2024 – Raveningham Sculpture Trail

The 2024 Sculpture Trail at Raveningham features 60 selected artists and makers across 3 acres of grounds who responded to the theme of Mythos – The Stories We Tell Ourselves. Artists have developed ideas, artwork, sculpture, site specific works, stories, magic and more for the meadows, pond, gardens, and woodland at Raveningham. By letting their imaginations and aspirations soar they have created a sculpture exhibition to inspire and uplift visitors. The Sculpture Trail team is committed to encouraging public interaction with contemporary art in a rural setting as well as creating space and opportunity for artists to show and sell their work to a diverse audience.

Scroll down to see our 2024 Raveningham Sculpture Trail Artists

**Anne Marie Abbate** – The Yali of Raveningham – A Yali is a Hindu mythological hybrid creature. It is said to be a guardian creature, protecting human beings both physically and spiritually. It is regarded to be a fearless beast, possessing supremacy over the animal world. It is also believed to be the symbolic representation of man’s struggle with the elemental forces of nature.The creature is represented in many South Indian temples, often sculpted onto the pillars. There also exist variations of the creature, the lion-headed (simha-vyala), horse- (ashva-vyala), human- (nir-vyala) and the dog-headed (shvana-vyala)
www.annemarieabbate.com @amabbate

Amsden Meg – Six Swans – 6 shapeshifting swans from Grimm’s fairytale. Magic shirts turn boys into swans, but nettle shirts can turn them back into boys, if only their sister can make them in time to break the spell. One shirt is unfinished. Multi-media; olive-oil cans, Jesmonite and nettle cord.

**Art Depot** – Stories are Collective they bring people together. To listen round a campfire , or a family meal, at bedtime to little listeners or the reminiscences of the elderly over a cup of tea. We are a collective of artists, we share our stories with each other and in our installation for you to enjoy. Together we are stronger.

**Austin Sophie** –
**What Happens Next?**
I sit at my desk waiting for them; the rumble in the distance might be announcing their arrival.
They are close, I can feel it.
But perhaps there is time for one last story…

An interactive installation inviting you to write what happens next in the story so far.
Created by Sophie Austin with soundscape by Isa Suarez
Sophie Austin is a storyteller working across theatre, film and audio to connect us to the wilder world.

For this installation I want to harness the power of our collective imaginations.
We are all storytellers, but can we tell a story together?

See how the story develops www.sophiejaneaustin.com

**Nick Ball** – GORT, from the film “THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL” represents the need to clean up our planet, ironically made from a waste product which itself is made from an endangered species.

**Bardell John** – New works in glass celebrating colour and form.

**Charlie Barlow** – **Squirming Clan 2024**, **Plastic bottles & liquid**. Charlie explores material boundaries through the woodland infestation of plastic bottles. Waste mutates into a living species which resists corrosion, threatening the environment – a becoming of the ‘Other’.
**charliebarlow.com**

**Barns Rachael** – Made predominantly from waste materials and inspired by research into the benefits of connecting with nature, Rachael’s work is themed around the four elements. The words used are collaborative, full texts and details of contributors available at www.rachaelbarns.art

**Breach Helen** – Stymphian – Myths from ancient Greece are fascinating. From the imaginary tales comes a modern interpretation – Artemis the huntress, Stymphian – a man-eating bird with poisonous poo and the three-headed dog Cerberus which guarded Hades. All constructed from recycled shredded packing materials and other odd bits, recycling at it’s monstrous best even if the subjects are distinctly unfriendly!

**Caldon Amanda** – Queen of Swords – Responding to the Mythos theme exploring the relationship between present and past experience and the formation of our ancestral lines. Having sculpted for most of her life, Caldon’s work is influenced by the study of sociopsychological and spirituality experiences, which are intrinsic to the making process. This piece reflects the vulnerability, strength and spiritual power of our female ancestors, translated in stoneware clay and presented in traditional form.

Gathering hags around flames
Wide, wanting eyes of fire
A thousand stars unveiled
Liberated spirits piercing joy
Dancing and swooping and love, oh yes love
Silver cords on a rainbow cloud
Skipping amid the stars
They were there

For generations of tales grew bright
Beckoning wombs raging ecstasy
Cries fall silent the Ravens call
Repeated yearnings
Deafening gaping wounds
Of poisoned smokey blues
Yearning hearts warm embrace
She knew them

Carving clays well trodden paths
To sacred gatherings for gold
No falsity dare invade
Defeated by The Queen of Swords
In rivers red with remorse
Scars unveiled to laughter
Bathed in a camomile lawn
We know her

Laura Cannell & Bosman Andre – **The Woodland Portal** is an original sound and visual installation in which characters and creatures emerge from the woodland into our imaginations.
Internationally acclaimed Composer/Musician Laura Cannell and Artist/Musician André Bosman will be presenting their latest collaboration ‘The Woodland Portal’ as an outdoor installation at the 2024 Raveningham Sculpture Trail and online.
The project which intertwines new composition, sound design and animation to create 5 tales inspired by real and imagined folklore is supported by Arts Council England National Lottery Funding.

