Artist
British artist Finbar Ward has worked in the visual arts for 10 years, showing his work internationally and here in the UK. But it was a five year stint working as a gardener that encouraged him to start exploring the role that sculpture plays within landscapes. “I’d seen that the contribution of sculpture to garden spaces is often an afterthought” he says.
In 2023 an Arts Council England grant gave him the opportunity to pursue this properly. “The grant allowed me to create sculpture that is concerned with the outdoors and the work’s surroundings, materially and conceptually” he continues.
Responding to a location’s material, historical and cultural surroundings, Finbar’s interests and creative processes are symbiotic with nature and gardens. “A pursuit of material integrity alongside recent projects, which exist between art and gardening, have cemented my interest in the shared spaces of sculpture, landscape design and garden history. I am drawn to the concept of home as a pillar of identity and how we strive to build up our surroundings to become a representation of ourselves.”
