During her three week residency at Studio Faire this April, Bing developed multiple site specific works in our park, using only materials that she found there. She called this collection ‘Gardening Work’.

Bing started her creative career as a ceramic sculptor in China, working in ceramic production, but moved to Scotland to study at the Glasgow School of Art from where she graduated with both a BA Hons in Sculpture & Environmental Art and a Masters in Fine Art.

Bing’s familiarity with clay and interest in using found organic materials attracted her to our gardens, where she found that the earth was rich enough in clay to hold firmly together in the form of vases, that the Magnolia tree’s leaves were strong enough to be stitched together to form a blanket or ‘portal to another world‘ and that the twigs from the recently pollarded Oak tree offered the ideal base for a giant nest.

These works remain in the garden today and still hold strong. A sculpture park in the making?

Bing Chen, Gardening Work
I’ve always wanted to experiment with using organic materials and not create any waste in the process of making, also, there is no need to use any resources to move, store or destroy after making. This residency made it possible for me to do such an experiment.

I made a series of gardening works in the garden of Studio Faire. They gradually have a relationship with everything around them. My favorite is that the nest I made became Henri’s nest. What a lovely thing!

Bing Chen

Artist in Residence

Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work
Bing Chen, Gardening Work

Photos by Colin Usher and Julia Douglas

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