The Spode Rose Garden intervention 2 - British Ceramics Biennial 2015

Anna Francis was lead artist on the Spode Rose Garden Project, with colleagues Glen Stoker and Andrew Branscombe from AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.

In 2013, AirSpace Gallery staged an innovation to take place during the British Ceramics Biennial. The Rose Garden is the entrance into the Biennial, and typically sees more than 30,000 visitors entering the biennial through the garden.

Information about the project:
During the British Ceramics Biennial 2013, AirSpace galleryrenovated a slice of the garden, attached to the Spode China Hall, off Kingsway, Stoke, to act as a physical proposal for the renovation of the entire space. This proposition was intended as an example of what could be, and was meant as a way of gathering support and interest to raise the funding and resources to see the full space renovated. Part of the project involved working with ceramic flower maker Rita Floyd, on the development of a Bone China Rose, which was then taken to rose breeders, in order to commission and name a special breed of rose for the garden.
For the 2015 British Ceramics Biennial, AirSpace Gallery have renovated a second section of the garden, in order to install the first 40 rose bushes, developed by Rose Breeeder Gareth Fryer, as a way to draw attention to this potentially beautiful space.