CLICK HERE TO SEE IMAGES  from the tree exhibition

All the pieces have now sold. 

 This exhibition was held at the wheel of life studios and Gallery in April 2011 i am now planning my next exhibition with a bird theme.

“I’ll never forget Adrian, he was eighty when I met him and he had the wisdom of a man grounded in the earth” 

Adrian Scoudamore died recently.  When we met in 1994 he was over eighty years old.

Before my life as a potter, I ran a café travelling the festivals and camps throughout the UK.  I went looking for a structure to use as a seating area and found an ad for an old poly tunnel.  It was on Adrian’s farm in the City of  Bristol and had been used by Adrian to grow his trees for over fifty years.  Trees he transplanted over a vast area.

A humble man with hands like shovels, Adrian captured my attention with every sentence he spoke. A man who recited poetry as he stood by one of his 25m trees.  He told me “me and my brother have worked together for over fifty years and never had a cross word”…and it was clear why. 

His generosity was most evident when a motorway was directed through his farm where his horses used to plough and Adrian’s response was to continue to plant thousands of trees around the motorway’s drainage pipes.  Like most people who are compelled to plant trees, he was an inspiration, a teacher.

After the war Adrian spread the word about not using pesticides and said “one day people will realise how important the trees are.”

Soon after I met him, I saw the book and animated film “The man who Planted Trees” and in my heart it was Adrian’s story.  I remembered something he said to me; “To be a master of your words you must be a master of your mind”

This exhibition is an echo of this man…It is art imitating the best of life and exists as a dedication for all those who get on and quietly plant trees.

Lucy Vanstone