Meet Artist Rosa Nguyen

Meet Artist Rosa Nguyen

On Tuesday 21 July artist Rosa Nguyen visited Compton Verney to talk to members of the public and start off a family workshop in the studio space.
In the morning visitors were shown Rosa Nguyen’s new commission Gardening with Morris located in the Arts & Crafts House: Then and Now exhibition. Gardening with Morris is funded by Arts Council England.

Rosa in front of commission

Rosa Nguyen started to talk about her practise as a trained ceramicist and glass blower.
She would use scientific glass used usually used for labs and experiments, she sand blasts and engraves through the process of making the glass. The shapes for her 3D objects relate to seeds pods, bulbs and natural forms, incorporating the objects into the environment.
The idea behind Gardening with Morris came from working with holistic view of nature. Rosa Nguyen has previously visited Japan and been influences by the Buddhist art of flower arranging being regarded as high art.
In Japanese artists explore the ideas around the use of spaces and create environments which can be assembled and taken down, moved and reassembled to another location. This piece will be removed and travel to another touring venue later on in the year.
Gardening with Morris has become a living object which is active by the plants, becoming energy lines. The glass acts as moveable objects and can be rotated at any time with the control of the artist. The objects and wallpaper work together to create the patterns.
William Morris wallpaper behind the objects has been blocked out, removing sections of the wallpaper and highlighting areas of interest. Rosa Nguyen explains how she laid the Morris and Co wallpaper along the floor in her studio and started to ‘plant’ acting as if she was working in an allotment. She began to cover up areas and revealing the paper with soil.
Passionate about Japanese minimalism the William Morris wallpaper became unbearable and she wanted to introduce the nasty parts of the garden that without these the garden wouldn’t grow.

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The visitors continued to ask questions and discuss the process used in the installation Gardening with Morris.
In the afternoon Rosa greeted families in the studio space and started them on a practical workshop using materials and processes related to her work.

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She introduced stencil printing over Morris & Co wallpaper covering up elements of the wallpaper and adding their own designs.

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Many families dropped-into the activity enjoying drawing natural objects and cutting them into stencils. They would then print the stencils onto wallpaper over the William Morris patterns laid out on the studio floor.

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The activity continued throughout the week to build up a layered design. The final piece is displayed on the ‘Wall of Wallpaper’ in the Atrium next to the café & Lawn Restaurant.

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The ‘Wall of Wallpaper’ will be on display during the summer holidays.

Join in our the other activities taking place this summer:
Galleries: Every Picture Tells a Story
Tues 28 July- Sun 2 August, 1.30pm
Discover artists and help create the story behind the artworks in our collections.

Studio: Artspace
Tue 4 August- Fri 4 Sept,
Drop-in 11am-4pm
Designs a miniature model of your favourite room in a shoebox