Crumbs from The Word Table - Long Sutton Library

After our morning sessions with the public in Long Sutton Library, Phiona Richards and I moved to the foyer of the library to continue working on the artist residency element of our project. 

The arrival of collaged dolls houses, strange stands and printed birds did cause some curiosity and prompted many conversations.

After each Transported day most of the artefacts 

made there way back to my studio

and at one time I had all three word tables in my dining room

which was a bit of a tight squeeze as it's not a large room. 

 As the weeks progressed it has been satisfying to see the pieces taking shape.

 Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

A folded book made by Phiona balance on a book shelf

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

A painted wooden house balanced on a Phiona Richards

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

More of Phiona's beautiful paper engineering

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

created out of our bird prints.

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

On my first day at University I arrived wearing a floral dress when everyone else in the room was wearing jeans so it seems perfectly in keeping that I am captured drilling holes for the book shelves whilst wear a tea gown!

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

Phiona and I have been on such an intriguing and interesting journey 

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

and you can see more images of that journey by following the link 

You can see Phiona's images from the project here

Thank also to the marvellous 'electricegg.co.uk' for allowing me to use some of their images of the project.

Transported is a strategic, community-focused programme which aims to get more people in Boston Borough and South Holland enjoying and participating in arts activities, funded by Creative People and Places from Arts Council England.  For more information visit www.transportedart.com.

The Eloquent Fold For Transported in Long Sutton

The Eloquent Fold had a marvellous time during our three Tuesdays in Long Sutton Library, a great community resource which has both a sense of space and light combined with quite corners for reading, creativity  and contemplation.

 Each session was a joy as everyone made us feel so welcome.

 

We worked with a wide range of ages

 and managed to attract a few more regular participants,

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

all of whom had a wide variety of wonderful 

 experiences which they were happy to share with us

After a busy morning creating birds and words 

for our Long Sutton Flock of Words

we continued our tradition of serving tea and cakes in / on vintage china

 ( I always new my passion for cups and saucers would come in handy!)

On our final day our project was documented by Electric Egg 

who did their best to put us at ease whilst recording

 our impressions of the project for Transported

I have a feeling that I might be the voice over part of the video as I managed to stick tissue paper to my face for half of the interview! However the delightful crew were very patient and hopefully captured some of our energy and enthusiasm for our work and for the community members we have the pleasure to meet!

Photo 'electricegg.co.uk'

To see  more images from the session please follow this link

To see all the birds for Long Sutton Flock please follow this link

To see all the Long Sutton story prints please follow this link

Transported is a strategic, community-focused programme which aims to get more people in Boston Borough and South Holland enjoying and participating in arts activities, funded by Creative People and Places from Arts Council England.  For more information visit www.transportedart.com.

Working on Crumbs From the Word Table

As The Eloquent Fold artist Phiona Richards and I have been continuing to create our collaborative pieces for the Transported Open Book strand. We have chosen blues and mauves for our birds and have made a set of 22 prints which will be cut, stitched, folded and bound in a variety of ways to become a mini art library within each of the bird houses. 

The prints represent birds (or peoples) migrating, seen through the lace curtains, from the armchairs of other people. The birds which were also the printmaking plates will flutter and feast at our Word tables.

We watch, we wait, we land or take flight making new homes, new relationships. Communities are mobile and changing. We are exploring the complex notion of people and place. 

You can see the progress of our work Crumbs From The Word Table at Crowland Library on Thursday 19th during the afternoon or in this Flickr set 

Transported is a strategic, community-focused programme which aims to get more people in Boston Borough and South Holland enjoying and participating in arts activities, funded by Creative People and Places from Arts Council England.  For more information visit www.transportedart.com.

A Flock of Words - Session 1 - Spalding Library

Phiona Richards and I have started our Open Book commission for Transported with our first session in Spalding Library. On the way from Northants to Lincolnshire words and stories, ideas and laughter cut through the gloomy weather, creating our own migrating flock of words.

We come well prepared with bird shapes cut from the book covers of unwanted, old or damaged books,  plain book board and a vast quantity of delightful stamps, inks, glitters and paints for people to use. The library is quite quiet and Phiona and I are quite colourful, you can't really miss us. We love meeting new people, sharing skills and hearing histories. We take it in turns to scope both floors, engaging people in conversation, teasing out tales, generating interest.

This bird says

Discover my place in the world

Explore my Heaven

We meet people from all over the world

and as we sit together in this once quiet space

people talk of their travels, express themselves in different languages

write their words on my prints

add details and embellishments, the spaces I left on the page are filled as our combined histories weave in and out of each other. We are the one and the many, we are the artists and the community, like books we can be open or closed, shared, stamped, checked out or returned. And then there is tea, cake and conversation, china cups, pretty plates and a pause for lunch.

After lunch and a brief walk in town, 

The Eloquent Fold - 

Carole Miles and Phiona Richards

return to our table, erect invisible walls and windows, creating an imaginary studio space in the middle of the library. We begin working on our collaborative piece, we plan to make three, one for each of the libraries we are working in. There isn't enough time, there isn't enough space but for a few hours we are doing what we do and doing it together. People are intrigued, we are both absent and present in our imaginary studio, happy for people to watch and wonder, smile or scratch their heads.

We are repurposing an old battered GEEBEE dolls house, covering it with outdated maps and unwanted book papers. It will become our take on a bird table, part of our "Crumbs From the Word Table" piece. There will be things inside, there will be a stand, there will be other things. So if this has made you just a little curious don't forget to check back to find out just what we're making together! 

Here is a link to a slideshow made by Phiona which captures the spirit of our first day in Spalding Library. If you have a group, a venue or a space you'd like us to fill will creativity we'd love to hear from you!

Please join us in Spalding Library on the 5th or 12th of June between 10.00am and 12.30. If you can't join us you can send us your words and we'll add them to a bird or a print for you.

You can also follow us as we tweet during our workshops 

@Digifem

@RareNotions

@TransportedArt

and I will be adding images to my Flickr page and to my Instagram feed if you'd like to see what we've been doing during our workshops. 

For more information contact 

Rosie Lesurf-Olner, 

Arts Engagement Worker, 

Transported 

07747 271820  

TransportedRosie@litc.org.uk

Transported is a strategic, community-focused programme which aims to get more people in Boston Borough and South Holland enjoying and participating in arts activities, funded by Creative People and Places from Arts Council England.  For more information visit www.transportedart.com.