DRAWN TO THE GARDEN
An exhibition by the members of Cardiff Drawing Group. Inspired by Cowbridge Physic Garden
Opening Cowbridge Old Hall Wed. 1st October
Exhibition runs until 18th October
Open 10.30 – 4.00pm, except Sunday
Wednesday 1st October saw the opening by Captain Sir Norman Lloyd-Edwards of Cardiff Drawing Group’s ‘Drawn to the Garden’ exhibition at Cowbridge Old Hall.
This event, which displays drawing work inspired by a recent group visit to the new Physic Garden, was a great success, with around fifty guests in attendance.
After an introduction by Dan Clayton Jones, Chair of the Physic Garden Trust, Captain Sir Lloyd-Edwards gave an entertaining and witty opening address in which he complimented the Group for displaying an interesting variety of techniques, approaches and ways of expressing themselves.
He said that he was really pleased to be asked to open the exhibition as he had a great interest in art, and described the images on display as focussed, saying that in this kind of drawing there was little room for error.
Fascinated by the fine nature of the work particularly those executed in pen and ink, he commented that there was loads of imagination on display.
He applauded this exhibition as creating opportunities for the exchange of ideas and techniques.
The display of drawings left him with a concept of the Physic Garden as an oasis of peace and quiet where people can freely go to refresh themselves.
He offered the Drawing Group a first class ‘Hooray!’ for choosing to make the Physic Garden the theme of their exhibition, and expressed a hope that they would continue to have pleasure in drawing and exhibiting their work in the future.
Responding, Roger Fickling organiser for the Drawing Group, thanked Captain Sir Lloyd-Edwards and all those who had worked to support the project and expressed the group’s admiration for the Physic Garden.
The members of the group had thoroughly enjoyed the project, and, as he said, all kinds of things come from drawings.
Perhaps the exhibition could best be summed up by the visitor book entry of one individual – “I wish I could make marks on paper that could be so admirable”.
Captain Sir Norman Lloyd-Edwards KCVO GCStJ RD GOMLJ JP RNR will be well known to many as the Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan for some 17 years until 2008, and also as Lord Mayor of Cardiff.
The Cardiff Drawing Group is an informal network of artists who love to draw. The group began in 2002 on the initiative of Chris Glynne, now Head of Illustration at UWIC.
They are always on the lookout for opportunities to investigate, create and exhibit.
For more information, click on to www.cardiffdrawinggroup.co.uk
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Drawn to the Garden
Being held at the Old Hall, High Street, Cowbridge
From 26th September to 18th Oct: 10.30am to 4.00pm
18 Exhibitors:-
Robert Cope
Leslie Dearn
Dale Evans
Roger Fickling
Raphaelle Fieldhouse
Chris Glyn
David Harding
Stephanie Lowder
Hugh O’Connell
Richard O’Connell
Vernetta O’Connor
Shirley Anne Owen
Sue Paton
Sue Roberts
Leonie Sharrock
Sue Shields
Pauline Williams
Christine Wilson
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Nature’s Sea Change
Have you taken an aspirin when you have a headache? Vitamins to keep you healthy? Did you think about where these products came from, or just dismiss them as ‘modern medical science’?
Many people credit the beginning of today’s pharmaceutical industry to Bayer’s creation of aspirin in 1899, but in reality the Ancient Greeks had used extract of Willow Bark, nature’s herbal aspirin, thousands of years ago.
30% of adults today have taken herbal extracts – Garlic as an internal antibiotic and fungicide, Feverfew for migraines, Peppermint and Ginger for indigestion. Lycopene from tomatoes, Borage, Liquorice, Comfrey, the list is endless. Many present day medications are rooted in natural substances, and can be part of a healthy lifestyle.
Cardiff Drawing Group have recently spent quite some time exploring and experiencing Cowbridge Physic Garden, designed and created by landscape designer Anthony Jallard as part of Cowbridge’s 750th anniversary celebrations.
The formal ‘parterre’ garden offers us an historic and fascinating insight into the curative properties of plants.
I am a keen gardener and love the complexity of nature; and have used my experiences during our Drawing Group investigation to inspire the creation of art work recording the beauty of the garden, and also exploring the ‘sea change’ that use of natural herbal remedies can produce in us.
Vernetta O’Connor
5th. September 2008
www.vernetta.co.uk
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Drawn to the Garden by David Harding
Using plants to cure or help alleviate an illness of any kind is a natural state of affairs, after all what else are we going to use? We know that parts of various animals have and are being used, along with various meditative and spiritual healing practices such as 'the laying on of hands' etc. The advances in Chemistry, Physics and Medical research such as the Genome project have given us new applications of our knowledge regarding the human condition, this includes morally contentious issues such as human and animal stem cell research and gene technology in plant breeding and cultivation.
The historical basis for it all, and a continuing signifier for research is encapsulated in the idea of the Physic Garden.
A physic garden as such, is a storehouse of known and experimental curatives allied to the knowledge of how and when to prepare certain parts of each plant - modern science has taken this older 'Signature of Plants' and ancient herbal recipes to a sub molecular level and as we know the business of drug companies involved in much of this research is vast.
The Physic Garden - the Herbal Garden - is indeed an ancient idea and a natural laboratory with wide associations to cosmology, ecology, myth and ideas about mind, body and consciousness - this was all guarded knowledge and practitioners of it usually worked for the good of society.
All societies have their versions of the Medicine Man, The Witch, The Old Wives, The Shaman etc - which mix old knowledge and an emerging 'Science' of knowing what indigenous plants are efficacious and how to prepare them, along with experiences of a spiritual and psychological dimension.
In the use of plants and animals in medicine, there will always much to discover and the great Rain Forests and Oceans of the world are the biggest natural Physic Gardens we know of.
The making of a Physic Garden, such as the one at Cowbridge is an achievement, and a serious acknowledgement of history – both medical and shamanistic - and the fact that present and future drugs that help people in their mind and body still come mainly from this international 'garden' source.
Cardiff Drawing Group is a very diverse group of artists and we feel honoured to be able to add this exhibition of our drawings to your achievement. In our variety of expression and approach to drawing we hope to show some of the many ways the Physic Garden can be experienced and enjoyed.
By David Harding
www.daiharding.com
Exhibition held in association with Friends Of The Garden and Cowbridge Council
