Arts East Staffs are proud to announce that James Mays’ unique Plasticine Garden is to be a permanent feature in East Staffordshire.

Principal Arts Manager, Rachel Huyton, requested ownership of it following its departure from Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire earlier this year.

The aim is to link the garden to creative workshops within Cultural Services, encouraging families to learn how to “play” again through a series of plasticine workshops led by local artists and link the garden to ESBC events such as Burton in Bloom and the Gardening Olympics.

Councillor Bernard Peters, Deputy Leader for Environment and Leisure, said: “I am very pleased that our Arts team have secured this unique piece of art for residents to enjoy and would encourage people to come down to the Octagon shopping centre and see this incredible piece of work up close.

“Taking ownership of this wonderful garden also gives the Council a marvellous opportunity to promote a number of its policies and events including our work with In Bloom and the Gardening Olympics, plus it links to our various play partnerships and initiatives encouraging imaginative and creative play for children of all ages.”

The garden will be on display on the first floor of the Octagon Shopping Centre in Burton from Saturday, February 6th, 2010 and is supported by the Burton Town Centre management team.

Paradise in Plasticine was originally conceived by James May, who is most famous for presenting Top Gear, as part of his BBC2 series James May’s Toy Stories in collaboration with Plum Pictures. The original concept was to create an original garden out of plasticine and bring this “old fashioned” play activity back into people’s lives.

Many members of the community were involved such as the Chelsea Pensioners, Jane Asher’s Catering Team, exclusive Japanese restaurateurs and Jane McAdam Freud, daughter of artist Lucian Freud, who is the grandson of Sigmund Freud, sculpted the bust of William Harbutt, art teacher, the inventor of plasticine in 1897.

William wanted non-drying clay for use by his sculpture students. Although the exact composition is a secret, Plasticine is composed of calcium salts, petroleum jelly, and long-chain aliphatic acids.

The original Plasticine was grey, but the initial product sold to the public came in four colours. It is now readily available in a wide variety of bright colours.

The Harbutt company promoted Plasticine as a children’s toy by producing modelling kits in association with companies responsible for popular children’s characters such as Noddy, the Mr. Men and Paddington Bear.

James’s garden was entered into the Chelsea Flower Show and although questions were raised as to “why flowers were being entered that were not real”, it did win the People’s Choice.

Return to InBurton.co.uk

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