Mary Branson is best known for her large-scale light works and installations, particularly the iconic ‘New Dawn’ sculpture in the Houses of Parliament, which celebrates the centenary of the Suffrage movement. It is the first permanent piece of
contemporary art in the Palace of Westminster. She has also created light and sound works for the London 2012 Olympics, Royal Holloway University, Salisbury Cathedral and ‘Harvest’ - a huge site specific installation at Box Hill, Surrey, highlighting the plight of farmers facing climate change.
Mary enjoys the challenge of using landscape and architecture as a backdrop to site-determined pieces. She often works with large teams of volunteers to help her realise her ambitious use of scale and finds the shared ownership of the community an important part of her artistic process. As many of her installations are temporary, Mary’s projects encompass elements of performance, photography, film and sound as forms of documentation. She also produces smaller scale works in glass and ceramics. Her work is rooted in a sensitivity to landscape, politics, and the passage of time —often transforming architectural and natural settings into spaces of collective reflection.
Outdoor Sculpture
‘The Undertow’
ceramics and sound
‘A Conversation with My Mother’
14' foot-long boat coated with copper leaf, sound
Events
Join us for a truly inspirational creative workshop with renowned installation artist and ceramicist Mary Branson. At the end of the three days, you will have a completely unique ceramic vessel that you have built, fired and polished. No two are ever the same - and it is the incredible alchemy of smoke-firing that takes them to another level. All abilities are welcome; whether you haven’t touched clay since your school days, or you are a passionate maker - this workshop will be accessible for everyone. This intimate workshop wll allow you to slow down and explore the world of coil-built clay.
We are truly honoured to be hosting this intimate workshop in the heart of the Sculpture Garden.
The Process
Learn how to build vessels robust enough to go through the alchemy of smoke firing.
Learn how to burnish pots to enhance the surface detail.
Instructions on what to put on the surface of your pots to get marks and colour.
How to pack and build the fire for smoking.
How to clean up and polish pots.
Day one: Wednesday 17th June
All day workshop 10 – 5pm
Under Mary’s expert guidance, you will learn how to hand-coil a vessel. In a small group, Mary will lead you on a journey with clay - explaining every aspect as you go along.
Refreshments will be provided* but please bring your own lunch
Day two: Saturday 27th June
Afternoon workshop 3pm - 5.30pm
Learn how to wrap your pot with oxides and organic materials.
How to pack the incinerator – hands on.
Firing the incinerator!
Day three: Sunday 28th June
Afternoon workshop 3pm - 5.30pm
Opening the incinerator.
Cleaning up the pots.
Wax and polishing pots.
Timings are subject to slight change
If you are unable to make either or both afternoons, Mary will finish the process for you - so you will still have a completed vessel at the end of your experience.
*Teas, French-press coffee and scrumptious homemade cakes (vegan option available, please select dietary requirements at check-out).
Join us for a very special afternoon event split across our Indoor Gallery and out in the Sculpture Garden, with installation artist and ceramicist Mary Branson.
Mary will lead us on a fascinating visual journey through her commissions - both temporary and permanent in the Surrey Hills. After a break for refreshments, we will leave the Indoor Gallery for a walk to experience her most emotive installation ‘A Conversation with My Mother’ - a sculpture and sound piece featuring poetry read by Mary and her mother, who sadly suffered with dementia. This piece has never been placed outside before, and the connection to the soft surroundings of the Sculpture Garden has elevated this work to a whole new level.
Further afield, Mary has been commissioned for the Houses of Parliament, the London Olympics, and Salisbury Cathedral. She is truly inspirational - and we are honoured to display two of her astonishing sound installations this season.
Saturday 12th September 2026.
Timings: 4pm to 6pm, including break. (timings subject to slight change, TBC)
Light refreshments* will be provided in the interval.
~ You are welcome earlier to explore the rest of the Sculpture Garden ~
The Indoor Gallery is located up a flight of stairs - at this time the space does not have disabled access.
BOOKINGS CLOSE - Saturday 5th September 2026
After booking you will receive an automatic confirmation. If this does not arrive, please check your junk folder - and if nothing there please contact us directly.
*Teas, French-press coffee and scrumptious homemade cakes (vegan option available, please select dietary requirements at check-out).
Images courtesy of the artist.
‘New Dawn’ - Westminster Hall, Parliament, 2016 - celebrating 150 years of Women’s Votes
‘Silent Choir’ - Waterloo Festival , St Johns Church 2025
‘Harvest’ - Box Hill, 2018
‘The Undertow’ - Albury Church, 2024
‘A Conversation with My Mother’ - Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, 2026
‘A Conversation with My Mother’
A Conversation with My Mother began with an extraordinary dream experienced during the artist’s mother’s dementia. After eight years without speech, Mary Branson dreamt that she and her mother sat together in a skiff, her mother’s voice startlingly loud and clear — so vivid that she woke believing she was beside her in the room.
Situated beside the lake, visitors are invited to sit on an aged wooden bench between two weathered megaphones and listen to mother and daughter reciting John Clare’s poem Insects. Beginning in unison, the shared rhythm gradually fractures as white noise grows and one voice slowly recedes, leaving the other to continue alone.
Drawing on a recording made in 2011, when Branson’s mother could still recite poetry though conversation had become impossible, the work reflects on the altered landscape of communication shaped by dementia — the fragile rhythms of intimacy, memory and the experience of loving someone who is both present and slowly leaving.
At its centre rests a blackened skiff lined with copper, a vessel born directly from dream, carrying connection, absence and the enduring echoes of relationship.