How to Get Here - Home - Art - Restaurant - Craft Studios - Deli - Pottery - Events - About Us
 
  
It is hard to keep a good man down, and so it is with Ken Stanway. His name crops up all over the place in connection with art in the Forest of Dean. His very social and willing nature means he becomes involved in all kinds of projects. At Taurus, his constructional prowess remains hidden under the mirrors of Mollie Meager’s Alice in Reflection ‘Living Artwork’, located in the courtyard. This work is the result of Mollie’s residency here in July and August 2002.

Mollie is an architectural glass artist working with light and colour. She used her time here to explore the fascinating and varied qualities of glass. In particular, she focussed on its capacity to reflect (whilst remaining invisible) and its usefulness for changing the perspective of the world beyond.

Mollie’s interaction with visitors to the Residency studio strongly determined the direct outcome of her work. She decorated the walls and windows of the studio with extraordinarily colourful paintings. Outside on the veranda she arranged pieces of coloured cellophane to catch the light, reflect on each other, and create colourful shadows on the floor. She tracked the movement of light in the courtyard on a daily basis, temporarily marking the courtyard to provide a visible record. This resulted in a series of paintings based on the way the light moved, which then developed into a colourful mural, soon attracting large numbers of people to join in.
 
Mollie’s work makes her particularly conscious of light and whilst working in the courtyard she developed the idea of bringing light into it to provide a focus. She also became aware that her work would need to be multi-faceted since visitors to Taurus approach the centre, via the courtyard, either from the main entrance or from the adjoining Coinross Plant Nursery.

She gained inspiration for her work from seeing the contrast the ‘soldier-like’ habit of the fennels used in the Wonder Pod make with the flat horizontal brightly coloured paths. This reminded her of Alice in Wonderland. She also saw the The Giant Chess Set, made by Taurus potters, and laid out on the chequered floor of the veranda attached to the Residency studio, in a similar light.
 
During her residency Mollie noted that some of the glass panels hanging in the window of the studio did not show up well when viewed directly against the background of dark buildings. Yet a glass sheet resting on a nearby table beneath the window reflected these same panels brightly and colourfully, and included the sky! She resolved then to develop an artwork that incorporated images painted on glass and reflected in mirrors - once again providing a strong allusion to Alice in Wonderland.

And so the idea of painting four panels with Queens from a pack of playing cards was born. Each panel was enamlled and painted, and the glass sent to Bristol to get ‘toughened’. Each sails on a sea of mirrored glass. The planted screens of Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ separate the four queens and act as a foil to the chaos in the story.

The formality of this planting reflects the primness of Alice’s character whilst the ivies used around the base create a soft and verdant surround.
 

Trained at Northern Polytechnic, London; Filton College, Bristol; workshops with Patrick Reyntiens, Lise Autogena, Ursula Huith

Exhibitions at: The Art of Glass, Broadfield House Glass Museum, Dudley; Bishops Gallery, Bishops Castle; El Bosque, La Galeria Imago, Cuba; Sofiero Castle, Helsingburg, Sweden; The Black Swan Guild, Frome; Quenington Sculpture Show, Cirencester; Newent Market House, Newent; Happening Gallery, Bristol; Guildhall, Gloucester

Commissions include: Saint Mary’s Church, Guildford; Westhope College; Cinderford Triangle; St Peter’s Church, Rous Lench, Evesham; Cirencester Forum; Penhill Church, Swindon; Grange Village, Newnham, Glos; Redbrook Church, Monmouth

Work included in the collection of Broadfield House Glass Museum

Limited amount of teaching in own workshop and elsewhere
 

How to Get Here - Home - Art - Restaurant - Craft Studios - Deli - Pottery - Events - About Us