Photography in the Landscape - a first for garden design at Chelsea 2011

Thompson’s Galleries celebrated their second year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show by creating a garden to introduce the spectacular work of contemporary landscape photographer, David Anthony Hall.

The photographic work of artist David Anthony Hall utilises new technology, challenges convention and captures the beauty of the natural world. In a world losing touch with its environment, Hall’s intention is to bring the viewer back to an emotional attachment with nature. In recent years Hall has produced increasingly large-scale panoramic works which lean towards public art and are suited to an outside environment. With this in mind, Sue Thompson, in collaboration with garden designer Malcolm Ashwell, has created a unique concept garden to place Hall’s work in a sympathetic and restful setting.

Utilising his photographic pieces as the basis for the design, our calming garden is further enhanced by an uncluttered combination of works by award-winning sculptor Paul Vanstone and locally sourced plants from RHS 2010 Gold Medal Winner John Woods Nurseries.

Created for outdoor urban living, where scope may be limited, our garden is easily maintained and maximises the sense of open space.

Reclaimed scaffolding boards and planting with a strong architectural framework draw the eye of the viewer. A restful palette of colours – blues, misty greys and white (Agapanthus, Lavender, Sedum) – are complimented by strong, textural foliage (Carex, Phormium). The arrangement of the planting has an intrinsically ethereal quality, creating an illusion of depth, while providing new focal points and other layers of interest. The scheme retains structure all year round, but provides an ever-evolving theatre for the artwork. It will demonstrate that art can be an integral part of the structure of a garden, enhancing and complimenting its surroundings. Creative garden design, strikingly elegant sculpture and majestic photographic expression combine harmoniously to launch a new concept at Chelsea 2011.

David Anthony Hall will donate all the proceeds from the sale of Bluebell Woodland, a focal work in the garden, to CATS, a London based ambulance service for critically ill children.

• David Anthony Hall

The Dublin born Hall, after many years as a still life photographer, turned his back on the commercial work in favour of his passion for taking photographs of natural landscape. These images are often of ancient trees, or landscape that tells a story of some long forgotten time. Hall employs a panoramic technique to capture a multitude of shots that go into the one final image which he later weaves together in his digital darkroom. The images are produced on a Canon imagePROGRAF 9100 using pigment based LUCIA inks on vinyl media, mounted in acrylic to make them weather fast while retaining their impressive quality.

• Paul Vanstone trained in sculpture at Central & St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art. He was awarded the Darwin Scholarship (1990), Royal Academy of Art Travel Scholarship (1992) and the Henry Moore Award in 1991 and 1992. Following his graduation in 1993, Paul worked in Italy at traditional marble carving studios near the famous Carrera quarries. He also spent time working in Berlin and travelled to Rajasthan to learn about their traditional religious marble carving techniques. On returning to England Vanstone gained valuable experience working for five years as an assistant to Anish Kapoor.

• Malcolm Ashwell, Garden Designer, lectured in Horticulture at Ottley College, Ipswich and has published two books on garden design.