Arch and other work under way

With just 3 more weeks to go until our Sculpture Trail at Stourhead National Trust Estate starts, we are all working hard to get over 70 sculptures completed in time.  A fairly mammoth task which has absorbed us for months - we hope the outcome will be an enriching event for all to enjoy!  


The Stourhead sculpture trail, entitled “Beyond the Garden Gate”, will be installed by the Six Wells lakes and woodland that border the iconic Stourhead Gardens.  The sculptures will explore themes connected with Stourhead - its history, wildlife, classical mythology of sculptures in the garden and buildings that dot the landscape.


The images in this post show work in progress (some completed) by Fiona:

Steel Arch in the making - springs, horseshoes, old urns, tools and posts will form part of this 3-4 metre piece.  The Arch will overhang a pathway on the Trail.  A wire nest will be woven through at the meeting point between the two halves.

One side up

Helpers Jack and Georgia piercing and crushing cans to add to Fiona's giant Spider - previously created by Fiona for Glastonbury Festival '10.  Participants helped complete the work by adding crushed cans and bottle tops around its body of steel.  As the cans have faded in colour, we are updating it with a few new ones for the Stourhead Trail!

Georgia adding cans to Spider's body

Fiona's Owl for the Owl Tree

Chameleon has now been decorated with a full technicolour dreamcoat of bottle tops (completed at the Larmer Tree Festival '11).  Photos taken at Teignmouth Seafront, where Chameleon has been crouching for the Summer, as part of the Devon Recycled Sculpture Trail.  The bottletops may - or may not - remain on for the Stourhead Trail, when Chameleon returns to its resting place on a large mossy fallen tree overlooking one of the Six Wells lakes.  

Work in Progress for Stourhead Gardens Beyond the Garden Gate

Rachel and Paul are busy on sculptures for the Beyond the Garden Gate  sculpture trail at Stourhead Gardens throughout September. Top image shows Bacchus. This relates to a frieze of the Bacchante, worshippers of Bacchus in the Gallery of Stourhead House. In the frieze the Bacchanalian procession of musicians is very jolly but the whole point of The Bacchae by Euripides is that drink can turn the amiable into violent. This Bacchus is  crossing that line. Below, work in progress on a Monster, a Bug and a Giant Heron.

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.

Spider in Making for Stourhead

Antony has laid out a giant spider's web on his lawn ready for the sculpture trail at Stourhead in September and this is work in progress on a spider. The body and head were in a previous incarnation an ironing board. The eight metre web will hang between two trees in the trail. The spider will be about to pounce on a trapped insect.

Rachel's Fungus

Rachel is creating fungus for the Stourhead trail.  Here is one she's working on utilising old lampshades and folded cloth to make the filaments; the stem is reclaimed laminated wood kindly donated by carpenter Richard Wallace.

Little Tin Owl

Paul and Rachel have created this little tin owl to be installed with the other owls in the dead tree at Stourhead. They have combined their styles ,Rachels plastic bottle wings and eyebrows and Pauls recycled painted tins and recovered clock faces for eyes , to create the little owl.

Barn Owl Flying

Anthony has hung up his Barn Owl Flying on an apple tree in his garden ready for exhibiting in September. He recently found a blackened bent  car fender along with other burnt detritus from an abandoned vehicle beside a track  and saw a barn owl in it , once a beak and owl had been added  This will hang from the Owl Tree at Stourhead.Tiny owls will  peep out from holes in the trunk of the dead chestnut tree.