Sorting and Creating

After the excitement of our visit to SAMS last week, we met this week to sort though our goodies and divide the spoils.

It was a quieter session this week and was definitely affected by the school holidays and childcare needs, but we are a strong and friendly group and what began as a deliberately unplanned session became a fun and companionable creative couple of hours.

Our painted pottery was ready for collection and everyone was really happy with the final results. Half will go to Iain for his Stoops Mobile Souvenir Shop and half went home with the makers. I was so impressed by people's generosity in donating their work to the project and that everyone was enthusiastic to hear that they won't be sold for money, but exchanged for ideas, memories, songs or jokes 'more valuable than money'.

 

While we were sorting through the wool for rug making, Fi remembered that Jo at SAMS had said that the wool tufts were great for making quick and easy pom-poms. Part of our mission that session had been to support Annette with ideas for the summer of craft sessions she will be doing with children at the community centre. Excited by the possibility of quick and easy pom-poms (and who wouldn't be) we set to work creating examples for Annette to show the children and experimenting with different techniques. I remembered I had a bag of googly eyes in the boot of my car (of course) and our mini monsters/aliens/creatures came into being.

 

We've decided to have a break over summer. When we talked about holidays, childcare and other commitments it seemed to be the best idea. We will all keep seeing each other though as we have the two residencies underway and Iain will be out and about with his mobile souvenir shop.

 

Cath

Craft Session, New People and Fresh Energy

We had the first art and craft session at the Cabin this week. There were seven of us in total, which is probably about all that the room can manage comfortably, but more people are planning to come next time so we will find a way (even if a little uncomfortably).  Caroline, one of the two artists starting her residency with Ground UP, was able to join us for the session, which was lovely as she was able to chat to new people, follow up some areas of interest and join the fun. She was telling us how friendly she found SW Burnley on her initial walkabout and how open people have been, which was great to hear.

As one of the Ground UP core team of three I have been inspired and re-invigorated by my first couple of meet ups with Caroline and Kelly. They are bringing a new energy and fresh perspectives to the project and it feels like  the development work over the past few months is now feeding into positive activity and already there is a cross-fertilisation of ideas happening.

Today we also interviewed six people/organisations for the documentation commission. We haven't made a decision yet, but the process itself has encouraged more questions and ideas about how and what we want to document and what role the documenter will play. Each of the interviews was so completely different and each proposed process would bring something unique to Ground UP and the local community. Again, it was good to hear from each of the artists and discover why they had applied for the commission. Most told us that the opportunity to work with a project that is founded on a solid and 'Ground UP' process linked to the open brief had inspired them to submit a proposal. We must make a decision tomorrow so that the successful artists can get going and continue to build on the developing programme and energy around the project.

Oh, and tomorrow we are going on a photo walk with local photographer Andy Ford to photograph some of the people and places of South West Burnley.

Cath

Art and Craft at the Cabin