Finding Form A
pair of surreal, biomorphic entrance-post finials signifies my arrival at Asthall Manor, a stunning Jacobean Cotswold manor house in Oxfordshire and home to Rosie Pearson. I have since learnt that the aforementioned sculptural adornments are in fact by Anthony Turner (TU 1972-76), whom Rosie has known since her time at Marlborough. Asthall is a house steeped in history – it was formerly occupied by the Mitford family – yet one that is now synonymous with the biennial exhibition of contemporary
Rosie Pearson and Anna Greenacre
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The Marlburian Club Magazine
sculpture known as on form (‘Small o, small f,’ I’m assured). Rosie has established the perfect setting for a panoply of predominantly abstract metamorphic outdoor installations that adorn the somewhat eclectic grounds fashioned by the Bannermans of Highgrove fame during the late 1990s. Our convivial sojourn through Asthall’s gardens begins at a cloistered walkway that connects the original manor house with the Mitfords’ extension of 1919. I am drawn to the compact mud nests in the rafters above me, home to a small party of swallows, and Rosie is quick to inform me that guano is a perennial problem given the al fresco nature of the artworks! There is a distinct sense of flow from house to garden and indeed beyond, to the verdant meadows that surround the local Oxon river, the Windrush. Rosie has strived to mirror this sense of
Photo Peter van den Berg
Nick Nelson (C2 1984-89) takes an amble through the sculpture-filled gardens of Asthall Manor, home to Rosie Pearson (SU 1974-76).
