Nostalgia and Familiarity.

I have been keeping myself distracted from world events by going out walking, planning and making artwork and re-reading wonderful books about seasonal living in the towns and villages of the British countryside.

I wonder whether this is truly healthy. Certainly the walking part is, there has been research published recently by Public Health England that walking for just 10 minutes each day can add many benefits to your life including a 15% reduction in the risk of dying prematurely. (Shockingly, PHE said 41% of middle aged adults, (6 million) walk less than 10 minutes continuously each month.)

Walking is so much more fun in a friendly group.

But, bathing myself in nostalgia; re-reading country living tales from the earlier part of the last century? Perhaps not, but a daily dose of a chapter before bed, makes the 10 O' Clock news far less terrifying and I sleep well.

Alice Puttullo's work at YSP. Wallpaper, fireplace, pictures and mantelpiece ornaments.

Making artwork has taken a break this summer as I juggle childcare and work but I have many plans for when I feel freer which isn't not long now, I know this as I have been counting the days. I want to start a new project this November called 'Hearth and Home', it's in its planning stage at the moment, but that is a very exciting place to be. I want to move on from the Spirit of Place project and look at our relationship to home. I was taken by Alice Pattullo's 'Of House and Home' exhibition on show at the YSP last month, (see the last blog for more information on this.)

Dalmation mantelpiece ornament.

This year I have had a log burner installed into my home and I am already looking forward to the colder weather and an excuse to create a fire in my living room. This warm heart to the home is just waiting to be lit. Heart and hearth are such similar words that I guess they must have a common origin. It is this type of enquiry that will push my research forward and create images and written work that will fill up another large reflective journal, or two...

King Charles dog, Staffordshire pottery card replica.

One of the books I have been seeking solace in is more contemporary but still has the same feel of the older books. 'Village People' by the late Paula Yates is a wonderful perceptive and sometimes poignant view of her and her family’s move from full time London living to settling into the more seasonal and small town world of Faversham. Compton Pauncefoot is the literary name that she rechristens it with, but her love of the place comes through and her descriptions of the passing of the seasons, local events and beautiful nature writing is reminiscent of one of her writing heroines, Miss Read.

'Village People', Paula Yates

Describing the allotments by Davington pond she writes, 'A few of the brave locals willing to risk heat stroke were stripped to the waist and feeding bottles of beer to giant marrows the size of small pigs; one sat looking wistfully at an onion the same size as a small bungalow in Southport.'

Susan Hill, the writer behind the terrifying 'The Woman in Black', wrote a beautiful book in 1982 that I cherish. It is called 'The Magic Apple Tree- a country year', she paints the village year in glowing colours, the people, the events and the familiarity and celebration of the seasons. It is her story of moving into the countryside and becoming happily immersed in its rhythms.

She writes, 'Summer did come at last and, when it did, it was one of those summers of poems and stories and country pictures, a once-upon-a-time summer, it was hot day after day, week after week, so that we slipped into a dream, where we imagined it never ending, a paradise world of long, golden days.'

'The Magic Apple Tree', Susan Hill

Another two wonderful writers of this genre are, obviously, Miss Read and Alison Uttley. If you are feeling a need for distraction from the news at the moment I heartily recommend a nostalgic break by reading 'Thrush Green' or 'A Country Child' as soon as possible. One dose of this before bed will allow escapism, encourage wonder at the natural world and hopefully induce a peaceful nights sleep!

'Thrush Green', Miss Read

I will be opening the doors of my beautiful straw bale studio once again this year to exhibit my own and Alison Lees work as part of the Canterbury Festival, the theme is still 'The Spirit of Place' as it is an ongoing art project based in Kent.

You can keep up to date with our explorations and discoveries by looking at www.facebook.com/EastKentSpiritOfPlace

Open times are 11-5 daily on the weekends from 14-29^th of October. We can be found at house number 25 on the Whitstable trail. Please see the webpage www.ekoh.org.uk for more information.

 I can be contacted on 07432679164 or clare@people-to-place.co.uk

Space to breathe.

I find that living in this part of the UK has many benefits but sometimes it is wonderful to take a break and venture further out and into the wilds of our country, so in early August we took a break from our familiar surroundings to have a family holiday and headed North. Stopping at a few places on the way up, we were quickly surprised at the space available to us, both the physical environment and in our own head-space.

Image from  'Of House and Home' exhibition at YSP by Alice Pattullo.

Kent is undoubtedly a busy and in some areas, an overcrowded region of the UK. It is close to the continent and London, which makes it impossible to ignore or be unaware of the bigger picture of the world. This, at the present moment is quite an unsettling one, so it was great to get away.

We left early and watched the sun rise as we travelled up north, stopping regularly to both stretch our legs and find our bearings. One stop at Wakefield took us to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where we and many others walked around the acres of beautiful countryside enjoying the wonderful sculptures, using them as landmarks to navigate the terrain. I had not seen Henry Moore sculptures outside a gallery space before but knew he had made them for this environment, not galleries or other domestic settings and so for me it was a revelation to see them at last in context.

YSP, Henry Moore galore!

James Turrell, an artist that I had researched whilst studying for my MA also had a piece of work in the park. He creates physical spaces that encourage observation of the sky. They are called Skyspaces and the one in Wakefield was one of two that we visited on our trip. Looking at the blurb for YSP it seems they also use it for many special events throughout the year, such as sound-bath meditation and sunrise and sunset observations. I will certainly plan a visit to incorporate this in the not too distant future.

Deer shelter Skyspace.

We all entered the Deershelter Skyspace quietly and once sat on the concrete benches that surround the inside of the chamber, we sat in silence and wonder at the simplicity of it all. Certainly space to breathe, with space to think and watch the clouds slowly scud across the view from the square aperture.

Entering the Kielder Skyspace.

The following week at Kielder Observatory we discovered another of his Skyspaces and entered with a more excited sense of what we thought we would discover. This time the aperture was circular and captured both the glow of the setting sun and the concentration of space directly above us.

Circular view.

Later that evening we saw the (almost) full moon through huge telescopes and were shown planets, stars and their constellations. We drank hot chocolate and wondered what we could see from the Skyspace now. Kielder Observatory is located in Europe’s largest expanse of dark sky, so even when the sun has one down there is plenty to see. So much to see in fact that you go giddy with it all.

Moon photo taken by my mobile phone via a telescope lens.

We ventured to Kelso in Scotland to see an extraordinary set of three art installations by Steve Messam, set in the grounds of Mellerstain House. These were inflatable structures that 'explore their sense of space, presence and place'. Again they acted as points to navigate to, encouraging exploration and discovery. The inflatable spheres on the ornamental lake certainly stayed with me as an image. I think they really summed up our holiday. A series of circular objects that encapsulated what we really needed; space to breathe.

Sculpture by Steve Messam.

I will be opening the doors of my beautiful straw bale studio once again this year to exhibit my own and Alison Lees work as part of the Canterbury Festival, the theme is still 'The Spirit of Place' as it is an ongoing art project based in Kent.

You can keep up to date with our explorations and discoveries by looking at www.facebook.com/EastKentSpiritOfPlace

Open times are 11-5 daily on the weekends from 14-29^th of October. We can be found at house number 25 on the Whitstable trail. Please see the webpage www.ekoh.org.uk for more information.

 I can be contacted on 07432679164 or clare@people-to-place.co.uk