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Alice in Wonderland’s creator, Lewis Carroll, used to visit Cowley Manor in the 1890s. He sought inspiration here, and, it is said, brought the little girl who became Alice with him. The land on which the manor stands used to belong to the kings of England. But it was exchanged by Edward the Confessor in return for the patch on which he built Westminster Abbey. The first lord of Cowley Manor then squandered the family fortune by indulging his passion for bell-ringing. The next owner was the self-made millionaire, James Horlick, the Malted Milk magnate, and Lewis Carroll’s friend. So the Manor has provenance, if not patina – because this is a thoroughly modern manor. The passion of the present owners is for contemporary design. Every year, from July to September, they host an outdoor sculpture exhibition. Combined with the drink of your choice on the terrace of a luxury hotel the Cowley Manor Arts Award is a summer highlight of the English arts calendar.
Rhizome Glass by Jacob Woolf
Hey Hey by Nicole Vinokur
This year there was a definite hint of Carroll’s influence. At times, on softening the gaze in order to see past the waterfalls and hedgerows, scenes from the book leapt into life. The exhibits are dotted throughout the landscaped gardens. They are sculptures by students from the Royal College of Art. Visitors are provided with a map to take in the sights through the park, across the bridge, down the dale and into the woods. Standing alone in a meadow, waiting to be inhabited, Rhizome Glass by Jacob Wolff heralds the arrival of wonderland. A Hall’s Magnum Model Greenhouse patterned in shards of tinted glass, it could almost be a hallucination. The interior is a Gothic church – deep red, green and blue mournful emptiness. The exterior is Vorticist and mesmerising and yet it is just a greenhouse, just the sort of strangeness Alice would have liked.
The next work hovers against a forest of green like the smile of the Cheshire Cat. Chicken Soup by Lucia Quevedo is a lopsided smile in 3D acid green. In fact, Lucia is the winner of this year’s award. It is easy to see why. Her piece has a gesture to dash and brio that is echoed in the other pieces of statuary that litter the grounds. Next up in a field that overlooks the grand house with its lakes and meadows is Four Proscenium Arches by Demelza Watts. They are what they say are painted in ivy, waiting for something to happen.
Chicken Soup by Lucia Quevedo
HeyHey stands in a copse, and, says Nicole Vinokur, is an animation of the inanimate. The structure, like the Hollywood sign with its backside exposed challenges any passing Alice to a conversation. Memory by Julia Frank finds Alice disappearing down the rabbit hole. By the lake, floating above the lily pads, a concrete urn sprouts two plaits of girl’s hair. Memory is eloquent, delicate and resonant. Other Dunes by Gabriel Birch is a Arabian landscape with flying carpets that will not let you sit down. So to round off the walk is Hand of Hulk by Laura O’Neill. The giant, marbled hand of a cartoon character grasps at the air. How apt.
Hand of Hulk by Laura O Neill
by Lilian Pizzichini
The Cowley Manor Arts Awards RCA sculpture exhibition will run until September 31, 2014.
Double rooms from £195 per night based on double occupancy in a Good Room.
For more details go here or call 01242 870900
The Cowley Picnic Hamper costs £60 for two people, excluding drinks (but with a key to the drinks chest) which can be taken in the ground amongst the sculpture; perfect for a day trip is available seven days a week July to September