The Garden Seekers is lead by Essex Gardens Trust Artist in Residence Jane Frederick.

It is a creative project that examines the past, present and future of gardens through the medium of drawing, painting and film. At a time when we arguably need green spaces more than ever before, the project takes inspiration from early ‘garden seekers’ who travelled Europe documenting the great villas and gardens and reimagines them for a contemporary audience.

 During 2020 Jane was supported by Arts Council England to develop new work as the very first Artist in Residence at Hamilton MAS, the micro art space by the sea in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Based in the recently restored Heritage Seafront Gardens, she explored how the private gardens of Renaissance Italy went on to inspire the creation of Victorian pleasure gardens, democratising them for everyone to enjoy.

Jane works en plein air, drawing, painting & filming in historical formal gardens across the U.K. and Europe. Back in her garden studio in Essex she combines historical and digital technologies by using antique lenses and Photoshop to re-imagine complex new hybrid gardens, developing them into large scale drawings, paintings and prints.

‘The circular art works acknowledge how we all connect and experience gardens through our own lens; the eye, the camera, historical postcards, stories passed down to us, all helping us to build our individual relationship with gardens that we value and need during these challenging times’.

Following her popular showcase event in Felixstowe, Jane was then invited to become Essex Gardens Trust Artist in Residence. She is now working with the teams caring for some of the most treasured gardens of Essex, exploring their archives and sketching on site as she develops new artworks to engage audiences with their historical, social and aesthetic green legacy. She also leads public Tour & Draw creative workshops encouraging everyone to mindfully engage with gardens through drawing.

Garden Seekers Project is generously supported by Arts Council England, Firstsite Collectors Group, The Gardens Trust, Hamilton MAS, the micro art space by the sea and launched as part of the virtual Chelsea Fringe Festival 2020.