Rarely seen drawings by one of Britain’s most influential and popular potters are to be displayed for the first time at the 2016 Harrogate Spring Flower Show.
The world famous pottery, Moorcroft, is exhibiting and demonstrating at the show as part of this year’s spring celebration Botanica: Plants & People.
Original design tracings by the founder of the 103 year old company, William Moorcroft, and watercolours by his son, Walter, will form part of a design exhibition in a glasshouse built specially for the Botanica theme.
The exhibition will explore how botany has inspired designers from 1913 through to the present day. Studies, watercolours and ‘drawn-on’ pottery from the current Moorcroft Design Studio will illustrate a selection of the flora that inspires them, including orchids, poppies, anemones and lupins.
Botanica: Plants & People explores the age-old relationship between people and nature. The plant form has inspired generations of artists and nowhere is that link more evident than the distinctive, flowing botanical designs of Moorcroft pottery.
To celebrate their debut at the event and the Harrogate area’s famous floral tradition, Moorcroft have chosen the aptly named Town of Flowers design for their demonstrations each day of the show.
Visitors will have a rare opportunity to witness first-hand the technical skill and precision required to create the pottery’s trademark ‘tubelining’ and paint a piece of their contemporary art ceramic.
Moorcroft Designer, Kerry Goodwin, said:
The connection between our art and the plant form goes back more than 100 years and we are delighted to be taking part in Botanica: Plants & People. From the early days of William and Walter Moorcroft to the present day studio, designers have been inspired by nature and we are looking forward to demonstrating how that unique Moorcroft look is created for visitors to the show.
Show Director Nick Smith added:
The bond between people and plants is timeless and our aim is to explore that relationship, not only through art, but also through a wide range of other botanical themes including textiles, herbal products, plant-flavoured drinks, floral art and even a feature garden.
Rated Britain’s top gardening event by Which?Gardening, Harrogate Spring Flower Show will run from 21 – 24 April 2016 at the Great Yorkshire Showground.
Botanica: Plants & People also features a new exhibition celebrating the life of legendary landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who transformed vast tranches of the English countryside in the 18th Century.
Other attractions include large scale spring show gardens, over 100 plant nurseries, garden shopping, live entertainment and Britain’s biggest exhibition by florists and flower arrangers.
New for 2016 is a series of How2 demonstrations on garden upcycling, transforming unwanted and discarded materials like old bricks, pallets and tyres, to create a kitchen potager. Horticulture On Trend (HOT) will also offer ideas on the very latest in plants, colour schemes and garden features for the true horticultural fashionista.
