Refresh Your Yes - Temporary Installation - Brisons Veor

I began writing down frequently recurring instructions which I had collected by dealing from the  Oblique Strategies cards by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. I kept each that had a resonance with my train of thought in the month before the Brisons Residency

Don't break the silence

Listen to the quiet voice

Lost in useless territory

Breathe more deeply

Faced with a choice, do both

Turn it upside down

Into the impossible

Distorting time

Ask your body

Repetition is a form of change

Retrace your steps

Courage

From nothing to more than nothing

The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten

Be extravagant

Is there something missing?

Retrace your steps

Remember those quiet evenings

Go outside. Shut the door.

Retrace your steps

On the evening of our arrival I read instructions to the other artists and asked them to respond spontaniously with a word. I collected their words

Up

Yes

New

Precious

Amazing

Me

Cobbled

Adaptor

Generic

Chuckle 

Plus

Reaching

Through

Error

Terror

Tremor

Toddle

Decide

Timbre

Sound

Slosh

Simplify

Wave

Ahh

Aha

Peddle

Cavern

Tired

Shining

Echoing

Imaging

Drink in 

Truncate

Hooked

Sand

Cooling

Sanctify

Hedgerow

Soft

Shuffle

Springing

Loosely

Lift

Small

Refreshed

I had brought some roughly cut squares of cotton and some textile letter stamps. I sat on the floor, enjoying my close proximity to the sea, my perch above the path and the occasional surprise of passing walkers. I could have sat at the table or desk, both probably more comfortable, more practical, but there is something about sitting on worn, sun washed floorboards that takes me off to other times and places. Each square contains one word from an Oblique Strategies phrase - other words were from the initial conversation with my companions, a not quite acrostic but with poetic potential.

I initially tried to install these phrase by phrase, 

out side against the render of the house 

or on a washing line but the wind made it impossible.

Instead I used a series of wooden battens in the studio space and installed them phrase by phrase. It s a meditation on possibilities, time, change, chance and communication. I also included some tiny figures. Everything about the making was deliberately imperfect.

A kind of pilgrimage - walking on foot - tiny people

just like the 00 Gauge figures

I had brought in my kit of possibilities

installed the morning before our departure.

I shared the results with the others and was happy to find that each person really enjoyed the contemplative meander it allowed them to make, words connecting in random yet somehow meaningful ways. It was very hard to record photographically, the 6 am light made the fabric grey, the introduction of available extra lighting added some interesting shadows but threw out the whiteness of the fabric and the walls. Later in the day the light was slightly kinder.

Refresh Your Yes 

Temporary Installation

Brisons Veor 2016

Carole Miles

More images can be viewed here

Many thanks Brisons Veor truly "a residential workspace set in an inspiring and unique location, where creatives in any medium can take time out to work on a project, away from the day-to-day distractions of their home lives". Huge thanks also to Susan Williams MRBS for making this Residency possible, Gareth Williams and Andrew Rushton for their words and encouragement.

The Small Library of Big Ideas

Artist Phiona Richards and I will be starting our new Open Book Project for Transported in Boston as The Eloquent Fold. We are really excited to be back in Boston and South Holland and can't wait to meet and make with you!

The project is called A Small Library of Big Ideas and we are hoping to create a selection of small, handmade books to serve as a creative resource. We hope to give people skills, informations, links and confidence to form groups, develop ideas, dream dreams and keep exciting arts activities happening in the future. 

Join us for  the free sessions in Boston Library 

on 25th Aug, 1st, 15th and 22nd Sept 

between 10am and 1pm.

We will have lots of lovely materials to use and skills to share. 

The activities will be fun and a great way to get to know 

other members of your local community!

The Plan

Participants will make two books. One to fill in the library, one to take away and hopefully fill will ideas from friends and family. 

Each book has 14 loose pages each page can be filled with:-

WHAT? - Ideas for arts activities or dream arts activities

WHO?- Information about the skills local people may have that can be harnessed, shared or bought in to make more art happen. This is also a place to put information about artists and groups who have skills, experience and the drive to make great art happen.

