Transported Art Pop-up Shop, Boston

Market Day in Boston

The Eloquent Fold were back in Transported Art Pop-up Shop

It was a hub of fun and activity

as participants were invited to draw and paint

on unwanted book papers

Phiona and I were also delighted to have the 

opportunity to meet Dan Thompson

the founder of the Empty Shops Network

We shared stories, we investigated wishes and dreams for the arts in Boston and South Holland, we had fun and hopefully encouraged local people to make their mark!

You can see images from the day here

Sewing the Seeds

Phiona Richards and I took this activity to two venues Spalding Library and Crowland Garden Centre. We were originally due to work on a stall in Spalding Market but on the day of our visit the weather took a massive turn for the worse, wind, rain, leaden skies. 

Before we set out we made frantic calls to Nicola our Transported Art Coordinator to see what could be done. Thankfully Spalding Library were delighted to offer us a space in the entrance so there would be no escaping us!

Participants were invited create seed packets and flowers

 from maps / recycled papers, personal memorabilia, local ephemera,

found papers and were able to choose how much layering and complexity would be involved in their design.

The a seed packets were filled with bee friendly British wild flower seeds which they could take away and plant. The planting aspect is both a symbolic and practical transformative activity. Through this activity we hope to show people that they have the power to transform lives and neglected spaces. 

We were situated in the Restaurant at Crowland Garden Centre and were further challenged as the venue had been cut off from the main traffic by the relatively new by-pass. It's hard to bounce up to people and interupt their lunch and their social time but by taking a basket of seed packets to the tables we were able to overcome many barriers and met some wonderful people. 

You can set Flickr sets from this activity here and here

Pin A Petal

For this Transported Art engagement activity Phiona Richards and I found ourselves in Wyberon Parish Hall, once the sat-nav managed to make sense of the lay of the land! We were in a great community space which, in many ways, was tucked away from the community. There was a team of Social Workers having a training day in another room, so tantalising to have so many people in the building but unfortunately they didn't have a spare moment to join us. We did meet some wonderful local family members who spent a very happy and productive afternoon folding and shaping paper with us.

Participants created abstract flower corsages  

from maps / recycled or fabric papers, personal memorabilia,

 local ephemera, found papers, button and brads.

We have been living in a throwaway society, 

through this activity we hoped to show people 

that they have the power to transform unwanted papers

into something beautiful.

You can see the Flickr set from this activity here