The Garden at the National Trust for Scotland’s Broughton House in Kirkcudbright is hosting an exhibition of mysterious Japanese-inspired figures this autumn.
Created by award-winning contemporary artist and sculptor Jack Sloan, the figures echo the graceful brushstrokes of Japanese calligraphy and will be positioned to enhance the Garden’s lush planting.
The artist E A Hornel, who purchased Broughton House in 1901, travelled widely in the Far East and made his name in the 1890s with work inspired by an extended visit to Japan. The Garden’s layout and planting reflect Hornel’s love of Japanese culture.
Speaking about the exhibition, artist Jack Sloan said:
“I wanted to create a work for Broughton House garden that was somewhat ethereal, fragmentary and partial.
“I hope these figures might appear as though drawn with a few strokes of a Japanese brush; evocative remnants of a disappearing and distant tradition.”
Born in Motherwell, Jack Sloan studied interior design at Glasgow School of Art, winning the Sam Mavor Bequest in 1971.
He has worked as a set designer for the BBC, as a community artist in the West of Scotland and as a Senior Lecturer in Art and Design at the Central College of Commerce. His publicly commissioned work includes Apotheosis, (Kilmarnock, 1995) which won a Civic Trust Award.
Conservation charity the National Trust for Scotland’s Property Manager Sheila Faichney said:
“Broughton House Garden is an ideal location for contemporary sculpture, and when Jack said he would like to create something especially for it, we jumped at the chance.
“I think Mr Hornel would be delighted that his Japanese-themed garden is playing host to original art on a Japanese theme one hundred years on.”
The exhibition will be launched at a preview at Broughton House from 6pm – 8pm on Thursday 8 September – all are welcome to see the sculptures, meet sculptor Jack Sloan, and enjoy refreshments.
The figures will remain in the Garden until 13 October 2016, and will be available to purchase. Broughton House is open daily from 12pm – 5pm (latest admission 4.30pm) until 31 October 2016.
