Jubilee Trees Update

I recently went back to the Old Water Tower to see how the Jubilee trees were doing, Ros has made a lovely entrance to the field with these specially designed gates.

The Royal Oak Sapling, grown from seeds gathered from Royal Estates, for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee  is thriving, as are the rest of the trees,

 which are now in grouped protective enclosures. 

During the hard to remember dry spell earlier this year Ros kept the trees well watered and they have repaid her efforts with plenty of new leaves. I'll be back to report on them as they grow, but they are in good hands and ready for all to share in their future beauty. The field is also starting it's new life as a creative space!

The first workshops to take place in the field will be run by artist Emma Davies, who also helped on the planting day, follow the link below for full details

Emma Davies – Fine Art Workshops

‘The Water Tower’

Brigstock, NN14 3JA

Family Art Workshops - “Land as Material” 

For ages 7 years and upwards

Saturday 23rd June 2012

‘Upcycled Sketchbooks and a spot of Plein Air Sketching’  

10am – 12pm

New Shoots?

I love Artist Multiples, small, portable pieces of art that give you a hint or a flavour of an artist's work. Over a period of time I've been developing some Multiples of my own, the most recent being a series of images printed onto seed paper and presented using old postcards to create the package toppers.

The postcard was from Open Places Open Spaces in 2003 - an early digital image called Primavera which features, amongst the layers, buildings from Northampton town centre and a friend spouting flowers from her mouth. 

The seed papers contain a mixture of wild flowers and after soaking can be planted. I'm doing a test at the moment and have planted one of the images to see how it grows. I'm calling these multiples "The Seeds of Change" and they are currently available at Longdogs Bazaar on Etsy.  They are £5 each with free postage in the UK or three for £10 plus postage. They are A6 size, light, easy to post and make a nice gift! All the digital images are also available in other sizes and on a variety of supports.

This set feature images which combine buildings and plants / weeds seen sprouting in, on and around buildings

This image contains images of my first whippet, Shelley, bounding about in Wickstead Park

 

These are reproductions of older collographs - an original print of Willow Woman (in the centre) plus two other green Man inspired pieces are now part of the IOTA Collection. "Based in Glasgow (Scotland), IOTA is a private research collection of representations of the green man. IOTA seeks examples from all periods and from all cultures"

During the mid 1990's I was very inspired by the writer Angela Carter and intrigued by one of her stories The Erl King, so began making a series of images with people being seduced into the woods by an enigmatic character with branches or leaves sprouting from his head. I also started making smaller collagraphs and the Green Man /men / women with sprouting heads began to appear. It also coincided with a firm belief that we need to take more care of nature, so many green spaces are being eaten up by housing and industrial units, we need to look after what is left.

Last year I made The Sweet Smell of Success - a Limited Edition of 30 silk lavender bags, each with a distressed digital transfer print on the front and filled with English lavender

The remaining few are also available  at Longdogs Bazaar on Etsy.

I have put a few small framed prints up for sale 

House Sitter

To The Sea

and there are still a few pieces of my second jewellery collection left. The collection was developed after making a piece of work for the second Held in the Hand collection - part of the innovative  Held in the Hand and Touch Tables projects initiated by Leicestershire County Council Heritage and Arts Service. They, along with 9 other major museums have been longlisted for the second annual Clore Award for Museum Learning, which recognises quality, impact and innovation in museum learning initiatives. The New Vistas / Wider Horizons Big Draw project I developed with Back To Books last year was shortlisted for an Epic Award and for a Drawing Inspiration Award.

Beautiful Brigstock - A Day Planting Jubilee Woods

Jubilee Woods Tree Planting Day on Saturday February 18th, The Water Tower, Brigstock with Rosalind Stoddart FRSA, Independent Cultural Engineer. We were joined by artists, poets, storytellers, families and friends to undertake the planting. 

The weather was blustery with the constant threat of rain but spirits were high and the planting went smoothly. We planted 106 trees, 105 hawthorn, hazel, silver birch, rowan, wild cherry, dogwood and one walnut tree, all of which fitted in three buckets but took several hours to plant! 

Nursery Manager for AES Europe Ann Leonard, Proprietor - Mr Robert Cockroft and Operations Manager - Mr Anthony McKenna  -  donated the stakes and mesh to protect the young trees.

There was also the special tree grown from a seed from one of the Royal Estates. Poet Adrian Johnson read a The Heart of the Tree by Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855 - 1896) as the tree was planted and each tree was planted with a penny for luck. 

Our youngest tree planter was Hamish Young who is just over two years old. We were also joined by Annabel Amos during BBC Radio Northampton's Treasure Quest we were  the final destination and so the planting was shared with the wider community. Annabel was able to plant a tree before dashing back to Northampton in the radio car.

Indoor poetry reprise by Adrian Johnson

Afterward the planting we had a hearty lunch of soup, bread, cheese, carrots, grapes and fruit cake, poems were read and stories were told whilst we ate. Ros read a special extract from B.B a writer close to her heart and the subject of her most recent project BB and His World. 

