Where Art Meets Nature
The Visionary Journey of Eddie Powell and The Sculpture Park

In a quiet corner of Surrey woodland between Farnham and Haslemere, The Sculpture Park has been welcoming visitors to discover the astonishing and the unusual for over fifteen years. The Park’s collection of sculpture – a varied menagerie of more than three hundred artists from around the world - includes acrobats, musicians and doctors, boxing hares, giant spiders, and even just a bald bloke enjoying a night at home watching the television! In stone, wood, metal and clay, The Sculpture Park’s collection, of around six hundred and fifty pieces of indoor and outdoor sculpture, is now bursting at the seams.

The energy and enthusiasm required to envision and maintain such an endeavour belongs to Eddie Powell. After moving to Surrey from his native South Wales in the 1970s to study at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Eddie owned several other businesses in the area and had embarked on various ventures in the hotel and leisure industries. His passion for the arts came to fruition in 1997, when he purchased ten acres of land with a view to creating his art gallery in the open. A few years later, this magical arboretum and water garden with two miles of pathways and a purpose-built gallery was made, creating a unique natural setting for displaying and viewing art. The park, Eddie says, ‘is the best business’ he’s ever had.

The sheer eclecticism of the collection is its unique selling point; nothing is off limits and it has clearly been created with bold taste and a sense of humour. Included in the selection are a number of works by Eddie himself under the pseudonym Wilfred Pritchard - mainly humorous and macabre depictions of skeletons with various props – which perhaps offer a glimpse into the character of the man behind the park.

Shaping the Future:
What’s Next for The Sculpture Park?

After two decades of dedicated collecting, The Sculpture Park has reached its capacity. Now, as a top tourist destination attracting a multitude of visitors every year, we have an obligation to meet the public’s needs (even if that means stifling our desire to display every artwork we find and love). The feedback we receive often describes a visit to the park as 'enchanting', 'inspiring' and 'mind-blowing', however, some visitors express concern about the extent of our collection, finding it 'too much’ to clearly see and enjoy. In response, we have decided the time has come to sell a significant portion of the collection, and are offering for sale over four hundred stand-alone sculptures in this unique auction with Sworders. The next steps for the park will be to reduce the number of sculptures we have on display, which will help to create the optimal environment for viewing art outdoors, continuing to satisfy and delight both national and international visitors, without overwhelming them.

Siân Gray and Oscar Powell