A guide to folly! for teachers

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

nationaltrust.org.uk/folly

Foster Carter’s design for a folly won a primary school competition run in partnership with North Yorkshire Society of Architects.

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This guide is intended to provide you with the information that you need to lead a fantastic folly! trip at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.

Talking about art

Conversations about art can take many directions for example:

Form, content, colour— What shapes or forms can you see in the artwork?— What colours can you see – is it a restricted palette or wide ranging?— Would the artwork feel different if the colours changed? Why did the

artist choose the colour?

Personal response— How does the art make you feel?— What do you think it means?— Would you like to take it home? Where would you put it?— What would you like to ask the artist?

Construction and materials— What materials have been used to make this artwork?— What processes do you think were needed to make it?— How did the artist choose the materials?

Location— Does the artwork look good in its location?— Does it fit with what else is around it?— Would it look different if it was moved to a new site?

ContextThe gardens at Studley Royal were created by John and William Aislabie between 1716 and 1781, at the height of the Georgian Enlightenment and at about the same time that ‘Capability’ Brown was creating his gardens places such as Blenheim Palace and Chatsworth. John Aislabie was involved in politics, but had lost his reputation after getting involved in the financial scandal known as the South Sea Bubble. He retreated to Yorkshire to work on his his grand creation – the gardens of Studley Royal.

The original gardens contained a variety of follies in various styles – some of which survive and some of which have been lost over time.

Further resources For KS1 and KS2 we recommend that you use our folly! family trail with your students which has lots of thought-provoking ideas, as well as encouraging the students to be creative in a variety of different ways.

For older students you may wish to pick up our folly! map guide.

Contact us Get in touch to book your school visit or for more details contact: Annette Tulip Bookings Co-ordinator 01765 643197 fountainsenquiries@nationaltrust.org.uk

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What is a folly?The Banqueting House, the Temple of Piety, the Temple of Fame and the Octagon Tower are all follies. Follies were fashionable, whimsical buildings or structures that were often used by eighteenth-century garden designers to catch the eye or draw attention to a carefully created view. They were often decorative, a bit eccentric, extravagant and full of symbolism that garden visitors could guess at. Here at Studley Royal eighteenth-century visitors to the gardens would have explored the gardens with stops for picnics, music or entertainment at the follies.

About the artworksThe four outdoor artworks are inspired by some of the ‘lost follies’ of the water garden – buildings that previous owners removed or changed. The new artworks aren’t intended to be literal re-creations of the lost follies, but a modern play on what a folly would have been to Georgian garden visitors – and perhaps how they would have experienced them. The new follies are on or near the sites of the lost historic follies.

The four artworks and locations are:

Polly by Charles Holland, at Tent Hill

Architect Charles Holland has designed a theatrical 9 metre-tall tower that will sit atop Tent Hill, once the site of a tent (a fashionable garden accessory in Georgian times). The tower, affectionately nick-named Polly, evokes the playful structures of eighteenth-century Picturesque gardens as well as the exotic flora and fauna they often featured. Its form is reminiscent of an exotic bird and it will be clad in timber shingles, painted in a mix of opulent colours to suggest a parrot’s plumage. The ‘head’ of the tower will house a camera obscura which will project new, focussed views of the water garden within the interior. The fantastical installation will be visible from ‘Surprise View,’ and will appear in the landscape alongside the majestic ruins of Fountains Abbey – which itself was a folly in the garden landscape, it’s original purpose very much changed to suit Georgian tastes.

Questions for students— Why is this work called Polly? (Personal response)

— How do you think the artist chose the colours for Polly? (Form, content, colour)

— Do you like this work? Why? (Personal response)

— Why do you think the artist chose to put a “camera obscura” inside? (Form, content, colour)

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The Gazing Ball by Lucy + Jorge Orta, at the Rotondo

The site of the second installation for folly! 2018 is the Banqueting House lawn, where the Rotondo, a classical Ionic temple designed as a focus for distant views, once stood. The ‘Gazing Ball’ will offer a dazzling reflection of the moon ponds and mirrored waters of Studley Royal; a 4 metre-tall pentagonal steel sculpture with multiple windows of different shapes, referencing architectural details of the former folly and presenting picture-perfect framed views across the gardens to the gothic Octagon Tower opposite. The sculpture will be crowned by a chrome sphere which will catch the light and play with the reflected views of the water garden.

