Costume artist’s work flourishes at UK show
A Christchurch woman’s passion has blossomed in a British town welcoming spring.
Jenny Gillies is known in Christchurch for her work with wearable floral designs. The costume and fabric artist returned from exhibiting at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show – a premier gardening event in Britain – on Friday. Her exhibit, The Christchurch Connection, formed the centrepiece for the show devoted to promoting horticulture in the north of England.
Show director Nick Smith invited Gillies to take 15 of her costumes to the show after finding out about her work online. He said her work made a ‘‘stunning’’ addition and highlighted the show’s Hort Couture theme, aimed at exploring links ‘‘between horticulture and style in the garden, the home and the wardrobe’’.
‘‘[I] was immediately struck not only by the spectacular impact of the costumes but also by their botanical accuracy . . . For anyone who has seen the costumes up close, it is obvious that they have taken many weeks to make.’’
Smith said Gillies’ exhibition was one of the show’s highlights.
‘‘The exhibition was visually stunning and the costumes are so very different from most people’s experience that you couldn’t fail to be impressed and intrigued,’’ he said.
It was Gillies’ first time exhibiting outside of Australasia.
The Christchurch Connection was also a fitting name to emphasise a little-known link the city has with Harrogate. While taking a tour through the Harrogate Valley Gardens – the original site of the show – Gillies learned that connection went back to the 1950s.
A ‘‘New Zealand garden’’ was established there to commemorate 23 Kiwi troops stationed at North Yorkshire and buried in a nearby cemetery.
‘‘In the 1950s the director of the Botanic Gardens . . . exchanged seeds with Harrogate’s parks team and native New Zealand plants were grown to be planted in the garden.’’