PLANTLIFE AT FEN DITTON GALLERY

Lotte Attwood

Most of us feel we have rediscovered the natural world in lockdown. Flowers appear to be flowering more exuberantly, birds sing louder, even the most cack-handed gardener with a flair for finishing off most plants finds all they need is some attention (yes, my sweet peas are indeed the first things I have ever really raised from seed, well not quite seed perhaps). Yet among artists, the natural world is as indispensable as the air they breathe. The artists who exhibit at the resilient and resourceful Fen Ditton Gallery have been in deep – active - contemplation of the growing life around them since they were art school students

 Now the Fen Ditton Gallery is open.  And if there one Gallery that deserves our full attention it is this imaginative outfit . And with great insight into what really matters to us all, they present five truly remarkable artists of the natural world, practitioners who have honed their skills down the decades, whose art is yes -rooted in the earth. With them we can contemplate the marvels of the natural world, its strength and its fragility. And we are all up for that right now.

Plantlife is a breathtaking exhibition.

 Lotte Attwood the founder/owner of the new Fen Ditton Galleryspecialises in back and while film photography a skill she deploys to catch a particular atmosphere around land – and indeed buildings. She once worked on Chrstopher Hogwood’s celebrated Cambridge garden. Here, feeling for the natural world is so well communicated in her wondrous photogaphs ( there is something rebellious and familiar about the images)  but she can also write. The quotation from her catalogue floored me

“Even after all these years, watching the image emerge in the developing dish continues to intrigue.  It's an intense - indeed, obsessional and long drawn out process. The good news is that creative immersion like this can

Another aritst featured has an altogether altered slant on plant life, from an unusual medium, quilting.

Ferns by Pauline Burbidge

Pauline Burbidge is a fashion and textiles designer out of the Central School of London and today her work features in most textile collections, including the the V & A. A Quilter by craft and art,, she has moved with her artitst husband Charlie Poulsen, to the Scottish Borders where their joint garden and studios merge in the celebration of plant life.

“‘Starscape’ ( below) (made 2015), was the first large quilt that I made using my ‘Cyanotype’ prints, using the energy of the suns rays to expose the fabric to light to create a print. I think of this work as a Textile Landscape, I study observe and appreciate the natural world around me.”

The amazing Starscape

 Katharine Coleman studied Geography at Cambridge Univeristy and has never left her sense of the natural world as a focus of study. Engraved on glass in a hyper skillful technique( double layer lead crystal forms blown to her order by Patter and Morgan) have landed her among the most admired artists in the modern collection of the V&A. Movingly she says of her art,

“The beauty to be found in the ordinary has been a constant theme in my work. I first visited Japan in 2004 and am still inspired by the country and people that seem to have the beauty of the ordinary at the heart of their culture.“

Malcolm Appleby goes back a long way – and a long career means for him an expanding skill level and recognition as the UK’ leading artist engraver. His garden and woodland inspire his work as ever and the wonderful results are objects you can actually wear. His jewellery is an ultra modern interpretation of a time honoured focus of art – priceless yet organically linked to the earth

“I’m passionate about the amount of energy and power that springs from the ancient craft of engraving. Works of art should be made for everyone to enjoy. Engraving is central to my design and art; it is from engraving that my other skills have evolved.’

Malcolm Appleby

All exhibits are for sale and a proportion of sale proceeds will go to support Plantlife’s campaign for better management of road verges.  You can learn more at plantlife.love-wildflowers.org.uk