Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Call to solve art mystery at Benmore exhibition
Hi-res images available on request
A seminal exhibition celebrating the life of one of Scotland’s most enigmatic and
eclectic artists, conservationists and philosophers opens at Benmore Botanic
Garden, Dunoon, this week with a public appeal to solve a perplexing mystery dating
back to the 70’s. Having delighted 45,000 visitors in Edinburgh With the Grain – The
Life and Legacy Of Tim Stead opens at the Argyll Garden on Friday, September 16,
with a plea to reclaim an early masterpiece, in the form of an unmistakable oak
cradle, which went missing in the Glasgow area nearly 30 years ago.
With the Grain is a collaboration between the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and
Stead’s widow, Maggy, exploring the ethos of the man behind such treasures as the
Café Gandolfi, Glasgow, and St Nicholas’ Kirk, Aberdeen. But, while Benmore’s
Courtyard Gallery will be home to a diverse selection of signature Stead pieces –
from the majestic throne created for Pope John Paul II, to tactile “enigmas” and a
grand-scale chess set, the absence of the cradle is seen as a significant gap in the
collection.
“Everyone involved is delighted Tim’s work will be viewed in setting that is both
beautiful and so important to conservation,” commented Maggy Stead. “But, it would
be such a bonus if the public could help track down this defining piece from early in
his career. Tim originally crafted the cradle for our own children and it was also
loaned out to friends and colleagues. The plan was always to carve the names of all
the babies who had slept in it and it would be great to get it back and to add the new
names that by now must need to be integrated within the list.”
That such an influential exhibition should visit the 140-acre hillside Garden is no
accident, as curator Peter Baxter explained: “It makes absolute sense that Benmore
should host this tribute to a man whose philosophy and passion for the natural world
was so integral to our strategies at the National Botanic Gardens of Scotland. It is an
exhibition which can be enjoyed at so many different levels: it cannot fail to capture
the imagination of everyone who sees it. To discover the cradle’s whereabouts during
the run of the exhibition would be the icing on the cake.”
ENDS
EDITOR’S NOTES
For more information, interviews or photographs, please call Shauna Hay on 0131
248 2900
With the Grain – The Life and Legacy Of Tim Stead runs at Benmore Botanic
Garden from September 16 to October 31. A selection of the pieces on show are
one-off commissions from private collections, others normally adorn the Stead family
home, near Lauder, in the Borders. All demonstrate the love and attention to detail of
an accomplished craftsman and artist.
Visitors to the exhibition are encouraged to interact with the majority of the items on
display, allowing With the Grain audiences of all ages to discover for themselves how
Stead’s work blurred the lines between furniture design and sculpture, business and
conservation, poetry and teaching. The exhibition is accompanied by video footage of
significant commissions around Scotland and explaining how Stead’s legacy
continues at the Borders Woodschool.
A book of the same name has been edited by Giles Sutherland, a freelance writer
and art critic – it is forwarded by HRH The Prince of Wales. Sutherland has
previously written Explorations in Wood (1994) and Passionate Point: the Art of Lys
Hansen (1998) and is working on a critical study of the work of the sculptor Lotte
Glob. With The Grain – An Appreciation of Tim Stead is published by Birlinn.
Benmore Botanic Garden, Dunoon, is one of the National Botanic Gardens of
Scotland. Along with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; Logan Botanic Garden,
Wigtownshire and Dawyck Botanic Garden, Peeblesshire, its mission is to explore
and explain the world of plants. Primarily, the organisation is a scientific research
institution with a world-wide reputation for its expertise in the study of plants and their
diversity. It operates field stations throughout the world and has specialists working in
more than 40 countries.