Jekka McVicar, renowned horticulturist comes to Art in Action

We are delighted to welcome Jekka McVicar to Art in Action 2008. Crowned the ‘queen of herbs’ by Jamie Oliver and one of Rick Stein’s food heroes, Jekka has won 59 RHS gold medals at flower shows around the country, including Best Floral Exhibit at Hampton Court in 2007 and 12 Chelsea golds.

At Art in Action she will be working with sculptors Joanna Migdal and Jeremy James, and furniture designer Philip Koomen to create a garden in the centre of the sculpture village. This holistic meeting of four artists promises to produce a sense of how sculpture and the garden enliven each other, bringing together a herb garden with Migdal’s and James’ hare sundial sculpture and Koomen’s sculptural furniture.

This collaboration is an exciting meeting of artists and draws some interesting parallels with the festival and its location in Waterperry Gardens. Art in Action has always nurtured, encouraged and given a platform for young artists. Similarly Waterperry Gardens has fostered and supported some of the UK’s best known horticulturists. It is a fitting tribute to the festival and the gardens that these artists will come together to create such a magnificent centrepiece for the event.

Jekka McVicar is also the founder of Jekka’s Herb Farm, which was born from a passion that started in the back garden of Jekka and Mac McVicar’s Bristol home. When they moved to Alveston in 1987 they were growing 26 varieties of herbs, this has now increased to 600, each one expertly hand raised and benefiting from years of experience in growing high quality organic herbs. The Farm supplies by mail the country’s most extensive range of culinary, aromatic, decorative and medicinal organic herbs as both seeds and plants.

Joanna Migdal has spent the last 25 years devising, hand-making and hand-engraving sundials (and other related sculptural pieces), an occupation which brings together her passions for engineering, metalwork, mathematics, calligraphy and sculpture. Her numerous commissions include the ‘Millennium Measure’ a glass and steel obelisk beneath the world famous Millennium Bridge just south of St Pauls Cathedral and the British Medical Association’s memorial to the victims of the bus bombing on 7 July 2005 in Tavistock Square. She is also the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including a recent one for design and craftsmanship from the British Sundial Society.

Jeremy James is a sculptor whose work ranges from animals such as hares, cockerels, otters and meerkats to human figures. What identifies his work so uniquely is how he succinctly captures the essence of his subject, usually in motion, but equally at rest. He studied Fine Art at Exeter and went on to attain a Masters degree at Cardiff. He now teaches at the University of Derby.

Philip Koomen is recognised by many sources as one of the leading furniture designer-makers in the UK. He established Philip Koomen Furniture in 1975 and the company design and produce individual and bespoke woodwork for interior and exterior settings. In 2007 he was awarded a PhD (Brunel University) for research undertaken into developing a sustainable practice and he was invited to Buckingham Palace in 2004 in recognition of his excellence in the practice of design.