The Eloquent Fold - A Love letter to Corby - Session 1

Workshop One​ Monday 21st January 2pm to 5pm

This two session pilot project was devised to investigate whether there would be scope for a larger scale, future project,  in which The Eloquent Fold could work more widely with the various communities in Corby. The pilot scheme was made possible by a Cultivate Seed Funding Grant from Made in Corby through the Cultivate scheme.

 Prior to the workshop Phiona Richards and I spent a morning 

cutting and printing samples for the workshop to use during

our marketing and ticketing of the events. 

We invited participants to come and express some love in a two part printmaking and embellishment workshop at Corby Library. The Librarians were wonderful hosts, making sure everyone felt welcome and had enough space to create their work without disrupting the flow of day to day Library business.

Phiona brought along a variety of sample fonts

During the first workshop participants were printmaking with me, using embossed wallpaper and water based inks to produce textured prints of their chosen letters. Participants chose a background paper and a contrasting paper to cut out their letters

After both parts were inked and the paper damped

the 'plates' were sent through my press

The group were encouraged to experiment by changing their colour palette or swapping backgrounds with someone else. Most people made several different letters an at least thee A3 prints and two A4 prints. 

Elaine's O

Janey's B

My digital collage!

Quite a few people were taking part in the 

64 Milllion Artists January Challenge

Ann used one of her letters to share

her Good News Day

 and I made a little photo collage.

The Eloquent Fold are Carole Miles and Phiona Richards

CULTIVATE

Our Woods - Spinning New Dreams - Scoping

For the past few years artist Phiona Richards and I have been working together, mainly in Lincolnshire for Transported Art, as The Eloquent Fold. 

We are delighted to have been commissioned to create a walk and a workshop for the Deep Roots Tall Trees "Our Woods" Festival. 

Our events are called Spinning New Dreams taking place on Sunday 4th and 11th September in East Carlton Park. The walk is quite short in terms of distance but we hope to help participants make a hop, step and a jump in terms of imagination and inspiration!

We have spent quite a bit of time

scoping in the park, getting to know it's pathways

deciding which way to go and what to do where.

We also spent a rainy afternoon in the cafe

embellishing some rather plain, spotty teapots

as we're planning a lovely afternoon tea at the end

of our print and stitch session on the 11th.

We've been enjoying changing colours of 

the leaves and berries and are looking forward

to sharing this lovely woodland park with you.

If you feel tempted to join us for the walk on Sunday 4th - Book Tickets here and / or for the creative workshop on Sunday 11 September - Book Tickets here.

Mess, Muddle and Materials - Monet Water Lilies, Year 2, Earl Spencer Primary School

We looked at Monet's painting and his garden,

talked about light and time, distance and focus.

We folded origami water lilies

I rolled blue watery backgrounds

each child drew a water lily and a leaf 

into press print and rolled their chosen colours.

We worked on A3 paper and made about 60 prints

and 30 folded flowers. It was a busy day!

Making Art Like a Roman

Earlier this year I met with Ros Patching and Liz Williams to come up with ideas for activities inspired by the ancient Romans. The activities to took place during Trading Places Nene Valley  "Making art like a Roman" day. Participants took inspiration from Roman artefacts excavated at Stanwick Lakes, including the fantastic Roman floor mosaic, to weave, print and paint a piece of Roman Art. 

I had three busy sessions making prints with the community.

 My groups made prints inspired by Roman pottery, 

we handled some actual pottery finds, 

looked at the different shapes of vases, jugs and bowls, 

made our templates and decorations 

which were then inked 

and printed.

Each person was able to take away two prints and  the remaining sets were left for me to sew together. Each paper pot has a different image on each side. The work will be on display during  October half term.

"Making Art Like a Roman" was a  Heritage Lottery Fund and Northamptonshire County Council funded the event for Trading Places Nene Valley. 

Routes To Roots

I spent one of the Easter holiday weeks working on a project called Routes to Roots with Corby Community Arts at Pen Green Research Base creating screen printed banners, silk paintings, drawings and flags to hang in the Centre and to be part of their 30th Anniversary celebrations. 

We decided that it would be a good idea to up-cycle the printed fabric tubes made during New Vistas, Wider Horizons Big Draw project as the existing prints of Corby as seen from the Cube would add an extra texture to the banners. I was also very inspired by this blog post :-

http://unstructuredmaterial.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mendrs-symposium-work-event.html

and am trying to work with materials I have that could undergo a change of function, rather than just buy more. This is also particularly helpful when materials budgets for projects become tight.