WHERE? Share ideas for venues, spaces where art can happen

HOW? We will create pages showing how an arts group can be formed. Who might be able to help get a group started.Where and how funding might be secured.

The pages will be filled during the Library sessions and can be continued at home, you can see the sample book in Boston Library or explore its pages here. If you can't make it to the sessions or if you are creative profeeional, artist / craftsperson and would like your ideas, skills or work to be represented we can send you pages to fill and return to us. Or you can make your own 11cm x 15 cm pages from your own  papers and send them to us or pop into the library and join us a bit of creative Brewing Up - a cuppa and some conversation!

For updates follow The Eloquent Fold Facebook Page

Make & Do Books

The Eloquent Fold will also be creating a Make and Do book for each Library they work in and a series of kits that people can make and do in the Library, so creativity will continue in the Libraries after The Eloquent Fold have left the building! 

Flock of Words - Session 3 - Spalding Library

The Eloquent Fold returned to Spalding Library for their third session for the Transported Open Book strand on June 12th and were delighted to meet Mrs Stella Lewis who was a joy and an inspiration. She has had a fascinating life and her stories will be featured on our Flock of Words birds and bird prints. She had family connections with Spalding and moved to the town in 1941, she animatedly took us on a virtual tour of London during the air raids, her career as a Telephonist, Spalding during The Great Frost, introducing us to many bygone local streets, shops and people. She is still an avid reader and was planning to choose a new book to read in her garden. Through the W.I. and other outlets Mrs Lewis has taken a keen interest in creativity, she was fascinated to hear about all the projects Transported has brought to Boston and South Holland.

Happily we also had a very busy table

of happily engaged participants.

Everyone enjoyed the setting

 the wide range of materials 

and it was intriguing to see

the many birds flocking together.

Phiona showed the group how to create paper feathers

more creative thoughts and dreams were captured.

There was much lively discussion about the types of events and activities that participants would like to see happening in Boston and South Holland, drama, singing, creative exploration, all kinds of making and doing!

The Yellow Belly Book Snuggles have been sewn together

and book tags were made. 

Next week in Crowland we will sew buttons on the waist coats and perhaps make some more with Jackdaws as the motif! The Book Snuggles will become a way for people visiting the Library to choose a mystery book to try.

Carolina was as good as her word and brought traditional Spanish almond cake to share, whilst Phiona had been investigating the delights of the local Polish supermarket. 

We would love you to join us in Crowland Library on the 19th of June between 10.00am and 12.30pm.

We can promise Cake and Conversation, birds and words and are keen to hear your stories, please do come and join us! Phiona and I will be continuing to develop our collaborative pieces Crumbs From The Word Table in the afternoon. We look forward to meeting you!

In the linked Flickr sets you can see all the Spalding Library birds and words 

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.

Flock of Words - Session 2 - Spalding Library

The Eloquent Fold were back in Spalding Library for Transported on June 5th gathering more stories of near and far.

We were delighted to meet Carolina who told us she had only been in Spalding seven days. I told her my name, Carole and that I was named after my Great Grandmother whose name was Caroline which everyone shortened to Carrie. This small exchange was a great ice-breaker and linked different places and languages as we imagined our migrating birds flying between continents and time zones.

Carolina also told us that a favourite cake from Spain was an almond cake

which she might make and bring to the next session if she is free.

Phiona and I were also delighted to welcome back two people who had been part of our engagement activities in two different venues during Transported Phase 1. 

We learnt about Polish food and Spalding landmarks whilst baby Arnica snoozed contentedly.

We found out what had drawn people to the area.

After such a busy, creative morning we were glad to stop for tea!

Lovely to finally be using the tea set I chose for my 18th birthday!

This stencil was inspired by the Yellowbelly History book shared with us by one of the Librarians. We discovered that a yellowbelly (or yeller belly) is a person from Lincolnshire, England and you can read some of the explanations why here. The stencil is being applied to fabric book bags which will become part of of Flock of Words piece for the library. As you can see he's holding tulips and is wearing a yellow waistcoat!

In the linked Flickr sets you can see all the Spalding Library birds and words.

We would love you to join us in Spalding Library on the 12th of June between 10.00am and 12.30pm. 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.