Letters to garden makers

  I have been making both a garden and artwork here in Ystalyfera since 2001, but have lived in this valley since 1991. Its industrial past, the hardship of the lives once lived here, and the physical presence of the hills and mountains have all seeped into my consciousness. Some time back I read about the poetry and life of John Clare, the 19th century poet from rural Northamptonshire, and identified with his working class life and the struggle he had watching industrialisation change and destroy his beloved countryside.  I have been intending to make an artwork as an offering to all who struggle with our capacity for destruction, and have made a piece called  'A Garden for John Clare' based on my garden and the landscape it sits in and filled with signs and signifiers. The finished piece. Plaster cast, watercolour, photograph and raw clay on wood panel 50x50cm A fellow artist asked whether I had ever watched the film about Clare made by Andrew Kotting in 2015, about his escap