Gaia
Every year gardeners, garden designers, craftspeople and artists work like busy bees to create eye-catching scenes for The Chelsea Flower Show in London. When that show ends after five days, most of the exhibits are dismantled and lost forever - preserved only in photographs and film. However, this year there was a huge effort to preserve one of the most successful garden features - a recumbent representation of the Greek earth goddess Gaia. Her upper body was carved from sequoia wood. Serendipitously, the wood carver responsible was a fellow called Chris Wood! And here's the good part. Gaia was brought to Sheffield and supplanted in the green communal area behind Park Hill Flats where our daughter Frances works. I had been meaning to pay the sculpture a visit with my camera and today was the day. She looked so beautiful lying there - her head as big as a small family car. The wood carving was exquisite. Her lower body is made from limestone using traditional stone-walling t...