2022 – Raveningham Sculpture Trail

The 2022 Sculpture Trail at Raveningham features 48 selected artists and makers across 3 acres of grounds who responded to the theme of Journey. Artists have developed ideas, artwork, sculpture, site specific works, stories, magic and more for the meadows, pond, gardens, and woodland at Raveningham. By letting their imaginations and aspirations soar they have created a sculpture exhibition to inspire and uplift visitors. The Sculpture Trail team is committed to encouraging public interaction with contemporary art in a rural setting as well as creating space and opportunity for artists to show and sell their work to a diverse audience.

Every year we invite visitors to vote for their favourite artist/artwork, this year we counted 2600 votes with every single artist receiving votes. We love how the voting encourages people to really engage with the artworks and discuss the trail with friends and family.

Curator’s Choice Winner £250 – Suzie Hanna – Fen Mandala – Microkino

People’s Choice Winner £250 – Harry Chrystall – Barrow

People’s Choice 2nd £200 – Mike Challis – Sound Stepping Stones

People’s Choice 3rd £150 – Jonny Nichols – Metalwork

The 100 club – artists with over 100 votes £50 each: Yvonne Wildi, Meg Amsden, Dawny Christien, Lorraine Crowe, Fern Spray, Cindy Lee Wright.

Donation to Children with Cancer UK 2022 – £305.

Scroll down to see our 2022 Raveningham Sculpture Trail Artists

Nic Acaster – My practice has always been driven by sustainable ethics and a natural affinity with repurposing old wooden structures. The birds have been cut from a 30ft Hastings & Rye fishing boat called “Rosie Haze RX320”, which I decommissioned in 2016. Each bird has been made from the elm or oak planking, with great care given to preserve the boats structure and remnants of its journeys at sea. They are still held together with the original copper rivets, caulking, nails and roves.

Grace Adam – *Journeyman* – A series of fragile ceramic hammers, spanners and other tools start to escape their form and usefulness by morphing into surreal, organic objects. My recent work has focussed on the nature of *work:* what it means and how and where it is carried out post-pandemic. Journeymen craftsmen were traditionally paid daily: the name deriving from the French word for day-*journée,* first used in the 1400s.

Meg Amsden – The Journey of Psyche – A 3D comic strip, in which the heroine goes on a dangerous quest to find her child’s father Cupid. Small figures, mixed media, scenes on tiles cast in Jesmonite.

Mary Anstee – Parry – These birchbark sculpture of hanging shoes are influenced by the ballet “The Red Shoes” about a girl who is given a pair of magic shoes but they make her dance and dance……

Nick Ball – Mother. This work is part of my assemblage series entitled “Propensity”. This is a study of what we collect and why. This particular piece is a homage to my mother who passed last year and her overwhelming obsession was elephants.

John Bardell – The river Elbe as it flows through eastern Germany creates snake like shapes and reflects the red in the sunset.

James Barrett Nobbs – Unity – This figurative installation is symbolic to the way in which mundane items such as the humble wire nail can come together in numbers to form an item of beauty.

Helen Breach – HugMe II – A rocket full of alien escapees who paid unscrupulous traffickers for a journey to a safe planet. Constructed with recycled household items and materials (including last year’s sculpture!), the journey ends at Raveningham.

Ruth Brumby – Five pieces show sections of a river surface, including the colours and patterns seen in reflections on the surface and in looking down into the water below the surface. Ruth is interested in screens and layers.Ruth generally works in papier mache, using recycled books. Papier mache turns from fluid to solid, fixing moments in time. These pieces are weather resistant, being coated in epoxy resin, but could also be wall hung indoors.

Sara Budzik – Sara is trying to save the world, one snail at a time! She wants to encourage us to see the beauty in some of the less popular creatures that we share our planet with, in the hope that it will encourage us to take better care of our fragile ecosystem. Sara is creating a porcelain installation piece for this year’s visitors to enjoy entitled *Cornucopia.*

Mandy Caldon – **So Sings the Whispers**
Happenings weather and fade
Traces cutting whispers
Revealing
Rites of passage
Oh, brutal world

Time to play little child
See the twinkling leaves
Singing and dancing
Amid mystical trees
Sooth your soul

And sing and sing

My childhood fairy tale was Hansel & Gretel, a story that resonates with me and my younger self. A night-time read by lovely uncle. I lived with Vera and Ron during my early years following my parents’ divorce. As much as I loved it there, I recall longing for my mother, too far from home for a trail of crumbs to survive the birds. Like Gretel, in trying times my resilience and strength has revealed itself.
The materials and process are an integral part of this work. I chose to use Parian, a type of porcelain to reflect a sense of fragility with strength. Mixing with paper, porcelain offers a strong unfired body, a versatile medium for sculpture. The unfired parts of this installation will slowly disintegrate, reclaimed by the earth, leaving the fired strength of the porcelain leaves, twinkling and singing in the breeze. Porcelain Paper Clay, Wood.

