Welcoming in the Solstice

Last night we welcomed in the solstice at our now familiar spot on the Salt Way, an ancient trading track which travels from the coast at Whitstable to Canterbury. As usual it was pretty chilly up there on the hill, we could see our breath but the little fire warmed us. The wind blew through the leaves in the poplar trees sounding like running water and seagulls quietly flew overhead towards their evening roosts.

Half a moon peeps out between the rustling poplar leaves.

In my last blog I wrote about experiencing awe and cultivating wonder. In creating a midsummer ritual of processing, with others, up to that same location year after year we are choosing to mark time and make our own magic. Being there in nature, sitting high up between two busy roads we are able to just be, becoming human beings once again.

Placing the pot into the fire in the circle.

The glowing objects from within the kiln.

This time I took up, amongst many other treasures a clay pot that I had made as part of the Whitstable Biennale. The pot had been fired among many other hand made objects in a spectacular outdoor firing event held on the beach a couple of weekends ago. Run by Josephine Callaghan and supported by Tom Barnett and Sarah Cameron, the kiln was made and fired in situ, creating a wonderful display in itself with a backdrop of the sun setting into the sea.

Josephine about to unveil the glowing objects

Summercamp Whitstable Biennale 2018

So, a lovely connection was made last night from this past fiery passionate event to a much quieter, reflective event on the hill. I took my fired pot up with me to the same spot we have sat and celebrated for the last 5 years and placed it onto the fire and filled it with some seawater I had gathered the previous evening after a wonderful swim in the sea. As the fire burned the water evaporated and it is only now when I look at the photo that I can see salt forming on the top edge and inside the pot!

The pot with evaporated sea salt within it. 

What a discovery! We had inadvertently made salt in a ritual fire on the Summer Solstice on the ancient Salt Way. That certainly has made me realise that I need to be more observant and keep enjoying and creating 'awe-some' events for myself and others to connect 'People-to-place.'

Happy Solstice!

I will leave this blog with a couple of quotes from two of my favourite writers and practitioners. Sandra Ingermann and David Abram.

'We once again welcome in the solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere we greet summer as well as the return of the dark...Often in life we lose sight of what is important. And we can really get pulled outside of ourselves and lost in the trance of the collective....We have to make a decision to open the prison doors and use our invisible senses to connect with the beauty of the universe we are part of. Earth is one single living organism. We are part of the organism we call Earth.' SI

'...along with the other animals, the stones, the trees and the clouds, we ourselves are characters within a whole story that is visibly unfolding all around us, participants within the vast imagination, or Dreaming of the world.' DA

warming hands...

I love to teach others and facilitate space for them to create, so I run art and design workshops in my own strawbale studio throughout the year. These can be either 1:1 or for a small group and I charge from £15 per hour.

The next ones for the exciting and accessible art of Gelli-printing are on most Wednesdays and Fridays throughout June and July. They run 11-2pm and cost £40 pp including all materials and refreshments.

Call or text 07432679164 if you would like to be booked in or email me at clare@people-to-place.co.uk

www.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

Reading and Writing

Reading and Writing

‘To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June’, Jean-Paul Satre

This quote is the one I tried to find a few blog entries ago and even wrongly merited it to Yeats. But in researching the author of this quote I came across many other inspirational words, poems, stories and lyrics. So that was good. 

Seasalter beach, looking East with stormy sky.

Sinky mud, leaking wellies.

   

Ironically, in setting up my walking project, I have done less walking, but more reading and writing than I had ever expected to. I think this may be due to existing time commitments, but I must admit it is also due to the fear of walking alone in the countryside.

Walking with others and their dogs is a lovely option.

Living by the sea, here in Whitstable, I am very fortunate to be able to walk along the concrete promenade that edges the coast, built as part of the sea defence which stretches from Seasalter to Ramsgate.

Walking with company.

It is often busy with other people, especially dog walkers, so it mostly feels very safe to walk alone along the coast. But when it comes to walking along a country lane, footpath or through woods by myself, I feel a sense of anxiety. I think it would be good for me to acknowledge this and work out what I could do to feel more confident,  because if I feel this way, I am certain that I am not the only female feeling this anxiety when walking alone.

 

Really stormy skies over Whitstable.

I wonder whether this could become part of the art project that Arlette George and I have now decided we will do together, to explore human movement in the landscape. We will look for funding to create a project that will link two far away places in the UK: the Ardnamurchan Penisular in Scotland and Kent in England. Both areas have a large coastline and lie at the furthest geographical Westerly and Easterly points of the UK.

It's amazing what inspiration can come from just looking closely.

So, in my mind, to create a dynamic between these places and between the land and our bodies through the exploration of movement would be great. I don’t know how the project will look at the moment. That in itself would be part of the inquiry. How to articulate the project and create something of worth that could be discovered and used to inform the walking project ‘People-to-Place’ would be just one outcome. I would hope that the project in itself would lead us to other less prejudiced conclusions too.

Seaweed awaiting the tide to come in.

The Landscape as Metaphor

I attended an inspiring workshop on Saturday, it was held at the Beaney Institute in Canterbury and led by Mary Reynolds Thompson.

‘Reclaiming the Wild Soul’, turned out to be the perfect antidote to the last weekends' disappointment. From the start we were given a warm welcome and an appreciation of how we could expect to spend our valuable time. It was made clear what was to be the subject of our inquiry and guidelines were given so that we were able to understand the expectations of our group work such as confidentially, emotional responses and sharing.

A close up of the top of a groyne. A mini landscape.

After such a disappointing and traumatic workshop held the previous weekend by the UCA in Margate, this clarity and recognition of us as individuals was most welcome. Mary led the workshop with great integrity and generosity.

Mary lives in California and so it was a great opportunity to participate in, I think, her only workshop this year on our soil.

We wrote about archetypal landscapes, such as deserts, forests and oceans and rivers. These formed short texts, poems and more. In exploring the landscapes and in our thoughts how we feel about them, we are able to tap into a deeper wisdom. The other participants at the workshop were a great group, fully engaged and inspired by the idea of the landscape as metaphor and I really enjoyed their company. We all seemed to create beautiful writing.

‘When we connect to the wild we discover within ourselves the insight of the poets, the power of the shamans, and an unbridled passion for our precious earth. The wild exists in us and around us. Enter it and you transform the way you live, work, create and dream.’ 

Mary Reynolds Thompson.

She has written two books on this subject and holds many events. I urge anyone with an interest to look her and her work up. It is inspiring and deep.

Daily Practice

Here is a small snippet of a longer written piece, my response to a poem by Mary Oliver that I had been asked me to read. The poem was very apt. A couple of questions prompted me to think about ‘How is paying attention to the world a kind of prayer?’ and ‘How does this poem make you re-examine your own ‘wild and precious life?’

‘My wild and precious life; my luck to be here,

Right now, to feel connected, engaged and open.

Appreciation of it all is my prayer; I try to remain devout in prayer; even on the greyest day there may be a rainbow somewhere, a raindrop with all the colours within.’ 

Clare Jackson

I listened to a wonderful radio play years and years ago called ‘Spoonface Steinburg’, it was written by Lee Hall and broadcast as a monologue on BBC Radio 4 in 1997. The music is amazing, with excerpts from operas, sung by Maria Callas. But the part of me it touched and was able to be eloquently put was her understanding of what it was to be alive. How she recognised that everyday actions that we take can all be seen as prayers. I recommend listening to it, I will do so, soon.

It was with excitement that I realised that my painting ‘My Path’ is on this weeks page in the ‘Earth Pathways’ diary.

'My Path', on this weeks' diary page spread.

I feel quite proud to see it there and very pleased that it has been put with a poem by Simon Sawyer called ‘Dream Song’ which I feel really resonates with it.

‘Out of the earth came wind, and out of the

 air came sun, out of the rock came water.

Where they met, spirit grew,

And trees were born,

The trees dreamed of birds,

The birds dreamed of song, the song yearned

To love, and the love grew strong.’ 

Simon Sawyer. 2012

Every day I complete my ‘Morning pages’, a few pages of writing recommended as a creative tool in Julia Camerons’ wonderful book ‘The Artists Way’. I see this as my daily practice, this and appreciating what it is, to be.

(I completed my MA in September 2014 and recorded the last two months of it in another blog called www.thesaltwayfarer.blogspot.co.uk

Please feel free to look at that anytime, as it is from that, that I am where I am now.)