Andrea Gregson
Last Night For Ever

Artist Talk - Tuesday 22 April 
Show Open Weekends & Bank Holidays: Sat 5 April to Sun 6 July 2025 11-5pm

The sculpture whose title was taken from the name of the closing event at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens on 25 June 1859, will be exhibited again at three National Trust historic buildings and landscape gardens located in the South East of England, including Leith Hill Place, Nymans and Winkworth Arboretum from 5 April 2025 until 26 March 2026. Whilst the outside view of the sculpture remains the same, the inside space includes bespoke interiors made for each venue, highlighting the garden and buildings histories, geology and local landscape. With the ongoing advancement of urbanisation, Last Night For Ever is a title relevant today, reminding us of the importance of nature and our fragile ecologies.

The work at Leith Hill place responds on their theme of Refuge, what lies underground the building, the earth and surrounding areas. In the grounds of Leith Hill Place is a 'worm stone' installed by Charles Darwin, to observe and measure the rate of the sinking stone by the actions of earthworms over decades. From this scientific research he later wrote ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits’ in 1881. With its topographical location built on high ground, Leith Hill Place offers unique viewpoints of the surrounding landscape. The sculpture references the importance of earth, the subterranean ground beneath our feet, as burrows for local hibernating wildlife, but also of shelters, caves, tunnel, and shell grottos. Looking into the interior of the meandering 6metre long sculpture, a model diorama of nature and manufactured forms can be seen as one hybrid miniature space. Visitors can adjust the roof panels, sliding them aside to better illuminate the interior revealed through peepholes and openings, offering different viewpoints to the inside.

When it tours to Nymans, it will reference fire as both a destructive and reconstructive force of nature. Sited inside the ruined great hall, which burned down in a fire in 1947, it will respond to histories of garden ruins, perspectives and optical illusions with the interior structure reminiscent of a model theatre. Interestingly, the renown set designer Oliver Messel formerly lived in the house. The final venue for this season will be Winkworth Arboretum where the work responds to its location in the boat house next to Rows Flashe Lake, with a focus on water as a life-giving force for all species of trees, flora and fauna.

There will be an artist talk and art workshops during each show for local audiences. A zine publication will be made for distribution during the exhibitions, with an essay about the work by Dr. Alicia Foster. The exhibition has been funded by University for the Creative Arts Research Funding and the National Trust.

Andrea Gregson Biography

Andrea Gregson is an artist, curator and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. From 1995-97 she received a Postgraduate Fellowship at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland and in 1998, an MA Fine Art, at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2016, she was artist in residence at the University of East London supported by the Henry Moore Foundation. She has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad including Danielle Arnaud, London (2021); Grizedale Gallery, Cumbria (2019); Gaesteatelier Hollufgaard, Fyn, Denmark (2017); Romantso, Athens, Greece (2017); Patrick Heide, London (2014); Concrete, Hayward Gallery (2012); Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2011); The Garden Museum, London (2009); Galerie Shuster, Berlin, Germany (2009); Galeria XX1, Warsaw, Poland (2005); Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, Poland (2000). Curatorial projects include Gustav Metzger’s, Facing Extinction Conference and Exhibition, James Hockey Gallery, UCA Farnham, Herbert Read Gallery (2014) and Remember Nature (2015/2025); Workshop of Hereafter, Blyth Gallery, London (2009); The Miniature World Show, Jerwood Space (2006).

To find out more about the artist: IG @andreagregsonsculpture | www.andreagregson.co.uk

TOUR DATES (April 2025 to end of March 2026)

Nymans - Show Open: Sat 12 July to Sun 30 Nov 2025

Winkworth Arboretum - Show Open: Sat 10 Jan to Thurs 26 March 2026