A Celebration of British Sculpture Harold Martin Botanic Garden 28 June - 27 Sept 2009 Welcome Professor Robert Burgess It is with great pleasure that I I am confident that the many visitors to welcome you to this year’s the Harold Martin Botanic Garden will sculpture show. This is the eighth experience many hours of enjoyment year that the University of Leicester from this year’s exhibition. It will has hosted a sculpture exhibition in certainly provide the opportunity to the wonderful surroundings of the engage with a range of diverse Harold Martin Botanic Garden, sculpture in these well-tended gardens. which provides the artists with a creative and inspiring environment Finally, I would like to thank the in which to work. Established by curator, the artists, students, and the the University in 1947, the Garden’s many members of the University staff 16 acres are home to many who have given so generously of their historical plants and interesting time to make this exhibition a great features and are a great success. educational resource for researchers, school pupils, students I do hope you enjoy this unique and the general public. experience. Each year’s show has a particular theme and this year we are concentrating on A Celebration of British Sculpture. The exhibition contains a wide variety of exhibits by a Professor Robert Burgess number of distinguished artists to Vice-Chancellor whom I extend a warm welcome. I am University of Leicester also delighted to welcome Dr John Sydney Carter, FRBS (Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors) to the exhibition and that he has agreed to take on the role of exhibition curator for the first time. A designer, painter and sculptor, John exhibits nationally and internationally but his roots are embedded in his native county of Leicestershire. He says of his work “The purpose of sculpture is to communicate through the media of form” and he uses materials such as bronze, steel and other metals to produce bold but sensitively executed work which is strongly influenced by Front cover the sea, industrial machinery and the Falling Man 9/11 human form. John Sydney Carter FRBS Painted steel 2 A Celebration of British Sculpture Harold Martin Botanic Garden 28 June - 27 Sept 2009 3 4 Foreword Dr John Sydney Carter FRBS Sculpture in the Garden 2009 is a This is the 8th exhibition to be held in celebration of British sculpture, the University’s Botanic Garden and with all of the artworks by the visitor numbers grow annually, as sculptors located throughout Great people come to see a new exhibition Britain. Making large-scale and theme each year. Individuals and sculpture is a heroic pursuit. The local groups often come to draw and sculptor needs a large studio; paint the sculptures set against the wrestle with the cost of materials, backdrop of the garden, art inspiring equipment, casting in the foundry, more art. This annual event has caught transport and at the same time the imagination of many people who keep the creative spirit of sculpture were not aware the University’s alive for us, the public, to enjoy. Botanic Garden was open to the general public. Sculpture was one of mankind’s earliest activities and as such was a The Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert major formative influence on our Burgess and his colleagues have mental processes. There is a great enthusiastically supported the power in sculpture, particularly when exhibition each year. This has led to placed adjacent to contemporary new sculptures being commissioned architecture or in a public place. It for many of the new university enhances and, in some ways, makes a buildings, which the continued place complete. success of the University of Leicester has made possible. This year’s exhibition consists of a wide range of sculpture in varying media, Once again the creativity and energy scale and design. But whether the of the gardeners who maintain the work is abstract or figurative, it can site has ensured the ideal backdrop change the way we look at things. The for the latest sculpture exhibition, so Harold Martin Botanic Garden is a that art and nature can live in special place, because here we can live harmony. with both art and nature, each complementing the other. Viewing artwork outdoors is different to the often confined space of an art gallery. The large green spaces, rockeries, trees, flower beds and pool area all provide unique environments to excite both sculptor and the visitor. Left to right: John Sydney Carter, Great Circle; Lynn Chadwick, Rising Beast 5 Tom Allan ARBS Tom Allan works at Glasgow Sculpture Studios. For the last decade Allan’s work has been concerned with developing a modern approach to making sculpture in stone. He works with stone carvers in Scotland and international marble sculptors in Carrara, Italy. “My approach