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Serena de la Hey

2008 visit - Sculpture Workshop

'The UK's largest known willow figure, positioned by the side of the M5 near Bridgwater, is firmly established as one of the best known landmarks in the South West. Out of the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels rises the spectre of a running man, huge in proportion, poised like a dancer about to perform a pirouette; sometimes silhouetted against the setting sun, sometimes ethereal, shrouded in mist'.

Thus reported in 2005, Serena returned this year to help the children make their very own willow man, designed to stand alongside the Preparatory School’s willow horse sculpture. She is one of the leading artists in the region, best known for her animal and figure sculptures. Based in Somerset, she prefers traditional working processes and materials naturally available in the area. She has produced sculpture for the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, the Glastonbury Festival, and a series of running men placed in the Nevada Desert.

She began the workshop by giving the steel substructure of the man some volume with willow cane rings which were used to create a 'skin'. Many willow canes were further woven and the man quickly assumed its form and expression.

Two days of intense, focused practical work from groups of every age, has resulted in a figure of great presence; a good complementary form to place alongside the willow horse, and another sculpture to enhance the school environment.

2005 visit

The U.K's largest known willow figure, positioned by the side of the M5 near Bridgwater, is firmly established as one of the best known landmarks in the South West. Out of the flat landscape of the Somerset levels rises the figure of a running man, huge in proportion, poised like a dancer about to perform a pirouette; sometimes silhouetted against the setting sun, sometimes ethereal, shrouded in mist.

Serena imagines a figure that suggests otherworldliness, a sense of the universal, a figure that can conjure a multitude of associations. She is one of the leading artists in the region, best known for her animal and figure sculptures. Based in Somerset, she prefers traditional working processes and materials naturally available in the area. She has produced sculpture for the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, the Glastonbury Music Festival, and a series of running figures placed in the Nevada Desert.

We were naturally delighted that she took up Sally Nuttall's offer to work with a group of Yr 5 pupils, dealing with a theme based on horses in art. The pupils had been expertly prepared for her visit, having attempted to understand the structure and anatomy of horses through appraisal of old master drawings, by making first-hand observations of wooden articulated models (kindly lent by 'Harold Hockey'), and by viewing the real thing with the impressive arrival in the playground of a mounted policewoman on a chestnut gelding. They had also, at this point, created ceramic models of horses based on images of Chinese archaeological finds many thousands of years old.

Come the day of the workshop, Serena arrived with a large steel substructure and several bundles of green, pliable willow canes. She began the process of giving the skeletal substructure volume, by instructing the pupils to create willow rings like hoola-hoops, stringing them together to create a 'skin' over which the withys were further woven. The horse quickly assumed its form, and began to grow subtly in character.

Two days of intense, focused practical work from all the groups concerned has at last resulted in the most marvellously dynamic sculpture possessing a palpable energy, its turning head, erect ears and flowing tail suggesting the alertness of a highly strung thoroughbred. A good sculpture therefore to place in the rose garden as the first in a series of noteworthy pieces designed to enhance the school surroundings.

2005

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