The Serge Hill Project
A client of mine, artist Anne Mckenzie, is the current Artist in Residence at The Serge Hill Project. I was invited to visit the gardens with Anne this Summer to document her process with a series of still images and a short film.
Anne paints while sitting on the floor within nature, much of her recent work has been at KEW Gardens. She describes herself as a Botanic Calligraphic Artist.
We were fortunate with the weather, after arrival early the soft clouds created a lovely atmosphere and the sun broke through later in the morning. We had the whole ‘Plant Library’ garden to ourselves and I was able to explore the dense avenues containing over 1500 different varieties of mainly herbaceous plants. To spend time shooting within such beautiful planting hardly felt like work - it was strange to return to the ultra-urban feeling of London after this time in nature.
I’ve booked on a garden photography workshop at Serge Hill this October with Jason Ingram, this will take me somewhat out of my comfort zone and I am excited to learn some new photography skills and ways of looking at the natural environment. I am also volunteering at the wonderful Culpeper Community Gardens in Islington, a much needed weekly dose of gardening to balance out the screen time!
The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity, and Health, was set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2023 by Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith. The project draws on Sue’s work as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of the best selling book, The Well Gardened Mind, which investigates the power of gardening to transform lives, as well as Tom’s horticultural expertise as an internationally renowned Landscape Architect.
The project is based in an old orchard at Serge Hill in Hertfordshire with an educational resource centre, The Apple House, at its centre. It offers resources to local primary and secondary schools, youth organisations and mental health charities, as well as local residents who want to get involved in gardening.
www.sergehillproject.co.uk
Anne at work in the Plant Library garden.
