A SCULPTOR from Holsworthy recently attended RHS Rosemoor Gardens to exhibit her latest work.

Dawn Brookes-Ensor, from Holsworthy Creatives Enterprise, said she was ‘thrilled’ with how the installation had turned out.

Dawn was delighted when the Rosemoor team approached her to ask if she would exhibit at this year’s show. She has built up a reputation over many years as a sculptor but was humbled when the team once again asked her to join them to create a display.

Dawn said: “I’m a sculptor by trade and have amassed numerous qualifications in sculpting. I have spent many years sculpting and building up a reputation alongside that. I usually work on a commission basis but I can never turn down the chance to exhibit at RHS Rosemoor.”

Dawn is an ‘environmental site specific public artist’, adding: “But that’s ‘sculptor’ for short!”

As well as her many sculptures, Dawn has also exhibited at the Royal College of Art in London and was hand picked for the honour. She said: “I have been very fortunate in my art career — it is nice to be sought after.”

Many hours of work went into creating her recent display, a selection of large copper feathers.

Each feather was created by wrapping copper wire around a copper pipe/pole and all the materials Dawn uses are reclaimed and are responsibly sourced, which she said is often more time consuming than ‘simply popping into a local craft shop’.

She said: “It took me over six hours to just cut and strip the wire; it really was a labour intensive process. I use only reclaimed copper wire, stripping it out of old used wire, to create the feather sculptures. All my sculptures have renewable elements because it is important to me that everything I do is environmentally friendly.”

Even the way in which her sculptures are displayed is very important to Dawn. She is one of the only sculptors allowed to site her own work at the RHS Rosemoor show. She said: “I wouldn’t damage the tree, for love nor money. Rosemoor know me very well and they know I need to be able to site my pieces myself, as placement is very important to my site specific work. I’m the only sculptor allowed to site their own work at Rosemoor, everyone else’s work will be positioned by site managers, but they know I won’t exhibit if I can’t place my own work.”

One thing Dawn said she was most excited about, and was ultimately the final push she needed to exhibit, was RHS Rosemoor’s ‘Glow Garden Illuminations’.

“I particularly wanted to have the sculptures at Rosemoor this year because of ‘Glow’. I really wanted to see how the copper would react with the changing lights. I have to say I was so happy with the final outcome. The sculptures fitted in perfectly and the effect was quite magical. They looked great in the lights and against the white of the birch trees the feathers really pinged.”

Dawn is keen to encourage more people to get creative as she believes art is a very important part of life. She said: “If me exhibiting at Rosemoor encourages just one person to look into taking an art class then that is great. If I can ‘artify’ the world as much as possible I will be happy.”

Dawn is hoping to encourage more people to join the Holsworthy Creatives Enterprise, which aims to bring artists together. For more information visit their new website www.holsworthycreativesenterprise.com