Laura Cannell – The Hazel Chapel – UNLOCKING RITUALS is a new sound installation created with music from the new solo EP from UK based Composer, Performer and Improviser, Laura Cannell. Stepping away from her signature overbow violin and recorders, this EP features a full church pipe organ built in 1899 recorded live inside a large 14th century rural East Anglian village church. Improvisation and fragmented ancient musical relics are at the heart of Cannell’s music, and here there is a joy in playing something new and discovering the slow moving air inside instrument and the space it is rooted in. Listen here

Sarah Cannell – 1000 Vessel Project; the power of making as a way of processing trauma and moving towards healing by creating 1000 ceramic vessels. So far the artist is part way into her journey and has created 215 vessels, a journey in ceramics and surface design through the process of making

Mike Challis – Sounding Stones. A set of sounding stones to step on and play. Following on from Nightwire, Raveningham 2021, Mike has made an interactive sound piece. Make wild soundscape mixes with your body by stepping on the Sound Stones and triggering different sounds. Have fun and find your inner child. Mike was inspired to make this when he saw children jumping on the trigger mat in Nightwire after the first step had procured a cuckoo. They wanted more … here it is.

Dawny Christien and Lorraine Crowe – Investigating the connection of people, place and distance travelled this collaboration brings a very new site responsive practice to light which considers our relationship with past and present. We are posing questions around our post-pandemic existence and the abundance of material surplus to requirements.

Harry Chrystall – ‘Barrow’ – Harry Chrystall is a multi disciplinary artist and designer. His practice encompasses both figurative and abstract themes which he explores with a variety of materials in two and three dimensions. His current work examines the relationship between artwork and spectator and how the universal and abstract principles that pervade our daily experience are mirrored in this uncertain relationship.

**The Glass Cove** (Artists: Sabrina, Shura & Lesley) Stained glass artists that work together to produce hand crafted art. Each piece is uniquely designed through the artists eyes, using beautiful coloured and textured glass. All bespoke and made with love bringing glass to life.

Rebecca Clifford – 7 Doors – Most people now believe that we have a short window of time before climate change becomes irreversible climate catastrophe. Some have given us seven years, some are giving us a few more & others are less hopeful & giving us less. Whatever the time span it is clear that we have no time to waste. My doors symbolise the few years we have to make change and the need to live smaller lives, to degrow our lives so as to make good our relationship with the planet. We must desist from the path of destruction on which we are currently travelling.

Rachel Collier – Wilson – Crows flit between roof tops, like our connections with others, sharing news and plans. Communicating ‘as the crow flies’. Corvids as emblems of our journeying through difficult and challenging times. Linocut prints on fabric.

Dom Cooper – Sculptures in plaster inspired by shapes and forms found around us – the flowing curves of cloud formations, buds on plants, seed pods. Simple, organic and spontaneous.

Kally Davidson – It’s fascinating how fungi can grow a route for themselves towards symbiotic relationships via a hidden network of hyphae, branching out, in communication with parts of themselves which may be miles away. In parallel, I feel as humans, we function with so many invisible connections, whether it be our own internal unique mind maps which help us to relate to the world around us or the external paths we travel, our life adventures evolve because of where or who we share them with, which is so mushroom.

Natasha Day – Journeys, both physical and emotional, give us experiences if we allow them to seek us out, they can often change us as we are mutable.
Working with metal gives me the opportunity to create both sculptures and wearable art that appear weathered, raw and yet have elements of beauty that resonate with the passage of time and its subtle effects on us as we move through life, sometimes there are treasures waiting for us and we must always hope to find them

Nicci Dedman – Nicci makes modern wire sculpture using wire. For this armchair and pouffe metal wire has been layered to give an upholstered look and gives a comfortable seat for you to sit, put your feet up and enjoy.

Patrick Elder – I have always been a pursuer, a seeker, of freedom. Freedom in the ultimate sense. Through my art I am able to express freedom, to a degree, by letting go of pre-conceived ideas and allowing form and shape to happen. This process is naturally abstract and alludes to a sense of wonder, beauty and joy.
In beauty…..joy
In joy..…wonder
In wonder…..gratitude
In gratitude…..gentleness
In gentleness…..humility
In humility…..peace
In peace…..wisdom
In wisdom…..beauty

Sarah Ellis – Choosing from the wealth of materials found discarded in the streets, Sarah has created a diverse series of “pyramids” using a wide range of materials, mostly man-made some natural. Drinks cans, plastic bottles, masks and gloves were obvious choices, but finding diverse materials became an obsession. The work is presented as one installation, hanging or rising from the ground, shaping the surrounding space and light, ever changing in the breeze.

