The Pothole Gardener project is all about creating unexpected moments of happiness. My little gardens are a respite from the greyness of London. People read all sorts of things into my gardens when they try and rationalise them - something I'm fascinated with, and I've made various films about that.
I don't generally garden on the road, only on the footpaths (I'm not completely mad) and apart from keeping safe, the only rule of pothole gardening is I don't ever use figures in my gardens. I use a lot of miniatures as part of the project, and as a big part of my work is inspiring peoples imaginations and I find leaving scenes helps provoke the audience.
The project all started as part of my Masters in Design at Central Saint Martins and my first book, The Little Book of Little Gardens, was published by Dokument Press late in 2012. I've had a lot written about my work and I've put together a little press page here.
People from all around the world have created pothole gardens, and I post them on the blog. I've now had so many submissions, I've started a dedicated page with some of my favourite submitted gardens.
You can find more of my work at www.stevewheen.com - I'm also the Master Distiller at The Distillery - www.thedistillery.tv where I produce social video content.
If you want to get in touch, drop me a mail: thepotholegardener@yahoo.com
All in Talking the talk
I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at TEDxPrague recently. The theme of the conference was Crossing Borders and I was able to show all of the wonderful pothole gardens I've been sent, with the new the world pothole garden map. I talked about creativity and how good it feels to get out there and create something - even if it's as tiny and ephemeral as a pothole garden.
