By incorporating the teachings of Zen Buddhism and the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi into her latest collection, Carolyn Savidge’s homage to the thousands of trees lost to Storm Goretti across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in January 2026 makes visible her fascination with decay, imperfection and transience.
These wax, clay and plaster sculptures also become metaphors for a diasporic existence – of living in-between something or somewhere else, shaped by nature’s force and place of origin.
Each work is a tribute, comprising the sublime immutability of time as it merges with roots and the soil, natural forms emerging from non-familiar conceptual frameworks, and installations connecting Mother Earth with the choreographies of Martha Graham.
Grace in her own skin
(After Schiaparelli couture of the body in nature)
Cast in plaster, dried plant material
H 43cm x W 53cm x D 22cm
Carolyn Savidge 2026.
Dont look back into the Abyss
(The strength and heart of the tree clothed in flowers in a Medusa twist)
Cast in plaster, dried plant material
H 33cm x W 29cm x D 180cm
Carolyn Savidge 2026.
Storm deny the reality
(Mothering the sacred bones; the fullness of the feminine)
Bronze resin patinated with Tiffany Green, Wish Bones cast in resin Dolomite mix, Wheelborrow base from the sea
H 43cm x W 55cm x D 20cm
H 79cm x W 70cm x D 32cm (with Wheelboorow base)
Carolyn Savidge 2026.
Ask the question (St Francis, Bodhi we take nothing with us only what you have given)
Cast in plaster, dried plant material, Hand-Carved St. Francis of Assisi Devotional Statue, Mantilla lace offering
H 18cm x W 23cm x D 49cm
Carolyn Savidge 2026.
Free Artist-led Workshop Playful creative workshops utilising supplied found objects & the written word which will lead to the creation of a paper quilt of memories to be displayed in The Morrab Library. The Morrab Library Wednesday...
An idyllic 1950s childhood observing and exploring the natural world on her grandparent’s Somerset farm still influences the creative output of artist, filmmaker, choreographer, writer, performer, lecturer, teacher & facilitator Carolyn Savidge.
Her mixed-media work explores perennial themes of love and loss, combining the serendipity of found objects in nature with the reality of our lived experience to present an absorbing, distinctive and closely observed artistic vision.
Carolyn challenges and redefines healing, memory and mental health, holistically considering physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing through her art practice.
In a diverse 50-year freelance career, Carolyn has also lived, worked, taught and performed in Africa, the Caribbean, India, Sri Lanka and the USA. She was a lecturer in contemporary dance at Brighton University, Laban Centre at Goldsmiths, University of London and The Place, London, and performed with the Barbados Dance Theatre Company for three years before founding the Carolyn Savidge Dance Company.
Carolyn has been a director, teacher and facilitator in primary and secondary schools, sixth-form colleges, academies and universities at home and abroad, including the American School in Lusaka, Zambia (where she also ran her own dance studio), and was visiting dance director for the annual International Festival of Dance, Music, Speech and Drama in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
As a performance artist she researched the cathartic transformative effects that come about through the simple act of taking unstructured walks in the landscape, which led to an appearance on BBC in Claire Balding on Ramblings: Artists’ Ways and still influences her artistic vision.
Based in Newlyn, Carolyn Savidge has directed Dance-for-Camera films, and hosts exhibitions and workshops at arts festivals, galleries and events throughout south-west England.
