Helen has posted a very comprehensive blog post about our visit to Dunston Staiths last week on her personal blog site.
http://helenshaddock.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/visit-to-staiths.html
She also took some great photos that she was kind enough to share.
Here we are looking at the under side of the Staiths.
Look at Helen’s link above for more great images.
In Response to Bewick Exhibition opens Thursday 29 January 2015
The exhibition takes place in the public art space of the Gateshead Civic Centre and will be showing until the end of March. Car parking is available at the Civic Centre, which can be found using the postcode NE8 1HH. If using public transport, the Civic Centre is around four minutes walk from Gateshead Interchange.
WALK, with support from Gateshead Council, The Bewick Society and the Natural History Society ofNorthumbria, using funding from a Sharing Heritage grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, has, since July 2014, been managing a project called To Bewick and Back: From Cherryburn into History. The project celebrates the work of Thomas Bewick and his influence as a natural historian, using public exhibitions of Bewick’s ‘wood engravings’, lectures, guided walks and by stimulating art, that has grown from an experience of Bewick’s landscape. The ‘In Response to Bewick Exhibition’ comprises new pieces by eight artists all of whom took part in the To Bewick & Back walks in August and September 2014.
WALK (Walking, Art, Landskip & Knowledge) www.walk.uk.net , University of Sunderland
On Thursday 11th December 2014 participants from the Art of Straying / Teaching Fellowship project put on an event to share their experiences with the rest of the department.
Event documentation by Luke Robson.
At the beginning of the academic year The Art of Straying project kicked off with a series of Urban Rambles. Students signed up to a mystery tour of the city centre, designed to stimulate discussion and help to view the city through fresh eyes.
Each session started with a walking meditation. When we talked about how the pre Christmas event in the XL gallery should start the students were keen to repeat that experience of walking and thinking about walking together.
This can be quite an intense and emotional experience, it can also free up your mind and take you to a calm tranquil place…
Simon was inspired by a walk we undertook earlier in the year which took us under Swann House roundabout in the centre of Newcastle. He was recalling how, as a child, he used to go to a Quaker Meeting House in that area. This prompted him to share these memories in a small stairwell in the department. The atmosphere in this space was chilly and damp, there was an air of abandonment in the space which added to the emotional impact of the poetry Simon read in the space.
Simon served us soup in the space, to add another layer to our shared experience.
An intense listening experience
Simon Court reading to the group.
Zoe showed us her studio space, it is an unusual space and quite a few people were unaware of it’s existence so our visit to her installation fitted very well into the idea of exploring uncharted territory within the department. Finding the unfamiliar within the routine
.
Zoe also placed some small works on the landing by the lifts high lighting an often overlooked view over the studio roofs.
Micheal and Franziska brought together many strands of the Art of Straying project, reflecting on the experiences they had had during various visits outside of the department. They used architectural details to focus their thoughts upon, encouraging participants to notice the integration of old and new parts of the building. They also spoke about the process of ruination as expressed by Tim Edensor during the Material Memory Conference earlier in the year.
Participants engrossed in Micheal and Franziska’s narrative.
An unexpected architectural gem in the accessible toilets!
Using the beautiful glass atrium space housing ground floor lift entrance to the Hatton, Helen recited her list of instructions / suggestions for making every day journeys on foot just that little bit different. Though it was a simple list of words this piece was poetic and deeply resonant with the ethos of The Art of Straying project.
Helen distributed her list amongst the event participants for use at a later date.
