Open-Up at Hestercombe Gardens

Gabrielle Hoad & Megan Calver | Salt-cat (keeps them at home) | 2020 | Work in progress for Open-Up, Hestercombe Gardens

Open-Up is a brand new series of outdoor artworks commissioned by Hestercombe Gallery in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This new exhibition features eight artists with intimate knowledge of Hestercombe, many of whom have responded to the landscapes on the estate in the past. The works, on display across all three of the period gardens at Hestercombe and beyond, range from subtle interventions involving copper plant tags, pigeon rings and galvanised nails, to bold stacked colours, giant bunting and orchard ladders.

All artwork will be installed and opened at different times during August and the beginning of September.

The show centres on a flagship commission by Richard Long Jackdaw Line in Hestercombe’s Georgian Landscape Garden. Other artists include Sarah Bennett, Megan Calver & Gabrielle Hoad, Jon England, Jo Lathwood, Philippa Lawrence and Lucy Soni.

Open Wednesday to Sunday each week, 10am – 6pm (last entry 3.30pm). Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, all visits must be pre-booked online by 5pm on the day before you wish to travel.

Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG

https://www.hestercombe.com/event/open-up-outdoor-gallery-exhibition/

Walking Bodies

Looking forward to the publication of Walking Bodies from Triarchy Press next month. It features pigeon steps, a provocation I made in 2019 with Megan Calver, alongside lots of truly exciting new thinking (and doing) in contemporary walking arts practice. Edited by Helen Billinghurst, Claire Hind and Phil Smith, who also organised the conference in Plymouth in 2019 from which it derives. 

 https://www.triarchypress.net/walkingbodies.html

Salt-cat (keeps them at home) 2020

Salt-cat (keeps them at home) | 2020 |  Found text and objects, bird rings

I'm delighted to announce the installation of a temporary site-specific work, Salt-cat (keeps them at home), made with Megan Calver in the grounds of Hestercombe House. It shows alongside work by Jo Lathwood, Philippa Lawrence, Luci Soni, Jon England and Sarah Bennett, and accompanies a newly commissioned outdoor work by Richard Long: Jackdaw Line.

Salt-cat was a type of cake made by pigeon breeders to entice their birds to stay or return home. Its ingredients included gravel, lime, saltpetre and stale urine. Drawing on Hestercombe’s archive, as well as sources such as The Sportsman's Dictionary of 1800, we gathered a small flock of text fragments that relate to this practice. These phrases now nestle, together yet separate, in Perspex pigeonholes in a vestibule leading from the terrace garden. Referencing Hestercombe’s 19th century dovecote (now part of the visitor reception office), the work also reflects on people's renewed attachment to home brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

When installing the work we decided not to disturb the current inhabitants of the space (past and present) –  leaving in place their dust, debris, webs, cocoons, moults, droppings and other remains –  incorporating them instead into our work. This ‘dirt’ seemed especially affecting at a time when there’s so much a focus on hygiene and cleanliness.

It's a welcome return to working with pigeons as subject matter; they also feature in Solid Air (2014), Columbarium (2014) and pigeon steps (2019). At the same time, it extends a series of text-based works and proposals made with Megan Calver over the past two years that began with Turn (the) Leaves in 2018. 

The cards with text that form part of Salt-cat were screen-printed for us by George Barron at Double Elephant Print Workshop.

'Open-Up' - a series of outdoor commissions curated by Tim Martin
From 12 August 2020 (new works added on a rolling basis) - Wed-Sun 10am-6pm 
Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG
https://www.hestercombe.com/gallery/

https://www.hestercombe.com/event/open-up-outdoor-gallery-exhibition/