RHS Flower Show Tatton Park: King Canute

For the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, July 2012, I was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Cheshire Gardens Trust garden. The title and theme of the garden 'Time and Tide: Caldwell's and Canute' was designed to raise awareness of the trust and it's Caldwell's Nurseries project about an important family run nursery that operated in Kuntsford for 200 years. King Canute gave his name to the town (Canute's ford, later Knutsford) and Caldwell's adopted him as their logo. This was the starting point for the coastal garden theme (garden designer Jacquetta Menzies). My aim was to create a contemporary ethereal figure of this Knutsford icon with his billowing cloak sheltering and protecting the nursery memories and heritage. The manipulated stainless steel mesh gives the effect of gathered fabric and is see-through, allowing views to the spiral pebble and shell path, the dunes and the sea of planting. Ths image shows a close up of his head made of stainless steel mesh and his crown, flowing hair and beard of perforated stainless steel sheet. I'm delighted to say the garden was awarded a silver medal by the RHS and gained national press and TV coverage. Please see more images and information on the additional page.