Name Rose Garrard | Role Author | |
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Books Talisman, A Malvern Treasury: An Illustrated History of Its People and Places, Troubles and Treasures, in Fact and Fable | ||
Rose Garrard (born 21 September 1946, Bewdley, Worcestershire, England) is an installation, video and performance artist, sculptor, and author. Her artworks have been acquired by collections worldwide including the New South Wales government Art Gallery in Australia.
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Historian and author
Garrard became heavily involved with the restoration of the local springs and the history of Malvern, Worcestershire, and her research carried out in 2006 demonstrated for the first time that well dressing has been part of tradition in the Malvern area since the 12th and 13th centuries. In 2001, she began organising the well dressing campaign in Malvern which has become an annual event with over 28 wells being dressed.
As an author, Garrard has written three books based on Malvern, including two about aspects of the springs, and A Malvern Treasury published in 2010, that was written on the recommendation of a local bookshop, Beacon Books, due to previous comprehensive histories of the town by other authors being out of print.
Art
Garrard's parents were also involved in art, and while she was still a baby, the family moved to Malvern, Worcestershire where her mother owned an antique shop, and her father continued a career as an artist and soldier as director of the Middle East College of Art in the Sahara Desert. For 30 years Garrard was based in London and internationally known as a multi-media artist and curator, but following a serious motor bike accident she moved back to Worcestershire in 2000, focussing instead on making public sculpture. She creates these works using many media including plaster of Paris, bronze, stone, slate, and brick.
Among her sculptures are the Enigma Fountain including the statue of Sir Edward Elgar (Unveiled by The Duke of York on Belle Vue Terrace, Great Malvern on 26 May 2000). Its cost of £50,000 was funded by the Malvern Hills District Council, public subscription, and support from by West Midlands Arts, Severn Trent Water, and local businesses. Other works include the drinking spout, Malvhina, which was unveiled on 4 September 1998, the Hand of Peace war memorial, a sculpture in Portland stone located in the Barnards Green suburb of Malvern, Women's Work 1998, in Bilston, Wolverhampton, England, created in bronze, Welsh slate, and brick, and the Cascade Gates 2007, in welded steel at the Clock Tower Well Room in North Malvern.
Garrard's works have also been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery, the British Council maintained Great Britain pavilion at the 1984 Venice Biennale (1984), and national galleries in Austria and Canada.