Arcadia to Armageddon in the winter sunshine

Low winter sunshine and the lack of shade from leaves provided excellent conditions for photographing our installations at Stourhead in Wiltshire "Stourhead will never forget"  commemorates  the effect of World War 1 on the community.. In "Arcadia to Armageddon" a peaceful landscape, including nearby Alfred's Tower, morphs into a battle scene.The horse ploughing a field acquires a gas mask and becomes a war horse.

Below the camel train -camels were carried by train across the desert in the Middle East where many local men served with the Dorset Yeomanry in World War 1

                                  The mural commemorates the Gallipoli Campaign.

Crockerton Primary School visit Bird Henge and the Scraptors' sculpturemad garden

The Weavers Class from Crockerton Primary School have visited Bird Henge and the Scraptors sculpturemad garden. They filled in a quiz which asked them to find two harlequins, three frogs, a gargoyle and other things in the garden.

Canoes for Stourhead project

We have been given two canoes by Langford Car Spares near Shaftesbury. We will use them in one of our installations next summer to be added to the "Stourhead will never forget" sculpture trail, commemorating the effect of World War 1  on the community.Serendipity strikes again, as it often does with our projects.

Horses meet the Unicorn in Scraptors' sculpturemad garden

War horses under attack

We will be creating two new installations next summer  at Stourhead for the National Trust for the sculpture trail "Stourhead will never forget" commemorating the effect of World War 1 on the community. One will commemorate the death of Harry Hoare, heir to the estate, killed rescuing horses in Palestine in 1917. Anthony has been in Lisbon where there was an exhibition of drawings by Adriano Sousa Lopes,  the Portuguese official war artist of World War 1.  In the Military Museum there are  huge paintings by him . One if of great  interest to us as it shows horses under attack. Also in the museum is a large sculpture by Delfim Mole on the same subject. Mole had  been a  wartime cavalry officer. 

Below a painting by Adriano Sousa Lopes, powerful in its symbolism. But in his drawings and paintings he did not shy away from showing  dead soldiers on the battlefield.

Horse in gasmask at Stourhead

We have added a sculpture of  horse's head in a gas mask to " Arcadia to Armageddon" installation at Stourhead in Wiltshire as part of the commemorative sculpture trail "Stourhead will never forget" about the effect of World War 1 on the community. We have been busy with final touches for the official launch.

We have added motifs to the pyramids. In the photo below starting from the red poppy and working diagonally backwards below is first the blue cornflower  This is the French equivalent of the poppy, being the symbol of French commemoration of the dead of the two world wars., Next is a representation of the statue of a soldier carrying a wounded comrade, the memorial to the dead of the Commonwealth at Gallipoli. Then the Turkish monument at Gallipoli, the Kannakale Martyrs memorial. We have added ancient Egyptian symbols: the ankh cross, representing eternal life, and the udjat eye, representing protection.

The pyramids represent the involvement of local Stourhead men of the Dorset Yeomanry in Gallipoli and Palestine in World War 1. Harry Hoare, heir to the estate was killed in battle near Jerusalem. As a very young man he had visited the pyramids in 1905 as a tourist in an attempt to improve his weak health.

 

The Last Tommy at Stourhead

We have created a small exhibition in the stable yard at Stourhead as a taster for our large installations around the estate. Anthony made the sculpture in 2008 using a World War 1 helmet found in his garden which  on the site of a World War 1 army camp, Shortly after he made it the Last Tommy Harry Patch died.

The small tableaux relate to the large installations  in the trail. The one immediately below relates to "Arcadia to Armageddon" in the woods.

The tableau above refers to the Gallipoli installation in the woods. The latter shows the "Anzac Sphinx" a natural formation at Gallipoli which was so named by the Australian and New Zealand troops.

Camel Train arrives at Stourhead in Wiltshire

Not a train of camels but a train with camels in it. This is our fourth installation at Stourhead, the National Trust property in Wiltshire. This one is  "Gallipoli and the Middle East."  This installation us based on a photograph in the Keep Military Museum in Dorchester. Many men from Stourhead and around served in the Dorset Yeomanry in those theatres of World War 1. The photo shows a line of railway carriages full of camels.

There is now a sculpture trail at Stourhead of our four installations with a brochure available. The trail is called  "Stourhead will never Forget." Below making the Camel Train, dodging the showers.

Pyramids arrive at Stourhead

We collected and set up pyramids at Stourhead. They will have motifs to represent the  World War 1 in the Middle East. This is one of our installations in our project for the National Trust "Stourhead Remembers."

War Camels

Camels were used, like horses, on a huge scale in World War 1. Above they were used for pleasure by off duty soldiers but below with more serious purpose. The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester  has kindly sent us these images to help us with our next installation at Stourhead "Gallipoli and the Middle East." The Dorset Yeomanry, which many local men joined, fought in both those theatres of war.

Stourhead Horse goes to War

    We have been hard at work at Stourhead t to have the first four installations  ready in  September. Two                                                           more will follow in 2016.

From Arcadia to Armageddon to Gallipoli and the Middle East, work in progress

We held a workshop connected with our next installation at Stourhead for the National Trust which will be Gallipoli and the Middle East (see below). Above is Arcadia to Armageddon  - work in progress.

Magpies in Picardy

We have started adding images to the wheels of Ebenezer's Bike at Stourhead.  These are words taken from the poem "Magpies in Picardy" by Theodore Percival Cameron Wilson published in the Westminster Gazette in 1916 . Captain Wilson was killed on the western front in March 1918. He was a forebear of Anthony Wilson, one of the Scraptors. We are adding more images to the wheels reflecting family memories
contributed in the workshop. There is space still for some more if you contact us. Address above.

Skull-moon added to Arcadia to Armageddon

Back in the forest at Stourhead, the National Trust estate in Wiltshire. We have added a skull-moon to our installation "Arcadia to Armageddon" one of the installations we are creating to commemorate the effect of World War 1 on the community