Storyteller Allan Davies told a wonderful tale 

which he thinks is called The World Tree. 

I read the following poems

Go Plant a Tree by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Woman Waving to Trees by Dorothea Tanning

Trees Need Not Walk the Earth by David Rosenthal

Before the Snake by Nathaniel Tarn

It felt good to be planting trees, to be part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, it was a celebratory day, so much more than a street party, as we were setting down roots, an act of faith in the future. 

The Tree Planters Were :-

Rosalind Stoddart

Carole Miles

Michael Miles

Ann Leonard
Annabel Amos

Amos Ballard

Millie Ballard

Sophie Cullinan

Kitty Cullinan

Jonty Cullinan

Emma Davies

Kate Dyer

Lorraine Dziarkowska

 Claudia Faehrenkemper

Jurgen
Nick Finn and Family

Adrian Johnson

Hilary Kantorowich

Gunta Krumins

Agris Krumins

Maureen Walvin

Sally Wilks

Lisa Wilkinson

Meriel White

Hamish Young

Graeham Young

There were also thoughts of, 

and trees planted for, 

people who couldn't attend 

or were no longer with us.

Planting Trees

When I was at school there was a scheme called Plant A Tree in ‘ 73, from what I can gather it was started to help combat the ravages caused by the spread of Dutch Elm Disease in Britain. Through my school I bought a Silver Birch but I can’t remember if I had an actual tree to plant, or just paid money to have the tree planted in a new wood. I do remember feeling that there was something special about planting trees. The campaign was the genesis of The Tree Council. There were a wide variety of stamps and First Day Covers

Here are some comments from the House of Commons about Plant a Tree in 73 with some interesting facts and figures.

I have also just discovered that the Silver Birch has a relatively short life span so I’m not sure if my tree survived but there is a beauty in the graveyard behind my parents’ house that gives great pleasure to the viewer in all seasons, in fact they have a lovely assortment of mature trees just over the fence. Through the Woodland Trust I had three oak trees planted in a wood near Daventry in memory of a former partner, a man who loved life and lost it too soon. I’m sure he would have liked the notion of living on as a strong oak with a whole forest for company.

Now, with a reasonable sized garden, I’m happy to say that I have followed the advice given to characters in the story “Big Man” by Kathy Page and have planted fruit trees, although I haven’t danced round them. I have two apple trees, two plum trees, a fig tree and a cherry tree, one day I’d love a small orchard but my small collection of fruit trees will have to do for now!

To celebrate the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth ll's 2012 Diamond Jubilee, the Woodland Trust is helping millions of people across the UK to come together to plant 6 million trees. I love the idea of planting trees and as a member of Beanfield Artists I made an application for a community tree planting pack. Just before Christmas I discovered that I had been awarded a pack of 105 All Year Colour trees to plant but the Woodland Trust needed to know where they were going to be planted.

The news came on the day I was talking to Rosalind Stoddart, who was planning to plant trees along the new boundary line of her new field situated behind her house. Ros has generously donated an area in her new field as the site to plant the trees and I'm overjoyed to know that these trees have found a home where they will be enjoyed by the community.

Ros is passionate about the arts, trees and the environment, if you are an artist or creative practitioner coming to help with the planting, Ros is keen to hear your ideas for events / activities that could take place on the field in the months to come. 

There seems to be a deep connection between people and trees, BBC Radio Northampton was quick to pick up the story and during the early part of a frost sprinkled morning their roving reporter came to talk to us about the Jubilee Woods tree planting day which will take place on February 18th. Since then we have been delighted with the response to our request for volunteer tree planters willing to come and create this new Jubilee Wood.

You can find out more about Rosalind Stoddart FRSA Independent Cultural Engineer and the exciting projects she is currently undertaking here and I know she has many exciting plans, events and workshops in the pipeline!

Shortly after the broadcast I received a call from the wonderful Ann Leonard asking if we had given any thought to protecting the trees from the wildlife! I told her we had thought about it but had no funds for the project. She said in a mysterious tone 'let me think about it and get back to you." The next day she rang again to say that she would donate part of the costs and her colleagues at AES Europe a local company, based in Corby, but with very strong business links to Brigstock, would match her donation. 

The company has a commitment to encouraging lake and pond owners and managers to establish native plant species both in the water and on the surrounding margins.  They grow their own plants from carefully collected UK seed at a private nursery in Brigstock.  Both Ann and AES Europe are very happy to support the Jubilee Tree Planting event and the Woodland Trust in this venture and are supplying the supports and protective mesh for the young trees. You can find out more about AES Europe here. I must give a huge hug of thanks to Ros and AES Europe Proprietor - Mr Robert Cockroft, Operations Manager - Mr Anthony McKenna and Nursery Manager - Ms Ann Leonard for helping to create this new area of woodland!

It’s not too late to apply for Jubilee Woods Tree Planting Packs so follow the link to find out how.

and here is some information about National Tree Week