Seasons - Rebecca Louise Law

Seasons by Rebecca Louise Law

at Compton Verney.

The installation in this stunning exhibiion invites us to experience a year in nature. Starting in Spring, winding through Summer and Autumn, and ending in Winter, it was created for Compton Verney by British installation artist Rebecca Louise Law. The work is both an end and a beginning, a reflection on the passage of time and a call to action.

'I always wanted to observe the seasons daily, taking in every element, looking at the sky and my surroundings and absorbing the change of season through plant life. Living in Britain, we are fortunate to have four distinct seasons: I would like the viewer to have a solitary moment to immerse themselves in there, and in the rhythm of the earth'.

Seasons includes around 250,000 flowers, which have been carefully preserved, reflecting Law's practice of valuing the natural world. Some of the flowers date back to 2004: their beauty and colour given life in death. Woven through the installation is material foraged from Comton Verney's 120 acres of grounds, including oak branches, pinecones and daffodils.

'I want to make art and the experience of art accessible. I want to replace consuming with creating'. 

Although the restrictions of the pandemic prevented much of the communal, hands-on making that was planned, a team of grounds volunteers helped to colllect and wire the natural material for Seasons. Over the summer community and schools groups will return to Compton Verney to work with the artist, adding more material to the installation that has been freshly foraged from the grounds.

Recent research has revealed that Nature Connectedness is essential both for individual well-being and for tackling the huge collective causes of climate change and wildlife preservation. This connection with nature begins at home. Led by Rebecca Louise Law, local school and community groups have been keeping their own nature diaries from home, a selection of which are displayed as part of the exhibition.

In a separate gallery space, four tableaux of dried flowers are exhibited.

looking closer

looking closer.

This was our first exhibition since the easing of lockdown, and what a start!