Christmas Decorations

Our Christmas decorations this year were made by Rebecca Smith in a workshop facilitated by Mark Anthony Haden Ford and Rebecca Ford of Two Circles Design. We also have some strings of silver bells by Anton Pruden adorning the gallery. Come and join us for mulled wine and a mince pie at Ditchling late night Christmas Shopping on Friday the 9th of December 6pm – 8pm and see our handmade chrstmas decorations for 2016 .

Christmas Decorations 2016 at Pruden and Smith

About Two Circles Design:

Exhibiting since 1990, Mark Ford graduated from his sculpture degree at Sunderland in 1996. As a Land Artist he is inspired and informed by the natural world. Growing up immersed in the Sussex Downland, he has developed a strong interest in the archaeology, geography and mystery of the area, also drawing on rural and ancient traditions of willow working, which, in a pre-plastic world was seen as an essential product.

Rebecca Ford, an English and creative writing degree graduate and trained secondary school teacher began working with Mark and in 2004 they formed Two Circles Design. A creative duo making work to commission ranging from distinctive garden design projects, festivals, sculptural installations in galleries and outdoor classrooms for Schools. Their work is flexible and from locally sourced materials. The pieces can be allowed to take root and form permanent living environments,

‘As Land artists making small and large scale structures, we feel that creating ephemeral woven forms is a process of discovery. When we manipulate our own experiences of the universe the potential of using plant forms are metamorphosed by the human hand into a new life form.

It is this transformation that makes the work so powerfully alluring. The unusual forms surprise and challenge, yet the origin of the work is always present, the fact that the materials are plant based, pulses through every form.

Having restored local ‘over-stood’ willow stools back into rotation for harvesting themselves, through to the physical demands of manipulating the material, Mark and Rebecca Ford’s work reflects a renewed interest in returning to a slower pace of life, to the art of making something that takes time and effort to produce. The Sculptures final forms take time to evolve, the nature of the material dictating in part, the direction and shape. As the willow criss-crosses and interweaves, it creates fluid lines, drawings on a grand scale, a flowing story that stimulates and exhilarates the senses.

Based in Slindon, within the South Downs National Park, they live in a National Trust cottage with their daughter Florence and a mischievous Jack Russell dog called Fedge. The garden and house are used to experiment and explore new techniques and ideas. Among the gorgeous sculptures, arbours and seats that scatter across their garden, they are experimenting with freeweaving and ‘bendernomics’, an ancient architectural technique adapted to create extensions to country cottages and wedding reception venues. When covered, the structures mould around the woven walls and emanates a pod-like glow when lit up at night, Snug and cosy, yet still rooted in the outdoors, it connects the inside to the out seamlessly.

A fun day learning the techniques in the “woven explorations” workshop run by Two Circles Design.