CURVED STREAM: Eight contemporary artists at Traquair House

A body of work made as part of the exhibition CURVED STREAM, Traquair House, September - October 2015.

My response to Traquair House led me to propose a two-part work for the Curved Stream exhibition.
This group of works responds directly to a series of 4 volumes published in Paris in 1702 that can be found in the Old Library at Traquair House.

In a recent work The Gardens | Edinburgh I referred to John Reid’s book The Scots Gard’ner of 1683 that is the first book published that deals solely with gardening in Scotland. I was fascinated by this book with its extremely practical advice on planting and weeding that is set against an insistence on planning and measuring out land. There is also a strong element of geometry included in order to create extremely regimented gardens.

La Géometrie Pratique focuses on geometry but the numerous illustrations are set out with diagrams and angles that are positioned alongside ornate images of landscapes and gardens, mazes and grand chateaux.

I took this as a starting point to make a volume of drawings that is placed in the Old Library that imagines the garden designer at Traquair initiating plans with reference to La Géometrie Pratique with 3 dimensional forms recreated in the pavilion at the rear of the house. Measuring devices sit alongside each set of work – for planning on paper and then out in the garden. The proportions set out in these devices are based around the Pied do Roi system that was used in France until the revolution.