Discovery II

Some words in progress worked on since workshop 2 - inspired by Jo Bell's Place Name exercise at Hillmorton Open day

From Discovery II

Simons Town

Cape Town

Cape of Good Hope

Fisherman

Stoker

Fireman

Perth

Freemantle

Albany

Black Swan

Asylum

Hard rock

Antarctica

Falklands

New York

Huskies

Snowshoes

Whiskey

Glasgow

North Finchley

Tower Bridge

Letters home

Send money

Telegram later

Three Sails, Three Voyages - Carole Miles

Digital images on silk

Enamelled Bronze Dog

Photograph by Andrew Rushton

Some words in progress worked on since workshop 1 - inspired by Martin's postcard trying to fuse ancient artefact, ancient hunters and present memories. 

Enamelled Bronze Dog Brooch, 2nd Century AD click to see similar brooch

On such an emerald day

your speckled flanks 

cut across the landscape 

leanness set against the wind.

Circling through wild grasses

face fixed in joy of speed

you have your head and

I think there can be

no grace to match this.

Through winter 

we lie nose to tail,  

curve of belly 

echoing arc of rib.

A soft peace after 

days of hunting.

Your warm breath 

sputtering dreams

against my frozen feet.

Containment & Expression

Inspirational poets at the head of the table during lunch in the sun drenched garden

During the summer I was lucky enough to attend an inspiring poetry workshop and reading by Small Lightnings aka established poets Jo Bell - a professional archaeologist - and Martin Malone, poet of the Wiltshire landscape, at the Water Tower in Brigstock

It was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting, the other participants were lovely, creative, questing souls and the most excellent poetic duo worked us hard, we were given poems and postcards to respond to and were set a number of intriguing writing exercises. By the end of the day we were left with a fist full of beginnings and the encouragement to keep writing. In the evening we had the pleasure of hearing Jo and Martin read their work, if you get the chance, go and see them, they are fantastic.

You can find out more about Small Lightnings on their facebook page

Jo has also been appointed as the first Canal Poet Laurete and will have some lines of her poetry carved into lock gates as part of Locklines. I thought it would be good for Andrew Rushton to get a taste of the Jo Bell experience so we went to the poetry workshop held during the Hillmorton Open Day.

Poet Roy Fisher has created lines of poetry and sculptor Peter Coates has designed, carved and inlaid the words onto new commemorative lock gates at Hillmorton, inspired by Roy’s words and the canal environment.

We also had the opportunity to explore the bottom of the canal 

whilst work on the lock gates was taking place.

I found a penny

and saw some great faces

So here's two days of words & celebration.

Celebrating Winter Light

It had been a strange week of hard frosts and heavy rain but the day of our installation arrived with fair weather and blue skies. Having made about 100 torches, all that remained was to install them in the Kings Wood and wait for Friends of the Kings Wood, walkers and participants to find us! 

The Winterlight Team getting ready

Sophie Cullinan supervising the installation

Kate Dyer's epic pan of apple and parsnip soup

Lorraine Dziarkowska doing a spot of documentation

Torches tied to a tree

Light fading

replaced by a

mysterious blue glow.

We were joined by a lovely group of people, some whom had been involved in the making, others who had just stumbled upon us by chance 'Come and join us for hot soup and a marvellous slide show of fungi found in these very woods!" we cried, and they did!

It was a lovely way to explore the woods and feel connected to it's ancient roots and branches. At 5.00pm we took everything away, not one of us had thought to bring an actual torch to light our way out of the woods again, so we edged our cautious way through mud and puddles, laughing as we went. On the pavement by our cars, saying our farewells till next meeting a light drizzle of rain misted us, windscreens and tarmac.

An Invitation!

Snippet from film sound track we're creating for Light Walks , Carole Miles & Jo Dacombe

Light Walks snippet: Carole Miles and the Reverend Richard Coles in conversation, for video soundtrack

Winterlight - Come and Join Us

Sophie Cullinan, Kate Dyer and I have been up to our Torchtastic tricks again 

working with groups to create winter torches. 