unites the immediacy of direct carving by manual methods with the use of many mechanical aids, concentrating on the expression of the essence of the concept or emotion in a suitable form. ‘Sail Away’ is carved from Carrara marble. The form is intended to convey the impression of a sailing boat, without being a model or a direct representation. The colour of the marble, the streamlined shape, and the contrast between polished and rough or cut surfaces suggests the lightness and speed of the vessel, and the exhilaration of its movement. ‘The Eye of the Storm’ is in Portoro marble, black with dramatic veining. The violence of the colouring gave me the idea of a lightning storm, Sail Away (illustrated) emphasised by the jagged shapes 2008 which I have left towards the centre. Carrara marble But there is a vacancy at the very H75 x W30 x D40 cm centre, which represents the calm at the eye of a hurricane. The ‘Eye of the Eye of the Storm Storm’ is a space of calm, a time for 2009 reflection perhaps?” Portoro marble H90 x W50 x D50 cm 6 Mary Anstee-Parry ARBS Mary Anstee-Parry has exhibited widely, from The Minories in Colchester to The Royal British Society of Sculptors’ summer exhibition. Anstee-Parry is an educationalist, letter-cutter, woodcarver and sculptor. “I have a great love of gothic and renaissance carving, admiring both the craftsmanship and sense of design. It is important for me to contemporise these skills, bringing into a modern context the essence of the elegant, witty designs which were so typical of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. A bee-keeping friend came into the garden explaining that he had a problem with his hive and needed to burn some tobacco underneath it as a disinfectant – and this sculpture was the result of that. Note the overall shape of the carving is of a very large ‘roll-up’. I have always been interested in effigies and was amused by Philip Larkin’s image of the couple holding hands rather than having them folded across their chests – this is another take on the original image.” Making a Bee-Line (illustrated) 1999 Sandstone H80 x W35 x D35 cm Effigy 2008 Limestone H70 x W35 x D35 cm 7 Michael Dan Archer Michael Dan Archer has exhibited widely in Britain, including solo exhibitions at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Djanogly Gallery in Nottingham. He has also exhibited and made works at sculpture symposiums in Japan, South Korea, Italy, Sardinia, Sweden, Germany, Dubai, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Australia. Archer is also a senior lecturer at Loughborough University School of Art and Design. “My sculptures primarily invoke the massiveness and physicality of stone and its relationship to architecture, humanity and landscape. Architectural forms, such as portals, obelisks and towers, play a central role in my sculptural explorations. The portals deal with zones of transformation and their rich surface qualities are emphasised by the fragmented nature of some works, which also relates to the fragmentation of our memories of dreams and of our cultural history.” Untitled 2009 Cararra marble H190 x W240 x D100 cm 8 Rosemary Barnett Rosemary Barnett was principal of the Sir Henry Doulton School in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent and founder of the Elisabeth Frink School of Sculpture in Longton (1996 – 2005). Barnett has exhibited widely, as well as curating the Jerwood Sculpture Park exhibition in Worcester. “Using the language of shape and form ‘Innocence’ depicts man as innocent, trusting and loving, entirely open to his fellow human beings, harmless and without guile. This sculpture is carved in pale pink corse hill, sandstone from Dumfries, Scotland, with a mellow terracotta colour. It is delight to carve.” Innocence 1995 Corse Hill Stone H165 x W30 x D20 cm 9 Richard Baronio Richard Baronio has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the ChinArt Gallery, Shanghai in China and the Artists Studio, New York City. He has also exhibited in many group exhibitions around the world including Tokiwa Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan; Puthall Park Sculpture Show, Wiltshire; National Botanic Gardens, Dublin and Ralph Bunche Park (across from the United Nations), New York. “I like to work “blind”, without plan or forethought. The process of making these sculptures, small pieces of metal welded together, is so slow and meditative, that the result is always unexpected, and the meaning often complex and slow to reveal itself.“ Boutonniere (illustrated) 2007 Welded stainless steel H69 x W182 x D69 cm Dragons Tail 2008 Welded stainless steel H216 x W30 x D30 cm 10 David Begbie ARBS Born in 1955 in Edinburgh and based in London, David Begbie is renowned for his innovative steel mesh sculpture which is exhibited, collected and imitated globally.