**Francesca Cant –** Blueprint is a modular sculpture constructed out of sheet metal. Mirroring that of an aerial view of a cityscape, each component has geometric shapes cut out from the surface. The different metal planes slot together to create a 3D map of an imagined urban landscape. www.francescacant.com

**Charles Jane** – Jane has made a series of textile works to create a calm space for contemplation: using eco printing, batik and indigo dye that reflect the positive thoughts and affirmations we need to live by now. Nature is such an important backbone to modern life, we need to remember it’s always been there and should be treasured. Families will enjoy reciting them and sharing their memories about growing up with nature and the importance of the changing seasons. Jane also had a collection of her infamous ‘cotton reel tree’s available to buy in our gallery.

**Collier – Wilson Rachel** – Rachel Collier-Wilson has been a practising artist since gaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking in 1990 from Central Saint Martins School of Art in London. Currently studying part time for an MA in Fine Art at The Norwich University of the Arts .

Rachel’s practice includes figurative portraiture, drawing and printmaking. They are interested in exploring memory and emotion and considering the relationship between the narrative of portraits, the memories they represent and how they evoke a sense of identity. With this piece I am exploring I am exploring the fragmented view of the body, and how the viewer can create their own narrative.

Instagram: @Rachelmcw

Davidson Kally – Like stories, phobias can be retold within tribes. Not wishing this, I followed threads of a growing curiosity since my maternal grandmother died, into Spider Amore. Sitting with the seasons of life in constant flux, yarns woven in mind from womb fruit to spider star.

**Day Peter – MYTHOS** – The stories we tell ourselves shape our identities and set parameters for what we achieve. Our narrative is often influenced by external forces and when negative can limit what’s possible.

**Dedman Nicci** – My three-dimensional wire sculptures are intended to be visually captivating and thought-provoking. I employ a unique technique where a single outer layer of wire forms the structure, creating an interplay between the seen outer layer and the intricate negative space within. Engaging with my sculptures requires a harmonious collaboration between the mind and the eye, as the viewer’s perception and understanding evolve with each change in perspective.
So on your way round the trail have a seat in the comfy armchair and meet Pickle the dog.

Comfy Armchair – NFS commissions taken

Pickle £1200

**Ellis Sarah** – Stories I used to believe. An exploded book.
Our lives are shaped by stories others tell us or we tell ourselves. These “pages” illustrate some stories I hung on to beyond childhood but no longer believe. I have used a low relief sculptural approach to depict these stories. The pages are not solid, so the surroundings will show and interact with the piece, highlighting the nebulous and shifting nature of narrative. The pages are constructed using mixed materials including wire, tissue and found materials including umbrella ribs, and my stock of lino and intaglio prints. Two topics explored are: boys should have more opportunities than girls and do more exciting things: truth seen as straightforward, good versus evil with good triumphing.

**Gardiner Emily** – Compression Session (2024) – An insight into the pressures and limitations of everyday life, through form and materiality.

“Compression promotes better circulation and faster recovery. By applying controlled pressure to the limbs, this therapy enhances blood flow and helps to eliminate toxins, reducing muscle soreness, swelling and inflammation. Compression can help support athletic performance, prevent injury and accelerate healing.” – Dr. Henry Legere, chief medical officer.

www.emilygardinerart.com

@emily_gardiner101 instagram

**Nicola Gibson** – ***Insights into the insides:***
Mythos at Raveningham Sculpture Trail marks the return from the longest break I have ever taken from my creative roots…
I have been working with lighting to produce illustrations and mini sculptures as part of an aquatic themed installation; a ‘dry pond’ that lights up in response to movement.
Skeletal works are insights into the insides of non indigenous animals!

**Hall David** – When I think of stories I think of children and imaginary tales, ‘Sea Dragon’ is a narrative sculpture designed to stimulate telling the storey you see to the people you are with. A total flight of fantasy away from my usual work!

**Hardy Buffy – Changeling** – In European folklore a changeling is a child rumoured to have been plucked from their bed and replaced with an elf or even a malevolent spirit. In reality, the changes parents noticed were the natural result of the progression of time, and these children were often disabled, neurodivergent, or just different. The sculpture I am making for Raveningham Sculpture Trail 2024 is exploring that stage in a growing child, past toddlerhood, when they have stretched out into a long-limbed stripling – an awkward, leggy, elfin, often androgynous being, whose gender has not begun to bud or become visible.

I’m making the sculpture in Galvanised steel wire and chicken wire and exploring the mythical, dreamlike form of the changeling.

**Humpleby Elaine** – **A moment of calm; toes connecting with the soil, the sand, the sea. Eyes closed, listening, breathing deep, I breathe in the green of leaves, the musk of bark, the sea: I am whole, I am home**.

