The Secret Garden
A Collaboration with Saint Cloche
This month see’s Adam Robinson collaborating with Paddington gallery Saint Cloche for their End of Year Group Show, THE SECRET GARDEN. Inspired by one of Gallery director Kitty Clark’s all-time, favourite, classic novels ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett, as well as the most-beloved 1949 film adaptation is the themed concept for this second End-of-Year group show at Saint Cloche.
The collection consists of six designs in warm, earthy tones to reflect the organic texture within the cement and harness the available light within any space. In an age over-cluttered by technology and information overload, pandemics, climate crisis and global unrest, it is good to be reminded consciously how infinitely superior is a child’s world reached through the imagination, where to scatter seeds and watch them grow through the earth and flower is a miracle that we cling to for its magic more than ever.
“Now is the time to plant seeds of positivity and vision in our collective Secret Garden – however that may manifest within each artist’s work”
At the heart of the story of ‘The Secret Garden’ is an orphan and her friends – children who spend one Summer bringing back to life a walled-in garden that had been deserted and neglected for many years. It is the story of the spirit of rebirth, that through nurturing nature, life flows back into our own veins once more.
In life what appears to be dead may in fact be lying dormant within the fecund earth, full of potent potentiality and awaiting the right conditions to thrive once again. This tale of transformation is rejoicing in nature, the healing power of the changing seasons and nature’s effect on the human spirit. We nurture nature and nature nourishes us.
The Secret Garden’ is a metaphor for the cultivation of the human mind and the power of positive thinking.
Now more than ever, we need to pay attention to how we cultivate the mind because our thoughts become ‘us’, and then ‘we’ become the world. “One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts – just mere thoughts – are as powerful as electric batteries – as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body.” – The Secret Garden.
Adam Robinson’s Secret Garden at Saint Cloche
This December Saint Cloche will have their own lush, living, verdant Secret Garden. Kitty has invited Paddington local, renowned Landscape Designer Adam Robinson from Adam Robinson Design to create an actual garden oasis that flows out from the upper level gallery space.
Many artists take inspiration from nature however Adam will be elevating Nature on a pedestal by curating a collection of special plants and pots that will be available for sale along with other artworks.
“This installation is about finding beauty in its most simple form. I am putting some of the most abstract and unusual plants in the spotlight. At first glance, some of these plants might not initially scream ‘beautiful’ to the viewer, however as you gaze a little longer and take them in further, you will begin to see Mother Nature’s magic shining through the individual plants. These plants will be elevated in some of the most beautiful pots and planters I have designed to further highlight the interesting architectural form of the plant. My aim with creating this Secret Garden is to connect people to nature, because when they take these specimens home they will be a constant reminder to take the time in their day-to-day lives to literally ‘stop and smell the roses’”
Sculptural elements of furniture were included in The Secret Garden and are a nod to the Nautilus group show on the lower level of the gallery; connecting the two exhibitions – the Loop chair by Willy Guhl and Porto stool/side table for Swisspearl and the Fatso Coffee Table Top from Robert Plumb. Both elements made from a blend of cement, powdered limestone, cellulose and synthetic fibers, water and air, appear like natural fossils within the space.
Gallery Details
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Australian Grown
People do buy plants virtually, not big plants, but smaller seedlings, and they come to you through the post boxed up in a beautiful assortment.