It would be lovely to see you at our woodland event.

3.30pm, December 15th, Kingswood, Corby

Entrances on Colyers Avenue and Gainsborough Road.

There will be walking. 

The torches will be will be glowing. 

There may be a slideshow of Fungi. 

The Kings Wood is a magical place.

There will be Soup!

There may be frost, rain, wind, snow or assorted wintery weather so ....

Wrap up warm and wear walking boots or Wellingtons.

I know it is a busy time of the year but we would love you to come and join us!

Winterlight on Saturday

It's been a busy couple of days working with groups on the Torches for the Winterlight event in Kings Wood on Saturday, which should be a magical event. Come and celbrate with us in these ancient woodlands.

Sophie Cullinan modelling the variation winter torch

 Many hands making ...

Light work!

Come and get the winter glow!

Lifecycle - The Godmonkey Skyhook Amalgamation

A chance conversation and a spur of the moment visit to see Nick Finn's installation at the Rooftop Gallery brought me to the Amalgamation and now I can't believe my luck to be part of such a delicious audiovisual conflagration! 

Band logo by Katy Lindsay

Born on November 14, 2012

Brain child of Nick Finn

In the mix you will find

Mark Brennan, Andy Eathorne, 

Darren Nimmo, Martin Baldock,

 Sian Mabbot, Christina Monteiro,

Katherin Williams, Lynn Davis, 

Donna Faulkner......

there may also be others

....oh yes...and me!

We are trying out our new work 

LIFECYCLE hoping for

audio/visual delights.

Please come along to meet us after the performance.

BRING YOUR OWN REFRESHMENTS 

PERFORMANCE 7.00pm - 9.00pm

at the Rooftop Gallery and Workshops

9 The Links, Queens Square

Corby.  NN17 1PZ

"This audio visual collaboration has been achieved 

in a very short space of time and we'd love to have 

you there to help with feed back etc" says Nick Finn 

"maybe you are interested in joining in the fun"

You can find us on Facebook

You can hear a sample here

Small donation requsted for the 

Rooftop Galleries and Workshops

Then on Friday, December 14th

6.30 pm we will be taking

Lifecycle to the Ex-Servicemen's Club

The Old Village, Corby

This launch event is aimed at engaging our community through popular culture
Fundraising money for Corbys Arts Scene, 

majority of proceeds going to The Rooftop Gallery & Workshops.

TICKETS - £3 or two for A Fiver!!
on sale from @Phillip Anthony | The Alternative Edge

Confirmed :
The GodMonkey SkyHook Amalgamation
BrowneProject
The Flying Mandelas
The Multiversal Concrete Club

Woodcuts and digital image by Carole Miles and are available for sale from the artist.

After my visit to Kew Gardens I was describing the beauty of the water lilies to Ann Leonard, the Office Manager for AES Europe a partnership of freshwater environment experts with a wealth of experience in monitoring and managing water quality and aquatic ecosystems. 

I'm a big fan of the company especially as both Ann and the company donated the stakes and mesh for the Jubilee Tree Planting I organised in Brigstock earlier this year. 

I showed Ann the wild flower seed paper multiples I'd made for Deep Roots Tall Trees. Ann thought something similar might be a lovely thing to send to their clients this Christmas so I used one of the images I'd taken at Kew (see image above). You can see the other images I made for AES to choose from here,  the image above was the one they chose. 

I've been very touched to read Tweets from AES about them, happy customers, happy me!

AES Europe ‏@AESEurope

Received great limited edition prints made by @Digifem for our clients for xmas... they are so lovely. Everyone thrilled with them!

AES Europe ‏@AESEurope

Writing the cards and putting in limited edition prints . . . lucky clients! Prints made by @Digifem