Garland Woman
140mm (5.5") high x 140mm (5.5") wide
 

And yet, even in this age of glass and steel, of light and speed it is possible to find a very few corners of England where the coming of spring is still celebrated: the release from Winter's tyranny brings forth dancers on to the green, the Morris Man is seen abroad and ancient rites are re- enacted. Not all are yet ignorant of the Season's course or forget the Cycle of Life.

On the First of May, in the Cornish village of Padstow, the curios 'Obby 'Oss tours the streets: a huge cloth-covered hoop topped by a devilish mask, gyrates to a hypnotic tune and the rhythmic beating of drums. Inside the 'Oss the youngest of the men take a turn in putting it through its paces while it is lured ever forward by the young girls in a vivid beckoning dance.

Once all would celebrate this season with fertility-related customs dating from a time before there was the Christian 'Easter' (whose name itself has its origins in the word 'Oestrus' - the time when beasts and fowl are at their most fecund). The traditions of 'Maying' and the spring revels of adolescent lads and girls in the groves and woods are lost to the world of today. The phallic maypole was cut down by that hardest hearted hater of fun Oliver Cromwell and now communities rarely meet to affirm the renewal of life.

Most symbolic of this season is the virginal May Queen: surrounded by a Garland of green flowers she is the very essence of the sweetness of youth, the newly opening flower. She has been celebrated from the cult of Dionysis in Ancient Greece (pursued by single minded fauns and satyrs), through the 'Primavera' of Renaissance Italy (as painted by Botticelli) to the purity of the 'Barbi' doll. The beautiful virgin is the most enduring of images.

 

These castings are designed, sculpted and manufactured in England, using resin-bonded marble, bronze and Cotswold stone. Modern moulding techniques faithfully reproduce the intricate and painstaking work of the sculptor whilst giving the appearance of real carved stone or sculpted terracotta. The resin sculptures are weatherproof, the plaques having a hole drilled in the back for easy hanging