The Spirit and Sense of Place

A friend shared a BBC Travel link on Facebook this week about the The Broomway in Essex, that she rightly thought I'd be interested in. I have included it here so you can read the article and sense how unique this isolated place must be. When reading the article by Robert Mac Farlane you cannot help but feel a sense of disorientation that this landscape creates. It is felt in the transient otherworldliness caused by a mirror effect of being out on a causeway off the coast, in the North Sea, just above the mud which is constantly lapped by water, under a huge sky and with no discernible landmarks to be seen.

'My brain was beginning to move unusually, worked upon and changed by the mind-altering substances of this offshore world, and by the elation that arose from the counter-intuition of walking securely on water. Out there, nothing could be only itself. The eye fed on false colour values. Mirages of scale occurred, and tricks of depth.'

'Conceptually, it is close to paradox. It is a right of way and as such is inscribed on maps and in law, but it is also swept clean of the trace of passage twice daily by the tide. What do you call a path that is no path? A riddle? A sequence of compass bearings? A Zen koan?' Robert Mac Farlane.

Being.

This sounds like an easy place to recognise a sense of it. We constantly sense our surroundings and adjust our behaviour accordingly. When I studied for my MA I realised this awareness has a name, Phenomenology. It is 'an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience'. I first read about this understanding in a wonderful accessible book by David Abram called 'The Spell of the Sensuous'. I was pointed to far more academic books during my study such as those by Merleau-Ponty and Husserl but 'The Spell of the Sensuous' was the one that I went back to time and again for inspiration and understanding. I highly recommend it.

Ali woodcutting in Jane Mowats studio in Somerset.

Tomorrow I open my studio door to visitors for an open day. I have been collaborating with another artist, Alison Lees for nearly 2 years on a project called 'Spirit of Place'. This collaboration has been mutually supportive and we have learnt many new skills whilst working together, including both woodcutting and drypoint etching and printing. This has enabled us to create new pieces of work inspired by the spirit of place in which we both live and work. Over the course of the project we have taken it in turns to visit and sense the place in which the other one lives.

Drypoint etching, the 'reveal'.

Ali lives inland in Kent, on the downs which are very curvy and create a sense of movement to the landscape. They are quite intensively farmed and the strict agricultural year informs their surface layer which sometimes accentuates the underlying topography sometimes making the cereal crop seem to blow in the wind across one field and into another. The ancient woodland close to her home has inspired me. I have loved the immersion of exploring this place throughout the year and especially at Bluebell time, seeking out of a place to sit to draw and paint them, listening to the birds, noticing the insects and generally really feeling/sensing the place.

Immersed in a Bluebell wood.

In contrast, I live on the coast in a built up area in a suburban street a few minutes walk to the sea and its pebbly beach. My garden is therefore my closest wild place, the area in which I can sense in general, the season, the daily weather, the wild visitors that use the garden on a regular basis and the never ending cycles of growth and decay that every living space provides.

The path to the beach.

I swim in the sea every summer and enjoy a similar feeling of immersion that I did back in the late spring in the Bluebell wood. Swimming in the sea I notice the birds flying overhead the seaweed floating around me, the wind rippling the surface of the water as it gusts about and gently as if from a distance I hear the pebbles being moved beneath the water by the waves. This is all sensing the place, the land in which we live. Ali and I are now exploring beyond this keen sense of observation and wonder to another level of understanding. We have come to start to recognise a spirit of both places and it is on that level that we continue to work, discover and create artwork together.

My painting of the sea at Tankerton.

Our mid year Summer exhibition is tomorrow the 15^th of July. The doors of the studio will be open from 11-4 on Saturday when refreshments will be available and all are welcome. The address is 'Lucknow', 67 Northwood road, Tankerton, Whitstable, Kent. CT5 2HB.

Also for your diaries I will be opening the doors of my beautiful straw bale studio once again this year to exhibit my own and Alison’s 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

Inspiring Collections

 

I have already written in this blog, about my love of collecting things as I walk, (see the entry dated 16/09/14.) This Spring I have, unbeknown to myself at the time used this 'habit' to inspire a new working process. The collection has become a way to further connect myself to place through walking, creating art to share with others to allow them to see the spirit of place.

 

Collecting the forms, colours and textures of the local coast.

'Dancing' trees of the Bluebell wood.

I have been walking a lot over the last two weeks, in woods full of Bluebells on the North Kent Downs, and along the very chilly and windy coast where I live in Whitstable. The two environments are a beautiful reminder of the contrast of landscape that we have in Kent, in close proximity of each other.




Big skies over crashing waves.

At this time of year the differences are stark. The beach is made up of pebbles that are seen, at least from a distance, in neutral tones of grey, beige, and white. The woods in contrast are carpeted with bright jewel colours of mainly sapphire, opal and emerald.

A tiny Violet.

When I am walking along the beach, the neutral colours create a wonderful edge to the pounding grey waves crashing on the beach. It has to be noted that April showers in the UK produce amazing rolling layers of clouds in the bright blue skies, (when the rain stops!) and being on the coast, the vistas of both the wide open sea and the dramatic skies can create a sense of immense wonder. It is truly elemental and the sunsets are breath taking.

Solitary stone pebble.

Experiencing an English woodland at this time of year feels very different. Entering the woods, the sense of growth is staggering, sometimes I think I can hear the sap rising in the trees and the beautiful bright green leaf buds unfurling. The birds are singing; all is alive. The woods are full of the season, the energy pushing, coming up from the earth, gently yet urgently springing into life once more and the scent of the Bluebells fills the air.

Sheep grazing on the downs under a big sky.

Photographs can't capture the immensity of the experience of either place, so on each walk in these areas I have actually collected the colours of the season, sticking my small scale collection down, in order of discovery, onto an adhesive strip. I thought that working with the distinct colours of this time of year, in each contrasting environment, I could work through a process that connected me closer to the real experience. As an artist I know that just starting to open up and play with an idea can create valuable observation and insights later on. I trust in this creative process and I am always amazed at what it produces.

Recording a collection on an adhesive strip.

So far I have been inspired to write poetry, create colour charts for future projects, sketch, photograph, paint, print.... and as my knowledge of processes go, that is just the start, it is a path to follow, that will instinctively will take me to the finished work, the destination I could never have planned.

Sunlight on bright green growth.

For your information, my next Netwalking event is on the 20th of May 2016.

 Please call or text me on 07432679164 or clare@people-to-place.co.uk



Connecting People to Place

 

Today I made a decision, I would start writing my blog again. I have realised I don't know quite what it is exactly that I am waiting for. Maybe I have felt that I need more self confidence, an air of authority or at least some professional guidance and support, but really I just need to get on with it!

Walking with others.

 

 

Exploring new paths.

 

I want to be able to do these five interconnecting activities

 

• run creative regular walking workshops to encourage more people to explore their local land and urban 'scapes'
• start writing my book, entitled 'The Salt Way- re-enchanting an ancient trade route'
• continue to celebrate seasons, people and place by holding ritual walks and gatherings throughout the year
• restart and continue my blog 'People-to-Place'
• regularly collaborate with others on my 'Spirit of Place' art projects

Netwalking along the coast.

 

This blog is a promise to myself that I will no longer put off the writing, I will explore, engage and share my findings on the theme of people and place regularly once more.

I will blog at least once a month, combining my own photographs and images with words to reflect my interests and inspirations.

 

Onwards and outwards!

For your information, my next 'Women Walking and Wellbeing workshop is on Monday the 8th of February in Whitstable and my next Netwalking event is on the 18th of March 2016.

 

Please call or text me on 07432679164 or clare@people-to-place.co.uk