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Botanical collections inspire local charity to create artwork for RHS garden

Enterprise19, who provide employment opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities, have created botanical screen prints, which are on display in the glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley until 10 March 2024

The Houseplant Takeover – Plants Before Time exhibition at RHS Garden Wisley has sparked the creativity of local community groups, like Enterprise19, a charity that offers young adults with learning disabilities positive experiences through creative opportunities. The prints the group made are based on plants from the Jurassic period, as the theme of the exhibition is ‘Plants in Time’. Their work hangs among tree ferns, palms and dinosaur sculptures, footprints and ammonites, helping transport visitors back millions of years.

It shows people that you can have differences and problems doing things but some people can really excel at art and creation. This is an opportunity to show what we can do.

Enterprise19 Artist

Using nature for artistic inspiration

The Enterprise19 team look for inspiration from books in the RHS Wisley library in November 2023
Guided by the RHS Community Outreach team, Enterprise19 artists visited RHS Wisley in November 2023, to explore the plant collections, and take photos of or draw plants that inspired them. They pored over books dating back to the 1800s in the Wisley library, learning about ferns and other prehistoric plants.

Did you know?

Ferns were highly fashionable in the Victorian era, sparking ‘Pteridomania’, a long-lasting craze for ferns. Fern forms appeared in clothing design, objects, furniture and some think it even influenced the design of the custard cream biscuit.

Find out how to grow ferns
Did you know?
Members of the Enterprise19 team take part in screen printing to create the botanical display
Creating a composition for screen printing
Back at their studio in Farnham, Enterprise19 sketched the plants and used their unique artistic style to create a composition for screen printing. The RHS Communities team provided horticultural input and support as the group worked up their designs and were impressed by the bold representations of each plant’s structure.

All the team at Enterprise19 were brilliant to work with. They did an amazing job delivering these works of art.

Julie Jowett, RHS Senior Community Outreach Advisor

Unveiling to the general public

The Enterprise19 team see their artwork on display in Wisley’s Glasshouse
When the prints were ready, the final artwork was printed onto large panels, which were installed in the Glasshouse at Wisley. Enterprise19 got a sneak preview of their work on show in early February, before the Houseplant Takeover was unveiled to the public. They enjoyed seeing their creations hanging proudly next to steel dinosaur sculptures, eggs and pterodactyls, which the Glasshouse team had made out of plants.

The project has helped foster pride in our young adult’s achievements, which has increased their self-esteem. They have worked as a team and have been involved in all stages of the creative process, with drawing and stencil cutting, processing the screens in the dark room and colour mixing.

Rob Power, Enterprise19
If you’re local to RHS Wisley, find out more about the Houseplant Takeover – Plants Before Time exhibition taking place in the Glasshouse until 10 March. Alternatively, if you’d like to support Enterprise19, you can buy a screen-printed tea towel on the Enterprise19 website.

Read about the ‘Eco-Warriors’ Muslim women’s group in Surrey who designed and embroidered brightly-coloured fabric wall hangings at last year’s ‘Houseplant Takeover – Deep Sea Dive.’

Support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund made this project possible. Thanks to National Lottery players, the RHS has connected with more than one hundred community partners and groups surrounding RHS Wisley to transform green spaces, share skills and knowledge and connect people for wellbeing.

Visit our community outreach web page to find out more about the work we do.

About the author - Hannah Wright

Hannah is the Schools and Groups Digital Engagement Officer.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.