Chris Poolman and Grace Emily Manning’s new commission to tour Herefordshire this summer.

Artists in Herefordshire turn to folk history, farming knowledge and community collaboration to reimagine the countryside as a site of cultural production, rather than the backdrop.

This summer, artists Chris Poolman and Grace Emily Manning present The Golden Valley Sundial, a touring outdoor artwork that brings together folk-history, agricultural practices, and the lived experience of contemporary, rural communities.

Commissioned by Meadow Arts, the work emerges from Our Place Golden Valley, a three-year creative health project exploring what it means to live in, and belong to, a geographically and culturally distinct rural landscape.

The Ledbury-based artists have spent a year working with communities in the Golden Valley in Southwest Herefordshire, a rural county known for its agricultural heritage, and home to the medieval Mappa Mundi. This process has culminated in The Golden Valley Sundial, a large-scale, modular artwork and interactive game which will tour the county, transforming village greens, heritage sites and agricultural shows into unexpected stages for contemporary art.

Comprising a set of sculptural figures, arranged around an imposing dial structure, the artwork’s form is reminiscent of both a stone circle and a traditional lawn game. The visual language of the work draws on the area’s rich history, from the Romanesque carvings of Kilpeck Church and Rowlestone Church to the enigmatic stone head at St Peter’s Well and the monastic legacy of Abbey Dore. 

Rather than reproducing these references, the artists have used them as jumping-off points from which new iconography and local lore could be imagined. Through collaborative workshops and sustained engagement, the artists captured the community’s experiences of rural and agricultural life, and knowledge of local flora and fauna. Constructed from locally-sourced wool, cob and plant pigments, and illustrating a range of new folk-tales, The Golden Valley Sundial reflects the area’s distinctive ecology and culture. It feels both ancient and immediate, solid and seasonal. Proudly displaying the work of many hands, it is testament to the collective knowledge, creativity and lived experience that shaped it.

Central the project has been an ongoing collaboration with Peterchurch Youth Club, supported by The Hub, Peterchurch. Meeting weekly, the club offers local young people a space to share meals, socialise and take part in creative activity. Many of the kids and staff come from farming families, and throughout the design and development of The Golden Valley Sundial, have contributed their own practical skills and rural knowledge. The gameplay itself was devised with the youth group one October evening, using simple props and woollen balls, felted by the group from fleeces gifted by a local farmer.

As an interactive work, The Golden Valley Sundial is designed for outdoor use and can be played without specialist skills or equipment. Visitors can follow instructions for play or simply enjoy throwing the woollen felt balls. To bring the work to as many people as possible, it will tour diverse events and venues in the Golden Valley and wider county. Driving Meadow Arts’ mission of bringing contemporary art to unexpected places, The Golden Valley Sundial’s launch marks a timely moment for the organisation, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Tour dates 2026

6 June: Golden Valley Vintage and Country Fair, Gwatkin Cider, Abbey Dore (tickets)
10 – 17 June: Wednesdays & Sundays at Hellens Manor, Much Marcle (visitor info)
2 – 8 July: Every day, 10am – 4pm at Hay Castle, Hay on Wye (visitor info)

Further dates to be announced.

Our Place Golden Valley is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with match funding from Herefordshire Council under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and public health funding.

The artists

Chris Poolman is an artist who recently returned to working as ‘himself’ when he undertook a 6-month residency at The New Art Gallery Walsall. This culminated in a commission for the Earthbound exhibition at the gallery called ‘The Sanctum of the One Eyed Toad’, a large-scale installation of cob (clay, sand, straw), other natural materials and reclaimed objects. Prior to this, he worked with Elizabeth Rowe in the collaboration General Public for over a decade. An important reference point in returning to making artwork again, were the 1970/80s adventure playground projects in Birmingham by former playworker Dave Swingle (whose archive we digitised as part of the ‘Let Us Play’ project). Their anarchic spirit and intense materiality are very much at odds with today’s managed environments and digital reliance.

Grace Emily Manning is an artist who grew up in the suburbs of London, on the border of Kent along the Thames Estuary. She creates multimedia projects that respond directly to landscape and place, drawing inspiration from the ecology, history, folklore, and materials of each site. This site-specific practice has led her on a journey into nature-based materialism; making natural dyes, inks, pigments, and sculptures from locally sourced materials. Her work explores environmental themes and speculative sci-fi ideas for futures where humans live in true collaboration with nature. Grace regularly works with communities to co-create large-scale public artworks across the UK, deepening her relationship with this island, its people, and its natural world.

Meadow Arts

Born in 2001, Meadow Arts has evolved to become an important part of the creative landscape across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire, collaborating with a variety of significant partners and host locations. Meadow Arts collaborates with highly regarded heritage organisations, historic sites, museums, universities, landscapes and public spaces to present contemporary art projects in unexpected, often rural places that encourage new ideas and expand horizons. 

Since 2001, Meadow Arts have worked with over 150 artists including Leah Gordon, Yinka Shonibare, Fiona Banner, Mat Collishaw , Pablo Bronstein, Heather and Ivan Morison, Marcus Coates, Shezad Dawood, Ryan Gander and Jasleen Kaur on new commissions, exhibitions and installations in a diverse range of places including Hardwick Hall, Croft Castle, Shrewsbury Museum & Galley, Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Hereford Cathedral and the Herbert Museum, Coventry. 

Meadow Arts is an Arts Council England National Portfolio funded organisation presenting a regular programme of exhibitions, events, talks and workshops, which reach diverse audiences and engage with a wide range of participants in both town and countryside.

Our Place 

Our Place Golden Valley is a Meadow Arts project working with communities in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, as part of the county’s wider Our Place programme. Running until March 2027, the project is showcasing how contemporary visual art can connect communities and promote wellbeing through creative engagement.

Our Place Herefordshire is a transformative cultural programme designed to embed place-based arts programming within Herefordshire’s communities. The programme is a collaboration between Leominster Cultural Consortium, Rural Media, and Meadow Arts. Working with community partners, Our Place aims to establish a sustainable model for community arts provision that integrates into broader social and health frameworks. Our Place is supported by public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Herefordshire Council and Hereford City Council.

For media enquiries, images or interview requests contact: suzie@meadowarts.org

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