On The Road To Inspiration

Su Hurrell, from Alsager, launched her mobile art enterprise Ladybird Garden Safari to inspire children.

- Kate Houghton

SU HURRELL has always had a passion for gardens. She completed a degree in Combined Crafts at MMU Cheshire and went on to use her skills and inspiration in the creation of garden sculptures and water-features using reclaimed materials.

‘I’ve always had a real passion for the garden and am a great recycler and up-cycler,’ Su tells me. ‘So bringing the two together seemed like sense. When I graduated, I won a grant from the David Canter Memorial Fund to help set up my first workshop, which was actually in my flat in Crewe! I lived over a charity shop and their castoffs supplied many of my first creations.

‘It was here that I made my first pop-up garden, on the fire escape. I used all sorts of things, from old saucepans and colanders to an old Belfast sink. The landlord was quite happy with me; at that time there had been some troubles with anti-social behaviour in that area but my activity outside drove the trouble away!’

Following marriage and children, Su took a career break, of sorts.

‘While I wasn’t actively taking on commissions at that time, I was still doing a lot of work in gardens. I designed a couple of community gardens in this area and planted the Heritage Orchard at Excalibur Primary School in Alsager, which I am still a Guardian of. I also designed and made a memorial garden.

‘Once my children had grown I went back to work and I now have studio space at the old Spode ceramics factory in Stoke town centre, as part of their creation of a Creative Village through a massive restoration.