Art & Ornament exhibition at Dalkeith Palace

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Over the Easter holiday weekend, DKT once again joined the Master Carvers Association on the Art & Ornament tour, celebrating the life and work of virtuoso wood carver Grinling Gibbons.

After St. Mary Abchurch and the Dutch Church, both in the City of London, it was good to go north, crossing the border into Scotland, where the venue was Dalkeith Palace, east of Edinburgh, chosen because it houses a rare marble work by Gibbons; a 1701 overmantel depicting Neptune summoning Galatea.

On this occasion, the MCA joined forces with other artists, architects, conservators, scholars and musicians to entertain and inform members of the public as to the historical context of the event and, through the individuals and their work on show, combined the energies of both the quick and the dead to create a very successful opening evening, a series of seminars and a brief, standing exhibition.

Our involvement in the Art & Ornament collective has given us the opportunity to present the more traditional side of what we do, to show respect to our predecessors and encourage the nurturing of the skills and knowledge we would wish to be passed on to the next generation.

It was an honour to be invited to contribute to the exhibition and stand among the many other exhibitors and their fine work. But special thanks are due to the combined effort, enthusiasm and professionalism of Hugh Wedderburn, honorary secretary of the MCA, and Charlotte Rostek, Dalkeith Palace Project Consultant – organising her first event at the Palace.

To learn more about Grinling Gibbons visit the official tercentenary page by the Master Carver's Association, there you can also find information about our collaborative project 'the Split Quill' and upcoming events. To view our bas-relief and sculptural work click through to our portfolio.

*Photography by Alan Marsh