About The Living Garden

Green urban spaces have become ever more important in terms of health and wellbeing. We are just beginning to understand the expanded role that green spaces in cities play in supporting better health for city dwellers. The Living Garden is a programme of activity, public workshops and commissions for The Spode Rose Garden, to really understand the resource assets of this beautiful space. 

Joanne Mills – The Terminator and The Limb  

(Horticultural Ceramic Sculpture) 

The long-term view required when creating a garden was something I was thinking about when creating the work. I looked at some of the earliest physical calendars that chart the lunar cycle through marks engraved into bone, or hollows dug into the ground. The hollows in the terracotta forms require light to create the shadows that suggest the lunar cycle, they will shift with not only the natural conditions of weather and light, but they will also be impacted upon by the human presence, much like the garden itself. 

The geranium bed lacked a containing structure, so this was where I felt that I could contribute something to the garden. I like to imagine that one day the forms will be covered in moss with plants slipping between gaps, scaling their boundaries. 

Louise Adams – Floral Project  

(Painting) 

In a series of commissioned floral paintings, Stoke-on-Trent artist Louise Adams captures the seasonality of the garden, through her drawing and painting practice.

During regular visits, starting in October 2020 and finishing in November 2021, Louise produced seasonal responses, looking at the light, colour, pattern, texture and feeling of the garden. She said: “Most of all I wanted to communicate and record something of the spirit of the place. It is a garden, not a wild place, and I really appreciate the work, skill and love that makes it.”

Exhibiting Artists

Joanne Mills
Joanne Mills website link.

Louise Adams
Louise Adams website link.

Accessibility

The Spode Rose Garden is an outdoor space which is fully open to the public and is wheel chair accessible.

Supported By

The Living Garden is run in partnership with AirSpace Gallery and is curated by Anna Francis.