**These pieces have been created especially for the Sculpture trail in response to the theme ‘MYTHOS – The stories we tell ourselves’** The series is called ‘Voice’
It is a Journal narrating the relationships to outside in 2024, giving voice to my own experience and those of others people. I have collected stories, recording within these pieces the impact and importance of Environments and Nature to them. It has been a real joy to share their memories, traditions and experiences of engaging with outside spaces. It is clear those spaces are essential to well-being. I also found how much women find solace in spaces and family traditions. People shared wonderful stories of the impact of time outside with loved ones
I wanted to pay homage to the traditions of Narrative and Figurative pottery, revisiting them in my own work. My pieces combine Sgraffito, Sculpting and layering of colours; using traditional, mindful hand-building techniques. It has been an experience of Sharing and Celebrating, Uplifting and Recognising. The words on the plinths and the wall pieces are the voices of the participants.
All pieces are for sale, prices in the box office.
www.artyactivistcreations.com/
My Instagram is @artyactivist_creations/

“I feel at home with Clay in my hands, using found materials as tools to shape and form it. I am fascinated by figurative and narrative Ceramics. My process involves combining environments with construction and expression. People and places inspire me: I sketch, I forage, collecting images, recording feelings, emotions, experiences and stories. I like to work on location using the existing space to physically texture the clay as I work” I use reclaimed chimney pots and timber to create the plinths.

**Jarrett Andy** – Reeds – Mainly Working in steel, I love the creativity of producing sculptures for garden spaces that capture a wide range of nature’s raw beauty, all of which never fail to excite and fascinate me.

**Jones Helen** – The Archaeology Of Stitched Resistance – My piece is made of recycled cans in the shape of the star quilting pattern and is embossed with the stitches of Ukrainian and Palestinian Tartreez embroidery. It looks at the use of symbols and motif as a vehicle for the story telling of cultures under oppression. The symbols repeats in poetry and myth that are part of a centauries connection to land. When distinctive cultures are under pressure from hostile colonial forces they seek to erase physical symbols of the indigenous culture such as schools, theatres, universities , mosques, historic buildings, etc. Stitched symbols that represent the land ,food, fauna and flora can tell the silent cultural heritage and is more ethereal way of passing on culture when physical assets of culture are destroyed by war.

The wearing of embroidered clothes such as the Vyshyvanka and Tartreez embroidered clothes are acts of resistance by oppressed people. Different embroidered motifs tell the tale of culturally significant items such as ,the circle for sun, the trees of life ,diamond with a dot the sewn field, the olive branch, the spiral for water, tears, the triangle amulet, chickpea and raisin, feather, palm, old mans teeth, the chevron meaning femininity, the sunflower or nightingale, the fishing net woven in a Keffiyeh scarf , the triangle for a amulet, and the fence.

With the presence of illegal Israeli occupation and apartheid Tatreez became a female-led resistance movement that advocated for the true narratives of history and identity. Through needle and thread, Tatreez stitches the story of Palestinians, which is irrefutably rooted in the land, creating the fabric of identity and resistance against the forces that seek to erase it.

**Kiekopf Jean** – Reaching out and around.
Exploring the role of nature in healing our spiritual, physical and mental selves, Jean has created a range of sculpted, Cassini Plaster body parts symbolising tree hugging, reaching for the sun, moon and stars and the power of humans to heal themselves. All of Jean’s pieces are for sale and can be commissioned for your specific environment.
www.jksculptures.co.uk/
www.instagram.com/jeankiekopf.sculptor/

**Lee Wright Cindy** – **The Horse with Wings** – I always called a winged horse Pegasus because I didn’t know any better. I now know he is universal and has so many names, perhaps ours is from Islam? Then he would be called Haizum– the horse given to the Archangel Gabriel. Or maybe he is Devadatta, from Hinduism, or Tianma from China, or Tulpar, Al-Buraq, The Wind Horse, then of course, he may be Fledge, from Narnia. Maybe he is none of these. He has appeared in Norfolk, so perhaps he has a Norfolk name. I wonder what that is?

Sheila Madder – I am a mould maker, and slip caster, creating carved coloured porcelain tableware. Attachments are slab built using the nerikomi technique. The carvings represent my handprint on the work.

**Littlefield Mary** – The Goddesses – From time immemorial women were revered as the Goddesses . The guardians of the earth and sky and all living things . It’s time for their stories to be resurrected. Mine stride out to show the way in all their finery . Made from recycled materials and a pinch of humour these are thoroughly modern .

**Maughan Gabrielle** – Yggdrasil in Norse mythology is the World Tree, a giant Ash that holds up the universe. By hanging himself upside down on the tree for nine days the god Odin discovered knowledge. Odin had two ravens: Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory.

As a student of Anglo-Saxon I spent my university days with Yggdrasil, and have always loved ash trees. The Latin name is Fraxinus Excelsior, which sounds elegant. Ash die back is Hymenoscyphus Fraxineus; much more sinister.

I made my Yggdrasil from bits of my world: the things I can do, like spinning and knitting, and from the thoughts and memories and secrets I carry with me. And of course bees. Every piece is part of my story, but is also part of a great web of international stories which relate to us all.

**Maule Andy** – Someone You Know – Memories are strongly associated with people. Those memories may be strong, clear, while others may be thin, elusive. Like a memory this wire figure is clearly present but also insubstantial. Remind you of someone? Wire, £800.

MICRO KINO – Our magical tiny outdoor cinema space featuring animations created specifically for this year’s Sculpture Trail. Animators have responded to the themes of Nature and Journey. Curated by the fabulous Professor Suzie Hanna