The Fresh Air Sculpture Show 2024

Written By Sam Whyman

See the new Coln Bench in person. Exhibition open until the 7th of July.

Last year, I received a message from the curator of the show stating that they loved my work and inviting me to apply for a bursary to exhibit a new piece.

Fortunately my application was successful, so I got to work designing a piece suitable for the outdoors.

Usually my work lives inside away from the elements, so this did present a new challenge from a design perspective, but I think I came up with something pretty special.

The Coln Bench

Named for the river that runs through the bottom of the exhibition gardens, the Coln bench is a large bench seat with a flowing steam-bent backrest and slatted seat. The backrest flows in an arc, encircling the sitters comfortably.

It's crafted from locally sourced Oak - grown on the Badminton estate in Wiltshire. As it's a sculpture show, I wanted to add some sculptural details to elevate the design. I applied a carved texture to the backrest, breaking up the perfect uniformity of the surface, adding an imperfect, handcrafted element.

Visit

There's a brilliant selection of over 180 works in the show, all set in the beautiful gardens of The Old Rectory in the Cotswold village of Quenington.

The setting really is wonderful, and the standard of art on display is incredible.

Book your visit here: https://www.freshairsculpture.com/plan-your-visit/plan-your-visit/

Check out the video series on Instagram:

I documented as much of the process as possible, to give some insight into what goes into creating a piece like this. Check out the 11 - part series on Instagram here, or watch the 1 part summary here.

Thanks for reading, I hope you can check out the show, and I'd love to hear your feedback if you do.

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Sam|Whyman Furniture

Sam Whyman
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