A quick look at the Yellow Book this weekend for gardens open under the National Garden Scheme found a garden inland from the coast at Dawlish. It was also the garden of sculptor Heather Jansch who uses driftwood from round the coast to make her fabulous horses and other animals.
A very realistic horse in the beautiful Devon countryside.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. After parking the car in a field, there was quite a long walk down the steeply sloping lane which is the driveway to the house, studio and garden. The banks of the lane were studded with beautiful wild flowers, primroses, bluebells etc. when suddenly we came upon a patch of cyclamen.
Cyclamen repandum, I think.
Two foals greeted us when we arrived at the house and garden. One is made from wood and the other from bronze.
The one in the front is made from wood. The sculptures are then dismantled and each piece is cast in bronze, then re-assembled. Wooden ones have a relatively short life if left outdoors in the winter, bronze ones will last forever.
This is the bronze one, they are very difficult to tell apart just by looking, it is only when you touch them that it becomes apparent that they are made from different materials.
The studio was open for us to explore.
Everywhere you looked, there were animals in various stages of completion. I love looking round other artists studios!
Just round the corner of the studio was a large, lifesize Red Deer stag.
Opposite the stag was the store full of driftwood with a few foals in front.
They are all so realistic, you can tell Heather has been around horses for a long time, as she has captured all their little nuances, a flick of a tail or mane, the tossing of heads and prancing legs.
This huge horses head was in the most pretty flowery patch of grass. You can’t see them very well, dare I say that it was too sunny to take decent photos!!
The land behind the buildings sloped away and there were nice pockets of planting on the corners.
I found a Californian Poppy……
……and a novel way to get to the top of a rockery!
The land was sloping steeply down hill and we found a wall of wood with a driftwood deer beyond.
We tried to walk down to the river with the bluebell wood but unfortunately my muscles were really protesting by this time. We returned to the high ground and had a cup of tea instead.
I took this photo of the path where we were sitting, all sorts of oddments have been used to make the path, to great effect I thought.
We had a wonderful afternoon in glorious sunshine and the driftwood sculptures were absolutely amazing. I have read so much about them, seen them many times on TV and seen one at the entrance to the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Heather Jansch’s Diary and sketchbook.
Usually when garden visiting, I come home with a plant or two, this time it was with Heather Jansch’s diary of a year in her life.
Fabulous setting for the sculptures.
I thought the photos of the horses taken on the beach at Dawlish in Devon were absolutely stunning. Driftwood found at the seaside after the many gales that we have in the winter, transformed into such beautiful animals, what a talented artist.
If ever you get an opportunity to visit, I can thoroughly recommend it, you will be blown away!
Those horse and deer statues are fabulous. There is a guy here in my area who makes horses out of driftwood too, but I don’t think he recasts them in bronze. I’m always so impressed with people who have the artistic skills to make such beautiful items.
For a long time Alison, I think the horses were just wood, but of course if they are outside all year, they don’t last very long before rot sets in. Casting in bronze is expensive, but some people are prepared to spend more on a wonderful piece of sculpture. They are now all over the world and the talented artist has plenty of orders to keep her busy!
Hi Pauline, Thank you for a lovely tour! I haven’t heard of Heather and her art so this was a real treat. I love that she is using something that many people consider rubbish and creating such beauty. I will have to do some research about her.
TY for sharing.
It was a treat to see all Heathers work Sally, I was so impressed with it all. Do go onto her website, there are lots more wonderful horses there.
What a marvellous post, I was blown away by this garden and sculptress’ work just reading about it all. The horses are so exquisititely observed, as you say, and the bronze replicas are indistinguishable from the wooden pieces used to mold them – an amazing place, thank you for sharing it with us.
Her work is stunning Kate and now sells world wide. It was so wonderful to see the sculptures “in the flesh” after reading about them for so long.
A interesting post. I hadn’t heard of Heather Jansch but I have enjoyed learning about her work. The horses do look remarkable and the sense of their movement has been captured so well in the art. It is amazing to think that something so good can be created from simple driftwood.
Apparently after each winter storm Heather is down on the Devon beaches collecting more driftwood to store and now other people take her any interesting pieces that they find.Branches blown down in forests are also used, landowners round about know to phone her after a storm!
What a find! Her horses are interesting, though I think I prefer them from a distance as they are a wee bit too skeletal-looking close up for my tastes. Lovely garden, too – the colours of the flowers really ‘pop’ in places!
