The House of Bling Installation
This 50 metre elaborate carpet drawing was cut into the grass of the National Trust property, Tattershall Castle. The prominent shadows cast by the great tower of the castle as the sun passed over the inner ward captivated my imagination on my first visit. When the central lawn is viewed from above, the shadows cast give a sense of the grand architecture of the now solitary tower in the flat Lincolnshire landscape. The patterns were inspired by the decorative ornate forms which cover the ceramic and glass found in the excavation of the site. The ephemeral nature of cutting the patterns into the lawn has meant that the outlines appear and disappear leaving no trace of the detail and time invested in the slow cutting of the grass. The exhibition was curated by Jane Greenfield and Sue Crabtree.
The National Trust, August 2009, Lincolnshire England. Photographs by Julian Hughes
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The Articulate Landscape
The Articulate Landscape project researched and questioned the social, cultural and historical resonances of the landscape. This design was commissioned by York Saint Johns University Creative Fellow, Jane Greenfield. Loosely referencing the idea of knot gardens and ornate landscapes, both features of historic houses and symbolic of an owner’s wealth, the detailed pattern is inspired by a traditional carpet design but transposed to the lawn. Delicate patterns were drawn and cut by hand over a period of five days and then left to grow out naturally, the pattern slowly disappearing until no trace is left. In some areas the grass grew back stronger than before resulting in the pattern becoming embossed into the grass. This work was developed for a landscape installation for the National Trust’s Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire.
