Unpicked Meadows Public Art Project Riverside Park, Stockbridge Meadows www.melbourn.org.uk/publicart A Quick Recap… It’s been almost a year since Artist Jo Chapman was chosen at a public Artist Selection Evening for a year long public art project for the Meadows. Her brief was to create a year long public art project with visiting artists and workshops to engage the local community and to inform a final art work. Rather than an artist coming to the village for a day or two to create a work without knowing the village, Jo has been commissioned to spend time finding out about the Meadows and meeting people through creative workshops before producing a final piece. The project was launched back in May 2010 with visitors creating wooden plaques, painting or writing haiku poems. These plaques were joined by ones created by Orchard Manor and Melbourn Primary School and have been mounted to form a welcome wall for anyone entering the Meadows to see. Over the summer the ARTIVAN was launched, a project space to meet, make and exhibit work. Jo took a two berth stripped out caravan and Melbourn Village College students redesigned the inside and outside. We’ve had workshops in stick lizard making, clay fruit, print making and outdoor adventures with guest artists including Liz McGowan and Mark Haywood over the summer. This was followed by the launch of the Stockbridge Tapestry in which villagers of all ages were asked to contribute a fabric section to communal banner like art work. The resulting tapestry reflects the seasonal changes in the Meadows and individual responses to nature and can be seen at the art work preview event. Over the winter sound artist Holly Rumble worked with a small group of local people to produce a piece of sound art based on the names of birds that migrate to and from the Meadows. The sound art piece was performed in the ARTIVAN in the Meadows by candle light as part of the winter lantern parade. The parade was a beautiful event in which local families were invited to create a tea light lanterns and join Melbourn 1st Brownies walking from All Saints Community Centre to the Meadows and back. They were met by Lola, a magical puppet from Comberton, who is part of the Festival 2012 Imagination our Nation project taking place nationally. The Meadow was lit with glo sticks and tea lights – a truly wonderful event!
Poems for the Seasons in the Meadows Local poet Clare Crossman led a renga poetry project, a form of Japanese social poetry writing over the year. She has woven together individual haiku created in May for the
spring renga, hosted a summer renga party in the Meadows and visitors to the Meadow in October contributed their autumn verses. Finally in winter, villagers were invited to come and write poetry in their sleeping bags with hot chocolate to keep warm! The result is a series of poems written for Melbourn with contributions by a whole host of local people. The poems will also inspire the final art work with elements from them featuring in some way in the final art works. There will be a publication about the project including all the poems, contact Kirstin Bicknell for details.
The Final Art Work Preview Saturday 5th March, 2pm – 4pm So after a year of art in the Meadows with over 700 participants of all ages taking part, Jo Chapman is creating a final art work based on her experiences of the environment and contributions from people she’s met in Riverside Park over a year. Come over to the Meadows on Saturday 5th March, 2pm – 4pm, for a preview of the designs for the art work. Following the preview event the designs will be available on the project website.
Tea Party Celebration for Art Work Unveiling Saturday 7th May, 3pm – 5pm A Year on from the Unpicked Meadow project starting, the final art work will be revealed with a celebration tea party on Saturday 7th May. Join us in the Meadows for music, afternoon tea and the unveiling of the art work. See the project website for more details.
Key dates: Saturday 5th March, 2pm – 4pm Preview Exhibition Saturday 7th May, 3pm – 5pm Tea Party Celebration of Final Art Work. See the project website for more details. Keep up to date with the project by joining the local arts mailing list to receive occasional updates. To subscribe please email kirstin@start-arts.org.uk For more information about the project contact Kirstin Bicknell, Arts Development Manager, phone 07770 643165, email Kirstin@start-arts.org.uk
Arts Development If you are part of a group interested in working with an artist, hosting an arts event or if you run an arts related group and need some support then contact your local Arts Development Manager, Kirstin Bicknell. She can support with everything from marketing and fundraising advice to contracting an artist. Kirstin is part of the stART partnership between village colleges and South Cambridgeshire District Council. StART run a number of district wide initiatives including an equipment bank and mobile cinema for community groups melbournmagazine
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