalen is letting us make things from a pile of scrap. Below we root around.

Scraptorzoids for a quarry, work in progress

 We are planning a sculpture trail next summer in an old quarry in Somerset. We will create a whole new Geological Era with an ecosystem of fauna and flora. Rachel, Paul and Anthony spent a day creating eleven Scraptorzoids ready for a photoshoot. We are tying up the details but we hope to photograph them in their dramatic location on a scree of boulders at the bottom of a cliff in the quarry  very shortly.

Scraptor Trail at Stourhead more images

Anthony went to Stourhead to take some more photos - difficult when we were so busy putting the stuff up. S-J White from our sponsor Whitespace of Frome was there making a film about the trail. There had been a serious gale the night before and it was good to see the sculptures totally unscathed. Above is a Simulacrum  - a fallen tree with a likeness to a strange creature. Difficult to photograph in the deep shade.  Anthony added the eyes and Paul the paint to accentuate the likeness. Below Rachel's Fungi made using lampshades.

                                       

 The silver Fungi are by Anthony and the wavy by Rachel, by Six Wells at Stourhead in the Sculpture Trail

                                         Below Bacchus by Paul and Rachel. He has a retinue.

  Above Fiona's Dragonfly. Below  the Eye across the lake. We meant it to reflect in the water but in summer there is too much greenery. The Eye is a hubcap from a lorry and it makes the fallen tree into a monster.

                                             Below Fiona's Spider

The Scraptors Trail Beyond the Garden Gate at Stourhead

 The site of the Sculpture Trail, in place throughout September at Stourhead the National Trust property in Wiltshire, is the perfect playground for artists, with long vistas, reflections in lakes and the possibility to do big stuff. . Anthony and Paul turned this huge fallen tree into a monster with the addition of a hubcap from a lorry. Anthony had the concept and the hubcap lurking in a shed; Paul wielded his spray can.  The tree proved a perfect perch for a Chameleon by Fiona. It is covered with bottle tops.

Owl Tree at Stourhead

Back at Stourhead installing stuff for the Beyond the Garden Gate sculpture trail to be in place throughout September. Paul painted an owl on the Owl Tree which has owl sculptures on it. The two little owls in the holes above Paul's painting are by Anthony made with recycled glass.. The flying owl in the lower image is a sculpture made from a recycled car fender by Anthony. In the distance it looks like a real bird to the confusion of twitchers.

One of the themes of the trail is the legends of Ancient Greece and Rome which inspired the Hoares, creators of the iconic landscape garden. The owl was revered as a symbol of wisdom in Ancient Greece.

Yamaha to Egret

 Anthony is making an egret for one of the lakes at Stourhead in the sculpture trail that will be in the woods throughout September. It occurred to him that the body of that bird  is somewhat like the shape of the petrol tank of a motorbike. So he went to Langford Car Spares near Shaftesbury in Dorset to and found this Yamaha RD350 petrol tank.You will see in the images below the Shaftesbury Monsters that Anthony made in 2005 from bits and pieces from the Car Spares yard. They are inspired by the medieval grotesque carvings from Shaftesbury Abbey which you can see in a museum in the town. The Monsters have become somewhat overgrown so Anthony gave them a trim to bring them back more like their original state as in he bottom image. .

Getting ready for Stourhead Sculpture Trail

The Scraptors are all hard at work on the trail. Anthony has finished his spider seen here laid out on his lawn. It will be advancing on a doomed bug and the 20feet wide web will hang high between two trees in the woods at Stourhead. The body of the spider was an ironing board in a previous incarnation.

The Frogs mock King Heron

Hercules with strangled Serpent by Anthony Wilson

Anthony has finished his Infant Hercules with Strangled Serpent and set it up in his garden. It will be on show in the Beyond the Garden Gate Exhibition at Stourhead in September 2O11.Its tail will emerge from a bush or a lake to make it appear even longer than it really is.