All Fired Up - Bronze Casting at Berrycroft Hub

For my birthday this year my Dad and I went on an adventure together, travelling back in time to find out in a hands on fashion, how the earliest tools were produced in Prehistoric Britain. The workshop was lead by experimental archaeologist and PhD student James Dilley. The course was held at Berrycroft Hub an converted dairy on Berrycroft Farm in the village of Ashbury and hosted by the warm, welcoming and truly amazing Sally-Ann Spence. 

After our arrival, cake, coffee and introductions James game a demonstration of making the mould with casting sand before letting us loose to make our own moulds.

Lighting the forge

James demonstrating how to work the bellows

A clay crucible containing thin copper 

pieces surrounded by charcoal

Tin, which melts at a lower temperature 

is added at a later stage to make the bronze.

As this style of antennae knife had complex curls 

the mould was opened and warmed through on

the edge of the forge to ensure an even casting. 

Gathered in the almost snow, watching, listening and learning.

Pouring the molten metal into the mould

possibly one of the scariest yet most 

exciting things I've ever done!

After cooling the cast is removed from the mould

and plunged into cold water

Sawing off the excess

Still much fettling and polishing to do at home

but what a fantastic result in just a few hours!

Before leaving we gathered inside for a slideshow and talk about the life and times of Bronze Age people in Europe and the current understanding of Bronze Age technology. Dad has always been fascinated by metal, working with copper pipe and complex pipework all his working life. Our family history is studded with wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, clockmakers, carters (from Chieveley / Wantage) and farmers and our day out together gave Dad and I the opportunity to share memories and to learn something new about something old. We had and excellent time, we hope to be back in the future! More photos here

Clock by distant relative - Isaac Prince - Chieveley

There are a range of courses covering field sciences and practical crafts, the setting is lovely and you will be made to feel very welcome. To see what is coming soon follow the link.

Our Allotted Span - Brisons Veor

Working on four previously pre-felted samples I created two lengths of felt and fabric. Textures and layers inspired by explorations of Cape Cornwall hedgerows, walls, rocks, shoreline, sea and boulders. The work is called Our Allotted Span.

Thinking about time, layers, strata, mortality, 

loss, legacy, hard facts, soft wrappings. 

The piece was installed in and on St. Helen's Oratory 

and around and on Brisons Veor - both installations 

 

made under very windy conditions. 

Also made in memory of Joan and Alick Rushton 

 who are represented by each length

I was assisted by their son Andrew, my partner, we remembered their union, their lives and the complexity of all human relationships. We made the final temporary installation on the bench we sat on and looked out to sea, thinking of the two  of them sitting together, look out to the horizon and listening to the conversations of wind, waves and birdsong.

Retrospective connections

“We draw ever nearer to our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off " Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart

"Human beings are allotted their appointed span of time; the Lord gives, and He takes away" (Job 1:21)

"When I consider the brief span of my life absorbed into the eternity which precedes and will succeed it—memoria hospitis unius diei praetereuntis (remembrance of a guest who tarried but a day)—the small space I occupy and which I see swallowed up in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I know nothing and which know nothing of me, I take fright and am amazed to see myself here rather than there: there is no reason for me to be here rather than there, now rather than then" Blaise Pascal

The full set of images can be viewed here

Exploration - Cape Cornwall - Brisons Veor Residency

In June I was part of a Residency at Brisons Veor

which enabled me to spend a week

experiencing the beautiful wildflowers

the intriguing coastline and changing weathers

with artist Susan Williams MRBS, 

photographers Gareth Williams 

and Andrew Rushton

We walked separately

in pairs

 or as a quartet

We brought our own works in 

progress to continue or pursue.

We enjoyed convivial company

and I had the most intense period 

of making and installing work.

Just a week, but what a week.

I continued to work on the pre-felts made during the course with Jeannette Appleton and developed a piece inspired by the Oblique Strategies cards by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. I had no definite plan other than to let my surrounding sing to me and my experiences guide me, I was swept along by a tremendous energy drawn both from my surroundings and my companions. 

It was a jewel-like and infinitely precious.

An album of inspirations and experiments which informed the work can be found here.

WILD PROJECTS #7 – HARD CORE – Test 4 - Balance and Connection

The twig bundles are slipped into the hole in the table.

Hard cores wrapped 

with soft bindings.

With support it can be possible

to find balance and connection

space to think, make, do, disappear.

WILD PROJECTS Curated by Artist and Sudborough Green Lodge Coordinator, Sophie Cullinan, Wild Projects are opportunities for artists to use the Lodge and the space around it, to meet, experiment with new ideas and to learn from each other’s skills, knowledge and experience. Events take place four times a year.