Thursday 24th February saw our Year 11 Textiles students travel to the world-famous Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.
The students had the opportunity to view Zadok Ben-David’s landmark exhibition, which centres on themes of tragedy and hope, as well as shining a uniquely creative light on the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Read student reflections below:
Hanifah Miah:
“Kew Gardens was nothing short of amazing and breath-taking. We ventured through beautifully grown trees, plants, flowers and more. There were many sites to see - our class spent four hours there and barely uncovered a quarter of the whole garden. I took photos, filled a sketchbook with studies and have come away with so much inspiration for developing my textile final outcome.
“One of my favourite places was the palm house; It was like walking into Peru (as shown in the film ‘Paddington.’) There was a massive monstera plant curling to the top of the greenhouse, that was probably more than three stories high. There were bizarrely coloured leaves and plants with rich and vibrant designs that I recorded to use in my own textile explorations. It felt like a real rainforest with humid, dense air that caused a little patter of rain here and there - so exciting! The temperate house was amazing too. Like the palm house - the paradise of the temperate house was enclosed in a precious glass of secrecy and personally, I think, everyone deserves a whisper of it.”
Parmita Achari:
“Kew Gardens was a beautiful experience and fitted so well into our brief ‘overgrown’. I felt connected to nature for the first time in a while and made the most of the opportunity to fully immerse myself in Kew’s Gardens. We were so lucky with the weather and it was a glorious sunny day that lifted all our moods. Miss Nelson had mapped out the route and I really enjoyed visiting the Temperate House and Princess of Wales conservatory - that not only housed the most exotic looking orchids but had modern sculptures by a Costa Rican artist installed amongst the plants and flowers!
“The highlight of my day was the exhibition of Botanical Art (mostly from Japan) shown at the Sherwood Gallery - our final stop before leaving the gardens. I was amazed at their intricacy of the artwork. It was such an interesting exhibition to walk around and it has made me want to capture these small details in my own textile recordings and sketch work.”
Rumaisa Amir:
“I found the trip really beneficial as it has enabled me to build-up lots of primary sources to work from in textiles and I feel really inspired for my final project. I really enjoyed wandering around Kew Gardens and looking at the exotic plants and flowers growing in the beautiful Victorian greenhouses and then viewing the contemporary artworks of Zadok Ben-David in the Sherwood Gallery. The sculptural pieces he made were from drawings he did of the flowers he observed in Kew Gardens and I found this really useful for developing my own textiles final piece.”
