Ackroyd/Harvey: Dilston Grove – 2003. After thirteen years of working together, British artists, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, created their most ambitious installation in Dilston Grove (formerly known as Clare College Mission Church). They grew the whole interior with seedling grass planted into a clay base. They are renowned for transforming buildings and structures with their signature key material, grass.
A wing of the Farmhouse. In their spare time, Dan and Heather come to Italy to cut off from work completely. They relax by fixing up the old seventeenth century farmhouse in the Prosecco hills near Venice at Zuel di Qua.
The Valley. The view from the farmhouse is a constantly shifting panorama of light, texture and color.
The Bathroom. A temporary solution, using local reeds, creates a suspended chamber for the bathroom.
Fly-Tower – 2007. Their largest work to date on the landmark National Theatre FlyTower on London’s South Bank.
The Fireplace. The fireplace is called a fogher in local Veneto dialect. A bust of one of the nine muses of Apollo sits in the corner, which the artists caste in Rome, as part of one of their projects.
Dan. Dan Harvey originally studied at The Royal College of Arts in London. He has had a long term relationship with Italy going back to his childhood.
The Bottle Collection. The attic houses Dan’s hand-blown demijohn’s which he has been collecting over the years. The oldest bottles date back a couple of centuries.
A Detail. The round stairway of the National Theatre, London leading up to the grass Fly-Tower, 2007.
Heather and Adele. Heather Ackroyd and their daughter Adele. Heather has been collaborating with Dan Harvey for nearly twenty years. Her work has often moved between the theatre and fine arts.
Mother and Child – 1998. A portrait made of grass of Heather and Adele using light sensitivity of the pigment chlorophyroll as a photographic medium. It was first shown at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California.