Art at Stephens House & Gardens

Arts Council Support for Sculpture Trail

Briefly IN-TRANSIT Fri 18th Sep - Sun 27th Sep 2020

A sculpture trail specially created for Stephens House & Gardens, gained support from Arts Council England

Curated by past Resident Artist; Rebekah Dean, the trail brought 10 artists together to create a series of artworks which acknowledged the complexity and simplicity of these transitory times, complete with live actions and interventions

Find out more here

https://www.instagram.com/rebekahdean.1/

Artist in Residence Summer 2018

Caroline Kirton

My work is a series of snap shots observing the ups and downs of life. In my practice I try to create a sense of autobiography, recording stories, feelings, emotions and moments in time.

The work I have been doing at Stephens House and Gardens is a study of the people who work, volunteer and use the facilities to celebrate the centenary year of the house and gardens.

My aim is to increase an audiences awareness of contemporary textiles by telling the stories of the people who are the subject of my pictures. They are designed to arouse discussion and invite interaction whilst showing the importance of building relationships through the generations.

In my practice I use a combination of fabrics, free machine embroidery, appliqué, screen-printing and mixed media to create a moment in time through stitched drawings.

Caroline's work made throughout her residency can be seen in the Stables Cafe

Plane Wall

PLANE WALL by David T. Waller & John R. Waller

Throughout the summer we hosted this installation in our basement

Hundreds of model aircraft, an immersive soundtrack and the accompanying collection of family memorabilia and nostalgic items which, gently occupied an unknown part of Stephens Houses’ historical Victorian basement. This imaginative and intimate art installation was the collaboration of twin brothers.

Plane Wall’s absorbing atmosphere invited viewers into a surprising and ingenious space where a myriad of objects sought to acknowledge and even provoke the passionate and obsessive tides within ourselves so revealing the hidden connections and systems that lie between and beneath us.

Plane Wall was perfectly suited to evoke a private, reflective and thoughtful climate. Visitors were invited to recall and share stories, ask questions, identify the aircraft, or simply spend time amidst this ambient and airworthy exhibit.

See the article on John and David in the Archer http://www.the-archer.co.uk/archive/2018/2018Aug01.pdf

Artist in Residence Winter 2017 Spring 2018

Rebekah Dean.

Rebekah worked with parents who are involved with our resident charity Barnet Home-Start.
She lead a series of guided walks with Home-Start parents around the gardens including the Bothy and also created work using ink with pupils from Oak Lodge School. You can see a piece of this work in the visitor centre.

Rebekah Dean is a neurodivergent thinker and a live and visual artist
http://www.rebekahdean.wordpress.com

photo: Silent walk, by Sisi Burns

Artist in Residence: Summer 2017: David Gilbert

David has always been interested in form and colour; his current sculptural work has a figurative theme around the human form, expressing movement and emotional energy. The inspiration of some of his recent pieces has been infused by the energy that he experiences from open swimming in ponds and the sea; the resulting sculptures use movement to explore boundaries between air and water. Other pieces involve preserving and breaking symmetrical beauty in human form.

David planned to distill some essential aspects of Stephens House and Gardens into the pieces that he produces during his residency, illustrating the progress with drawings, paintings and photographs. He carved a piece of Oak from the Gardens and this can be seen in the Gardens near the Stables

http://sites.google.com/site/davidgilbertportfolio

Artist in Residence Winter 16 - Spring 17

Installation Artist - Julia Maddison

Worked in the basement of the house, The themes of Stephens House, its various incarnations and its proximity to where some of Julia’s earliest childhood memories were formed, were explored through the use of installation, drawing and small scale sculpture.

"Maddison's work is so elegantly explicit; these are images that may sit or stand or lie in plain sight, but pierce the skin and twist the root just where purity and sin bargain for sanity." Julian Firth

Follow her on Instagram: juliamaddison http://https://www.instagram.com/juliamaddison/

& on Twitter: @whatjuliamade http://https://twitter.com/WhatJuliaMade

Artist in residence Spring - Summer 2016

Peter Kyte

Peter is a practising urban and arts photographer, developing a wide body of work since 2008. He is also a town planner and thus has much experience of cities and how they function. His photography celebrates all that makes up the urban environment - buildings, places and spaces, historic settings, heritage, regeneration and community photography projects.

In March 2016 he was commissioned to undertake an ongoing photography project at Stephens House, plus other developmental work.