Devon

THE LOWDOWN
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16788 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4217.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4217.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4217-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4217-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4217-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />The&nbsp;UK’s newest open-air gallery has just opened its gates&nbsp;in Devon, set in 100 rolling acres of Capability Brown landscape gardens, tucked away in woodland at Mamhead, near Exeter. Artist and owner Philip Letts, who&#8217;s known in the art world for his abstract photography from New York to Beiruit, has created two exhibitions: one indoors and one in the grounds.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16778 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4221.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4221.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4221-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4221-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4221-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Head through the wrought-iron gates at the bottom of the slope and follow the hand-written sign to the exhibition which takes you down to rough grassland and mowed paths through the conceptual art.&nbsp;Themes reflect his&nbsp;interest in human&#8217;s clash with Nature, with painted and treated&nbsp;pieces of weathered wood found on the estate and mannequin-like figures dotted round the grounds, (and a helpful explanatory sheet) asking you to reflect on&nbsp;very current worries: climate extinction, rising water levels and deforestation.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16750 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4212.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4212.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4212-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4212-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4212-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />People who know far more about art than me have described this seated figure musing over the rolling hills and Exe estuary as like Rodin&#8217;s The Thinker. Is he working out what to do about our current climate mess or being apathetic and just enjoying the nice view while it lasts? How do we work best with nature? There&#8217;s never been a more urgent time to decide.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16781 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4204.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4204.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4204-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4204-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4204-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16752 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4233.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4233.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4233-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4233-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4233-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Up behind the orangery,&nbsp;Letts has &nbsp;put together&nbsp;a mixed media indoor exhibition of conceptual urban art (which is&nbsp;crying out to be in my house if only I could afford any of it), called Textures&nbsp;created with paint, peeling tree trunks and found materials, including rusted wire and sheep skulls.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16780 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/philipletts.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/philipletts.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/philipletts-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/philipletts-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/philipletts-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />The colours and shapes conjure thoughts of parched landscape &#8211; it feels quite apocalyptic.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16782 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4239.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4239.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4239-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4239-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/IMG_4239-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />What I know about art you could fit on a miniature, but after overcoming an initial bout of curmudgeonly cynicism I totally bought into it. New culture coming to Devon is always a reason to celebrate, but more importantly,&nbsp;the climate-change message is timely for adults and kids alike. It&#8217;s&nbsp;a fascinating and thought-provoking&nbsp;project, so go &#8211; it&#8217;s well worth a nose-round, or book yourself on one of the guided tours with Philip. He&#8217;s an inspiring and charismatic guide.
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SCOFF AND QUAFF
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-16751 size-full" src="https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4226.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4226.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4226-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4226-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/devon/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2019/07/thumbnail_IMG_4226-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Further up&nbsp;is a Robert Adams Orangery hewn from Bath stone serving home-made light lunches,&nbsp;coffee and cake, and a terrace where wild flowers and weeds grow up between the flagstones &#8211; not because the sculpture park founders&nbsp;Philip and Kara are lazy, but because this is one of the UK’s few re-wilding projects, where nature is allowed to take over and live in harmony with itself without us humans going in and mucking everything up. (Think the recent reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in the States.)&nbsp;It’s a great idea if you hate weeding, but not so easy&nbsp;if you’re trying to grow veg as you’re not allowed to water, or manage pests which makes it trickier&nbsp;to get a crop.
KID-FRIENDLY?
Dogs on leads are welcome, as are the littlies (without leads obvs), but no touching the installations please.
<a href="https://devonsculpturepark.org">Devon Sculpture Park</a>,&nbsp;Mamhead Park (South)&nbsp;Exeter,&nbsp;EX6 8HE. Cost:&nbsp;Adults £12: children £6. Open&nbsp;Weds &#8211; Sun 10am-4pm.&nbsp;

Review: Devon Sculpture Park

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