Tobias Ford – new works by this prolific Suffolk sculptor, creator of the Pakefield Man.

Jen Fox – The phenomenological method of her work is the act of walking; she creates work in response to time and sequence, showing her emotional response and connection to the landscape. Jen looks at ways in which we define ourselves in terms of our multiple connections, and belonging to different communities and within the natural environment.

Emily Gardiner – My work explores the happenings of everyday life and attempts to draw narratives from the mundane and madness that lies within. I work in whatever material brings life to my concept. But especially enjoy making sculptures that provoke the viewer to challenge their perceptions of reality.

Joella Gardner – process-led practice is based on a personal engagement with nature and sustainability. Fascinated by the details and processes of the organic, her work celebrates and carries an essence of what she experiences in the natural world. Through the careful balance between material and construction, her work explores ideas of change and impermanence, embracing unpredictability and serendipity through an experimental process. The materiality of her work aims to create a sense of time and place, raising questions about life’s constraints and opportunities, illuminating the processes and paradoxes of our own lives.

Beth Groom – Beth’s work has evolved from observing objects gathered in her everyday. From flora and fauna to the discarded man made. Led by the material and the process of making.

Spadge Hopkins – Spadge is creating on a full time basis, currently in three dimensions and in metal. He likes to convey movement through form, projection and shadow. Ravens for Raveningham.

Andy Jarrett – Nature is my big inspiration, I make sculptural forms mainly in welded steel to celebrate my experiances

David Johnson – Dave is a multimedia artist @embroiderboydave who is increasingly drawn towards narrative textile and embroidery works. Responding to this years brief he has produced three works, two of which are textile sculptures relating to the perilous journeys that refugees make in seeking a safe haven. These two pieces are installed in small cases to reflect the lack of belongings many travel with. The third piece is an embroidered and appliquéd wall hanging based on the folk tale Solomon Grundy which perfectly encapsulates the journey we all make from birth to death.

Maureen Jordan – **‘Gleam’**
Etched into a glass lightbox and on the theme of the journey, a fragment from Samuel Becket’s play **‘Waiting for Godot’**
***“they give birth astride of a grave***
***the light gleams an instant,***
***then it’s night once more.”***
We live for the moments when the light gleams

Lizzie Lawrence and Sarah Cannell – Spiral Walking Maze. The maze is an idea conceived by Sarah (Sculpture Trail Curator) and created with Lizzie (Sculpture Trail Artist Gardener) embracing the idea of walking and nature as having healing properties. You never have to retrace your steps in the maze, always taking one step forward while feeling grounded. For the ultimate experience walk the maze bare foot!

Julie Leaming – Responding to this year’s theme of Journeys, Julie’s bird sculptures are a direct reference to both the flight and resting place for the migrating birds that Norfolk is well known for. Her work is about form, space and movement and with the forthcoming work for Raveningham, these majestic creatures will be distilled to s a simple form as they find their resting place in the meditative space within the garden.

Cindy Lee Wright – As the journey from peace to war begins with the first shot, I invite you to walk through the door, take a seat and visualise the reverse journey into peace, which is represented here by cultural symbols of Ukraine and Afghanistan, folk art and doves of peace. Umbelifers by Shaun Pickering.

Mary Littlefield – As I write this today 252 asylum seekers made it to Britain in inflatable boats across the English Channel. They are the minority who make it, many do not. Refugees drown , they freeze, they suffocate in lorries or die of thirst and heat in deserts. This work is about those who do not finish their journey and reminds us that for an accident of birth it could be us. Mary is a multi-media artist from Norfolk. She works using recyclable materials wherever possible. Recently her work has focused on Myth and and non-binary sexuality. Current work is concerned with the solidarity that women provide for each other and the people around them.

Sophie Marritt – PondScape – A pond attracts a multitude of wildlife and sound. Early in the year at Raveningham the loud *‘BRROOK* ‘call of moorhens competes with the repetitive call of a Song Thrush. In February frogs may start their soothing nocturnal chorus. Pond snails graze the water meniscus and breathe in the oxygen bubbles produced by Hornwort and Cat’s Tail. By summer all sorts of insects – water beetles, bees, hoverflies and dragonflies – attract garden birds and bats. Pondscape is composed of sounds recorded at Raveningham and other garden ponds, remixed. The sound of frogs was recorded by David Mellor, sourced from David m on the Radio Aporee sound map at aporee.org/maps.

Andy Maule – In this work “Upwards”, Andy Maule sees the ambitions, the struggles, and the effort, we all confront in this uncertain world. We are not all climbers but we all know we can do it, but that we won’t be complete until we reach the top.

Jonathan Nichols – An established metal sculptor from the Suffolk Norfolk border. Nichols sculpts mainly British native wildlife and has been creating work for about 35 years. He started his career chainsaw carving with wood.