I think the eye fills in the rest of the body Val, where there are spaces, at least mine do! The flowers were very nice but came second best to all the sculptures I’m afraid.
When we were at Eden there were also driftwood pigs in the Mediterranean biome.
Also her work?
Yes Diana, fancy you remembering, she also made the pigs at Eden, although I didn’t know that until I read her diary!
What an interesting day you had Pauline. I’d love to see these sculptures. Really like the path also where you had your tea. Hope your muscles have recovered. Sitting in the warm sun sounds wonderful.
It was a marvellous day Susie, I think you all know how I like a bit of sculpture! I thought the path very interesting with all the different textures and patterns. My muscles are a lot better now thank you, it was worth it to see the wonderful sculptures.
A very talented lady indeed. How does she make all the pieces of driftwood hold together? I note Pauline that you say you like looking round ‘other’ artists’ studios….. are you an artist yourself? You were certainly lucky with the weather!
The wood is held together with nails, screws and wire Denise. Heather starts with a metal armature made by the local blacksmith and everything is fixed to that. When finished though it is very hard to see anything holding it together.
Even though I started out working in a bank, once I had our children I became a wildlife artist and then when we moved to Devon I started woodcarving and taught it at night school to adults for 17 yrs until I retired a few years ago. I have a few of my carvings in the garden, but they are nowhere near the size of Heathers horses!
We were very lucky with the weather, today it is back to rain!
Thank you Pauline. I can see you are a lady of many talents yourself! Hot here, 20C already! Hope the rain stops soon.
You’re too kind Denise! You can see one of my carvings in my header photo. I think we are going to have showers on and off all week, at least the plants will be happy!
I think I remember seeing one (or more) of Heather Jansch’s works at the Eden project and being full of admiration. I enjoyed your post and all the lovely photographs of the very life like animals. So clever to capture movement and sense of the horses especially. they look more life-like than many sculptures that are solid. I’m glad you’ve had some sunny weather at last Pauline.
The horse at the entrance is hers Christina and also the pigs in one of the biomes. I like the way that you can see through them and feel that they are very lifelike. We had sun every day last week so lots of gardening got done, back to showers now all week!
What a talented lady. I love driftwood anyway and it is fabulous to see it used to create such wonderful works of art.
I agree, she is such a talented lady Chloris. Just looking at the shed storing all her driftwood was amazing, she must have enough stored there for many years to come, there were such amazing shapes, sizes and textures there.
The sculptures are beautiful and so is the setting. What a great find.
I agree Jessica and so close to home too, couldn’t have been better!
Amazing. At first glance, before I started reading, I thought the horses were real!
They are amazing Deb and so realistic, she has certainly studied her subject.
What a fabulous place to visit Pauline both for the horses and the garden. I wonder how long it takes to complete each horse. The artist captures their form and spirit so well. We hope to return to the Eden Project later this year for a second visit so I will be looking out for the horse sculpture there.
It was wonderful Anna to see all the wonderful horses and deer, she certainly is a talented lady. From her diary, I don’t think she xan say how long each piece takes as sometimes she is working on more than one at a time, sometimes waiting for just the right piece of wood to turn up so that a piece can be finished. As far as I know the horse sculpture is still in the entrance to the first building and she also made the pigs in the Mediterranean biome.
Thanks so much for sharing that talented sculptor’s work, Pauline. Superb, and without you I would never have experienced it.
It was a pleasure Cathy, her work is so wonderful, I thought you would all like to see it.
What a talented lady and such an interesting post, Pauline. As you say they are fabulous sculptures and it looks a great place to visit. Thank you for sharing.
She is certainly talented Sue and I had no idea that she was so close to us until I saw it in the “Yellow Book”. I’m so glad we found it!
What an amazing place – and of course the sculptures are astonishing. The fact that the bronze replicates the driftwood adds another dimension. Definitely a place to visit when we make it down to Devon
It is a wonderful place Cathy, it was so lovely seeing the sculptures after reading so much about them and Heather. The texture of the bronze one was amazing, exactly like the wood they were cast from.
A very interesting garden. The sculptures are very creative and inspire a sense of movement. I could almost hear the horses running.
It was interesting Jason, although I think the garden was definitely second best to the sculptures which were out of this world! You have a wonderful imagination, just like Heather!