Questions for students— Lucy and Jorge designed this work, but they didn’t make it.

Are the fabricators artists too? (Construction and materials)

— What do you think the importance of the mirrored ball is? (Form, content, colour)

— Do you think it would matter where in the gardens this work is positioned? Why? (Location)

— How do you think the artists chose the material for the ball? (Form, content, colour)

The Listening Tower by Fleafolly, at the Bathing House

Until the mid-1800s, a stone bath house stood opposite the moon ponds of the water garden. Fed by a nearby spring, the small folly housed a cold plunge pool for Georgian thrill seekers. The lost folly will be re-imagined by architects Fleafolly (Pascal Bronner & Thomas Hillier) who will create The Bathing House Listening Tower; a striking 3 metre-tall white tower topped with a copper water collector. The tower will echo the sounds of dripping water, using internal trumpets to amplify and transmit the sounds, tempting garden explorers to interact with the listening tower, hearing the sounds of the past Bathing House folly.

Questions for students— Is sound art? (Personal response)

— Which is more important: the look of the listening tower or its sound? (Form, content, colour & personal response)

— What does the sound make you think of? (Form, content, colour & personal response)

— How do you think the noises are created? (Construction and Materials)

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The Cloud by Foster Carter, at Silver Pond

A competition to design a fourth folly! run in partnership with North Yorkshire Society of Architects, was won by 11-year-old Foster Carter from Le Cateau Primary School, Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. More than 1,800 children from 50 schools across Yorkshire and the North East entered the competition, which encouraged children to create their own contemporary folly following design workshops led by NYSA architects. Foster’s design, ‘The Cloud’, uses a 4.2 metre wooden frame to hold up a ‘cloud’ and will be situated at Silver Pond in the water garden.

Questions for students:— How do you think the cloud collects water?

(Construction and Materials)

— Visitors interact physically with this artwork – do you like this? (Personal response)

— Can you think of any other artworks which visitors can physically interact with? (Form, content, colour)

— If the cloud were put inside would it seem very different? Why? (Location)

About the artistsCharles Holland Architects is an international architecture and design studio. CHA work across scales and disciplines and current projects include two new houses, a public artwork on the east Kent coast and the regeneration of an historic high street. Before forming CHA, Charles was a founding director of Ordinary Architecture and a director of FAT. Whilst at FAT he was the director in charge of a number of key projects including A House For Essex, the practice’s collaboration with Grayson Perry. Alongside his practice activities Charles is involved in teaching, writing and research and is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Brighton.

www.charleshollandarchitects.co.uk

Lucy + Jorge Orta founded Studio Orta in 1992, working between London, Paris and Les Moulins, a cultural complex established by the artists along an 8km stretch of the Grand Morin valley in Seine-et-Marne. Les Moulins is an extension of their practice: to establish a collective environment dedicated to artistic research and production of contemporary art. Informed by the natural environment and the industrial heritage, in particular the former mills and paper production that once occupied the valley, the historical factories of Moulin Sainte-Marie, Moulin de Boissy, Moulin La Vacherie and La Laiterie are undergoing redevelopment into artist studios, workshops, residencies, exhibition and performance spaces, set in a 20-hectare sculpture park.

www.studio-orta.com

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Fleafolly was founded in London by Pascal Bronner and Thomas Hillier who met whilst completing their Masters in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Since graduating both founders have worked for award-winning architecture practices in London where they gained experience across all sectors of the construction industry. They currently teach architecture at University of Greenwich, the Bartlett, and London Metropolitan University. Drawing upon their multi-disciplinary experience in both architectural practice and through architectural teaching, their objective – no matter what the subject – remains the same: to surprise and delight!

www.fleafollyarchitects.com

The North Yorkshire Society of Architects (NYSA) is a group of local architects who meet regularly to share ideas and organise events to promote architecture within the area. NYSA is a voluntary member-led branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment.

www.architecture.com

Foster’s design will be brought to life by Stage One, a York-based construction company that specialises in creative construction, manufacture and engineering. Stage One collaborates with architects, designers, producers and artists. Previous commissions have included Heatherwick Studio’s Olympic Cauldron for London 2012.

www.stageone.co.uk

A guide to folly! for teachers