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.
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| 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 14-29th
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.
