Imagine a lovingly cultivated traditional garden in a 500 year old Manor House in June, now add bold and provocative sculptures made by international contemporary artists … and welcome to the exciting art event “Encounters” organized by the art consultancy “Notfamousyet” at Wheatley Manor, a village close to Oxford! The show was staged for only one night and one day, from the 12 to the 13^th of June, coinciding with the garden’s opening under the National Open Gardens scheme.

 “Encounters” shows how exciting international contemporary art can deliver a stimulating contrast to a traditional very English setting. Many of the exhibited art works were specially created this event, others were carefully selected to correspond to special areas of the garden. Amidst the garden the visitor will find stunning large playful sculptures, delicate ceramic objects, sound installations. It will also be an encounter with surprising materials: textiles in the shape of fruits, clay that is left unfired and therefore prone to decline, an army of wooden wedges, and colourful laces (or should we say tree bondages).

Each work corresponds to the special place in the garden and thereby impacts on and changes the place and the experience of the visitor.

The artists are from Oxford, the wider UK, Europe and Asia. Some are just at the beginning of their artistic career, others can already look back to past successes, but they all have something in common:  they are all exceptional, original and unique.

Ellie Reid finds beauty in discarded material and builds pieces of stunning elegance. Via the structuring and destructuring of her work she relates to the way in which we connect to both each other and what surrounds us.

Jane Wafer's sculptures use industrial and domestic materials in an endeavour to 'fix' dead trees. The construction of animal-like joints and spines enables them to twist and turn, introducing energy and flexibility into their rigid forms.

Jenny Ford creates stunning nature-like designs - exuberant, abstract forms in hand-dyed and stitched silk velvet, organza and found mixed media. For Wheatley Jenny will create an installation with 15 of her "pods".

Jacob Wolff translates modernist ideas into contemporary language. He follows formal aesthetics, carefully orchestrating colours and lines, but injects every-day topics. For Wheatley he is going to present "1-2-3", a welded iron sculpture.

James Winnett will create a large pyramid sculpture developed in response to the 19th century Lock Up in Wheatley which was used for the temporary detainment of local people accused of antisocial behaviour.

Candida Powell-Williams creates large sculptures that are full of mischievous humour; they bring back memory when “playing” was still the allowed centre of our lives. She is a Slade Graduate who is now studying at the Royal College of Art.

John Routledge's 'Hemisphere' is polished steel and red plastic. The shiny surface reflects the garden, the leaves and the light. It is an intriguing piece of technology that plays with nature, and still points to the beauty of mechanical objects.

Michi Suzuki’s beautiful ceramic sculptures seem to be a perfect imitation of the garden life, but on a second look they actually use the plant life - growth, energy, fertility and decay - as a reflection of the human conditions.

Kay Sentance’s love of theatre can be seen in her installation around the mulberry tree. It shows how something very familiar is seen in a total different perspective when seen in an unfamiliar setting.

Roger Perkins is giving the finishing touches to his "Roman" vases. They will be placed around the water in the garden. The vases are deliberately unfired, there is the possibility of change, of planned failure, that might happen, or might not.