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| On the opposite side of the road to the Wonder Pod, alongside the Restaurant,
stands a ‘Living Artwork’ that contrasts strongly to the Wonder Pod in both size
and complexity. It could almost be described as a minimalist piece of Living
Art. The Winter Flowering Spring was designed by Ken Stanway as part of his and
daughter Rachael’s residency in December 2001. The theme set for this Christmas
period was ‘wrapping’ and there followed an intensive month-long programme of
interactive activities, culminating in the ‘unveiling’ of the metal-wrapped
winter flowering shrub. This dynamic duo dubbed this period an ‘Action Packed
Evolving Exhibition of Wrapped and Unwrapped Art’, and virtually everything in
sight became wrapped. Most noticeably they enveloped the Taurus Bull in the
white material used to make tea bags (kindly donated by near neighbours J R
Crompton Ltd). |
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The entrance pillars to Taurus Crafts also took on a Christo-like appearance.
Indeed Christo and Jeanne-Claude (famous for their wrapped buildings and
objects) gave an enormous boost to the event by agreeing unhesitatingly to send
a wrapped parcel from New York to be unwrapped as part of Ken’s initiative to
involve members of FORGE, The Forest of Dean Association for the Visually
Impaired.
Ken, in inimitable style, immediately suggested getting the parcel x-rayed at
Winfield Hospital, and running a competition to guess the contents. He kindly
donated, as a prize, one of his paintings from his concurrent exhibition. Many
of these paintings involved the use of corrugated paper and other wrapping
materials. The contents of the parcel were eleven large stunning photographs of
Christo’s wrapped buildings, with descriptive notes, and a signed postcard
wishing Taurus well. |
In the meantime Rachael, who had produced a video and sound piece as part of her
degree work, made and showed a looped video of wrapping fish and chips. Also on
display were an armchair, which the pair had wrapped in the local
arts-supporting newspaper ‘The Forester’ (thus highlighting the links between
paper and wood, between The Forester and the Forest, and with the issue of
re-cycling), and logs wrapped in strips of newspaper carrying just the masthead
message, ‘The Forester’. Together Ken and Rachael included local schoolchildren
in their activities by running several workshops exploring the different aspects
of wrapping and unwrapping.
As fun items, Rachael organised a fashion show, coercing several volunteers to
model a range of outrageous costumes made from wrapping materials. She also
persuaded local schoolchildren to dance on a floor of bubble wrap during a live
broadcast of the local weather, presented by BBC TV weatherman Richard Angwin,
who sportingly donned a decorated coat of bubble wrap for the occasion.
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Winter Flowering
Spring was inspired by this frenzy of wrapping, but designed to be part of
Taurus’s permanent collection of ’Living Art’, and thus involved the wrapping of
plant material. A balance was struck between plants that would grow slowly, and
thus come to full expression after many years, and plants that would grow
quickly and thereby engulf their wrapping in a very short time. The two ends of
the metal spring are planted with Elaeagnus x ebbingei, an evergreen with
deliciously scented tiny flowers that appear almost unnoticed on the underside
of leaves in late autumn. Catching passers-by, this delightful fragrance is a
surprise bonus for a seemingly unassuming piece of ‘Living Art’.
Like any piece of ‘Living Art’ it cannot be ignored without a penalty, demanding
attention by the necessity to keep the plants regularly pruned to remain ‘under
wraps’.How
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