Jenny Nutbeem – Step into a spiral of leaf-printed cloth that winds its way up into a cockspur thorn tree – representing a personal journey of discovery into natural dyes and botanical contact prints.

Sarah Rooms Heaphy – Journey – Exploration, progress, odyssey, travelling, pilgrimage, wandering, roaming, voyage, tour, trek, passage, travel… Using the textures, tests, and clay explorations I have created over the last few years, I am exhibiting JOURNEY, a wall sculpture. Each modular section takes a different route through colour, texture, mark making, shapes and forms, an illustration of the diversity of clay in art. The wall sculpture is creating a mind map of ideas, designed to express the feeling of connection and progression whilst continuing to draw inspiration from coastal environments.

Kate Reynolds – Ceramic sculptures which communicate expressions and responses to her observations of nature and the human body. Her ceramic owls, seagull and wading birds hopefully capture something of the quizzical nature of birds and their moments of stillness in their journeys.

Zoe Rubens – Having gained a first class honours degree in Sculpture at Manchester Zoë Rubens is an experienced artist combining the figurative and conceptual. She uses her distinctive talents and skills working with ferrous and nonferrous metals, both cast and welded and etched, to produce intriguing Sculpture and prints. Including her unique ceramics she is able to produce visual excitement with many subtle depths of expression and meaning. Currently working from her studio in East Anglia Zoë challenges many pre-conceptions, experimenting with different techniques and applications and by using her own signature attention to detail within the overall concept makes her work fascinating to revisit

Gordon Senior – Five years ago, Gordon Senior returned to his studio in Norfolk having spent most of the previous 15 years in the Central Valley of California. During that time his work was influenced by living and working in two countries. It evolved into installations of many repeated units. His sculpture was preoccupied with journeys, voyages, and vessels. The major theme running through this work is man’s relationship to nature. The sculptures identify frozen moments in time, significant pauses in the migratory passage and the longest journey.

Louise Severyn – Kosinska – Leshy, Slavic Forest Guardian “Watch out for the Leshy, for he is sly. Is that he? That tree? Or is that he? The wind in the tree?” (Russian Folk tale) In the Baltic and Slavic countries, there is a forest spirit called a Leshy. The word ‘Leshy’ comes from the old Slavonic word meaning “forest” . the Leshy are the guardians of the forests. They protect wild animals and have an especially close relationship with the wolf.

Meryem Siemmond – ‘Matsyasana’ is a Yoga fish pose is a reclining back-bending asana. In that nothingness and silence everything can be created when the nature with us. Formless consciousness through form, spirit through matter and the intangible through the tangible. Venetian marble

Sonic Moth – Ambient – Drone – Synth Cassette label – work in progress Bandcamp. Sound installation created using field recordings made on site at Raveningham.

Fern Spray – **My Journey with Glass & Wood** – *With a glass on glass mosaic technique Ferns work is exploring changing light angles and overall shape to achieve different effects with mirror and glass which interact with its surroundings.*

Bee Springwood – Bee works with the specific site, and this spot inspired the image of the Asklepeus. Seeing the healing serpent in the plants she found winding along, vividly alive, and the old fence line taking the role of staff.
In this work the “weaving” traces a journey with plants, with colour; an interaction between human and nature.
Weaving, binding, and plaiting are meditative acts that take us back through centuries of crafting with plant and fabric.

Laura Such – *Broken Dreams*, 1:9, **2022, Jesmonite on Concrete.** Toying with forms that intrigue and engage, Laura alters the materiality of everyday objects- reassessing the meaning and fabric of the familiar. *Sweet Dreams* is a touching reminder of loss, as an integral part of the cycle of life.

Becky Tough – A personal narrative created through half told truths that float in and out of focus. Interaction between the real of the present and the imagined spaces of the past.

Ian Vance – Ceramic standing stones signpost our way to a better future after a challenging few years.

Yvonne Wildi – Enchanted Wireworks creates figures to bring a touch of elemental magic and joy to your home or garden. This particular figure emerged with a deeply joyful and generous presence, who also has the gift of clear-sight and a strong spirit. And fiery copper hair!

Jacky Wilton – metalworking artist. Sculptures inspired by struggles encountered through all walks of life throughout mankind.

Peter Wiltshire – A Tree’s Journey – In the dark little changes, whilst above ground the seasonal drama unfolds. Stained glass panels including fixings – Winter £290, Summer £290, Autumn £290

POP UP GALLERY – Jane Rands. Nina Roffey. Annette Rolston. Sarah Cannell, Stephanie Gilbert.

MICRO KINO – Our magical tiny outdoor cinema space featuring animations created specifically for this year’s Sculpture Trail. Animators have responded to the themes of Nature and Journey. Curated by the fabulous Professor Suzie Hannah.http://suziehanna.com

Scroll down to see our 2022 Raveningham Sculpture Trail Artists

Share this: