News

SOPHIA DAWSON

How can we begin to hear a garden? By focusing our attention on the fact of listening: by waiting for the subtle patterns, ephemeral traces, and rhythms of familiar sounds to reveal themselves - and by stilling our interior monologue long enough to appreciate moments of silence.
 
The high walls surrounding the garden at Luton Hoo create not only a micro - climate for plants, but also an environment which contains an astonishing variety of sounds: he roar of airplanes, humming insects, the hollow clanging of loose iron gratings when one walks through the glasshouses, birdsong, wind gusting through trees, the murmur of nearby voices - all celebrate the sonic beauty of the place and its community.
 
Sometimes I record the sounds that I hear - in descriptive writing, or as digital audio files. Sometimes I make objects, which invite us to consider identifiable sounds from a different perspective. Sometimes I lead sound walks to celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us.

After five months of listening, I have begun to hear the garden. This, in turn, has led to a new imaginative relationship with the world within and around me.
 
 Contact details: http://dawsonsoundproject.blogspot.com
 www.axisweb.org  sophiadawson@yahoo.com

HAZEL GODFREY

Between the tilled soil and extravagant planting of the great estate gardens of the past, was an army of under gardeners. Undervalued and poorly paid, the rewards of their labour were enjoyed mostly by the head gardener and estate owner. My intention to research the working life of a 19th Century gardener at Luton Hoo revealed a striking absence of information. As I looked evermore deeply, it became apparent that the absence itself was becoming central to my work.

Thus, 'The Ghost Gardener’‚ Gazebo‚ was conceived to pay homage to the unsung worker. To illustrate, contrast and ground this figure across time, he dreams of higher things beneath a shelter aspiring to the follies of old. No longer absent...

Trained in Applied Arts, Hazel‚ practice as a willow artist combines art, craft and design. Her degree work was selected for Best Emerging Talent, South East‚ and she has participated in several regional exhibitions. Her work was the centrepiece of a Gold Award winning stand at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009.
 
 Contact details:
 hazel@witchazel.freeserve.co.uk
 www.hvaf.org.uk/hazel-godfrey/gallery
 www.facebook.com/hazelgodfreyart

RUTH MARTINDALE

Ruth is an artist based in London who graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Wimbledon College of Art in 2008. She has exhibited and taken part in several residencies across the UK and in Europe.
 
Ruth is fascinated by the natural, and more specifically, the plant world.
 
In this project she is interested in subverting the use of the Walled Garden to highlight the species growing within and around it. This is in contrast to its traditional use for growing and showcasing unusual or fantastic plants.
 
She will focus on wild plants that have been used medicinally, now or throughout history, hoping to highlight the exotic beauty and useful attributes of a dandelion or stinging nettle and their potential for yet unknown uses.
Contact details:
www.ruthmartindale.com ruthmartindale@hotmail.com
07817 742695

ROSIE RIGG

As a printmaker I work with collagraph manipulating bending and folding card to create printing blocks which when printed endeavour to capture the aspects of the garden in the past and the present. The intention of the image is to evoke visual memory, emotional reaction and a sense of place.
 
 During the residency I have had the opportunity to delve into the history of the Walled Garden particularly the period around 1899 when Madame de Falbe lived at Luton Hoo.
 
 The level of production in the Garden grew in this era to sustain the flower displays in the drawing rooms, on the dressing tables and breakfast trays of the mansion. It is difficult to imagine the quantities of flowers, plants and succulent fresh fruit that were grown.
 
 It was my aim to illustrate this past abundance placing it within a changed walled garden, a space that is held in suspension struggling to abate a natural state of decline and decay.
 
 Contact details:
 rosierigg@hotmail.com
 01462 535316 / 07876 017061

KATE WIGGS

 The power of art lies in its ability to create a platform upon which people are free to enact whichever role they wish. Kate Wiggs uses live art as a means to better understand interhuman relations. Her work takes the form of intervention-style performance.
 
 The dance piece created for the Luton Hoo Walled Garden residency is entirely site responsive and is therefore charged with the atmosphere and history of the garden. It has been a collaborative project, meaning the final piece is rich with interpretation, combining the reactions of the artist, dancers and musician. As we have all given something of ourselves during this process, it is pleasing to imagine that our experiences will be added to the already innumerable stories that have been acted out here.
 
 Contact details:
 katewiggs.co.uk
 katewiggs@gmail.com
 blog of the project: http://katewalledgarden.tumblr.com

The electricians, painters and plumbers have finally all gone, and Teresa & Andy Bishop opened their new studio and gallery, at the beginning of September.

For the past six years Teresa has developed her Jewel Genie brand, designing and creating her own beaded and silver jewellery and has built up a loyal and popular following. Selling mainly at craft and gift events across the country from stately homes to community fairs, life at the weekends had been mainly spent on the road whilst week days were spent concentrating on her designs in the studio.

Andy also embarked on his own photography business at the same time and his work majors on his passion for steam and heritage railways. A display of Andy’s work is in the gallery. In addition to selling framed prints he also offers a range of other photographic services, such as photographic restoration.

The Tudor House studio and gallery has given the couple the opportunity to invite selected fine and mostly local artists to work with them for their launch. In addition to a wide selection of fine art media, they are also featuring individual and unique works in jewellery, glass, pottery, textiles, pewter, stonemasonry & artistic wrought iron work.