The hall in the Research Base was an ideal space to work in as we were able to draw, print and paint with enough room to circulate between activities. We had space to hang the work to dry and were able to get an overhead view of our progress from the balcony above.

We asked participants to make a drawing or stencil of their house, to think about the journeys they take to and from Pen Green and to remember routes followed and roots put down, either old or new.

We used a wooden textile block to print on flags and create a base for embellishment with sequins and glitter glue.

It was a hectic, happy week with parents, children and staff all joining in to be creative together!

Grandfather and Grandson printing flags together

Grandfather and Grandson's hands

Life Cycles

In August Mac Canonymous and I spent a lot of time cycling to get ready for the Bike Blenheim Pinkribbonride to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care. I went out on several solo expeditions round Geddington, Tywell and Cranford during the scattering of fine, warm days. It felt wonderful to be out with the birds, wildflowers and gently rolling, golden fields. Mac and I paid another visit, on two wheels, to Stanwick Lakes, there are only 7 miles of cycle paths in the country park, but there is a lovely visitor centre on the edge of the lake and the park itself is steeped in history. We started from Kettering, cycled to Stanwick Lakes, stopped for a picnic under this bridge near Higham Ferres then came back via Irthlingborough.

We also made another trip out and cycled along the towpath from Market Harborough to Foxton Locks, a mainly smooth ride, however most of the route is edged with trees and bushes, especially, hawthorne and bramble. Whilst pulling in to let another couple pass, my rear tyre made contact with several large thorns, so I was very glad to find that the Slime inner tubes Mac had recommended, really came into their own.

During the summer there was a festival of cycling at Wicksteed Park, some friends of mine used to come to the velodrome there in the 60's – I think the park is reopening it this year, but we couldn't find it.

Although we arrived after most of the activity had happened but there were still a few sights to be seen!

The Bike Blenheim event was a fabulous experience, very well organised and friendly. We arrived the day before and spent the hours before dusk following (and losing) the route and I must confess I was feeling pretty nervous. Mac had told me that the route wasn’t particularly hilly – hummm – it looked,to me, as though there were some pretty significant hills all the way round the circuit! Our hotel was reasonably priced but the room was deeply disappointing, hot noisy and cramped but the breakfast was good, setting us up for the rest of the day. There was a slight drizzle to greet us, the morning stayed overcast and cool, by the time we reached the Start line the butterflies had truly kicked in; I hadn’t done enough practise, I had put loads of weight back on (how did that happen with all this exercise), I was wearing pink, I hated hills…….then the horn sounded and we were off!

I found some parts hard, but I wasn’t last, I came in somewhere in the middle. Towards the end of the ride Mac was behind me shouting encouragement – I felt a bit guilty as he could have got round much faster without me. I didn’t do too badly on the hills, but I lack physical confidence so I tend to pedal like mad up hills (to get it over with as soon as possible) and coast down on the brakes as I hate feeling out of control, perhaps, with practise, I’ll improve! The countryside was amazing, as were the really, really fit, fast cyclists doing the Sportif. We both thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and raised just over £500, it doesn’t seem enough, especially as 1 in 8 women are affected every year.

I’ve also been lucky enough to spend some time looking through the Birgit Skiold Archive. There is something very intimate about looking through prints without frames or mounts and it was also wonderful to see the artist's progression through form and content.

Some images conjure up a particular time and place, mood or thought, others are so subtle you almost miss their quiet power. Birgit Skiold died from cancer , found during a hip operation, she was only 59 but had a huge impact on print makers though out the world. You can find out more about her life and work here

In between the cycling I spent studio time with Jo Dacombe working on our Miles & Dacombe projects,

Wellbeing Walk maps

and tickets,

postcards and bags for our Ticket exchange day at Whatstandwell You can read more about the day on our Undiscovered Networks Blog.

I had a a brief browse through the delights of Cromford and Cromford Mill before we made our way home.

Mac Canonymous came with us and has been busy putting together a film which will conjure up the spirit of the day. All the people we met were absolutely lovely, very willing to engage with us and share their travelling tales. I have fallen in love with Derbyshire and can't wait to explore it further!