Horti-CULTURE is for garden-lovers everywhere! It is an exhibition which examines our human relationship with nature and explores the images, experiences and visual languages that emerge from the act of cultivating a garden. Highlights include original ink drawings by Sarah Simblet, a human-sized nest sculpture by Emma Kwan and an installation by Lisa Busby which will turn part of the lower gallery into a living garden!
Portrayed through the work of thirteen exceptional local artists, this exhibition focuses on our connection with the natural world and our desire to cultivate, catalogue, collect and re-present aspects of it. Visitors can expect to see an exquisite series of original botanical drawings by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Simblet, created for her latest book ‘Botany for the Artist’, which will be available to buy throughout the exhibition. Other well know Oxford based artists have work in the show, including sculptors Rachel Ducker and Christopher Townsend, plus screenprint maker Rachel Owen. The O3 Gallery is proud to present new-comer Emma Kwan and her breathtaking nest sculpture made from dry Chinese herbs.
There is a wide range of media on display, including oil painting in the contrasting styles of Sarah Farrow, Bee Bartlett and Roberta Tetzner, printmaking in the form of etchings by Morna Rhys and lithography by Diana Ashdown, plus abstracted collage artwork by Cynthia Barlow Marrs. No exhibition of this nature would be complete without the work of Linda Wride, 2010’s Royal Horticulture Society Photographer of the Year. And finally Lisa Busby is exhibiting her captivating installation ‘Moths Wings’. This extraordinary artwork is a mixture of song, performance and installation that attempts to explore the complex relationship between the domestic interior spaces of our own creation, and the outdoor, natural world; with actual locations and illusory ones. During Horti-CULTURE exhibition the artist will periodically be living within her installation and invites you to join her!