As part of our ongoing Reel to Real cinema series, on Thursday 21st of April, we hosted a screening of Blueberry Soup, a documentary exploring the constitutional change in Iceland following the 2008 financial crisis, and the re-invention of democracy through the rewriting of the nations constitution.
Following the film screening, there was a Q&A with the films director, Eileen Jerrett via Skype live from Seattle.
The red cards had become popular during recent protests in Iceland following the Panama Papers release, and caused Eileen to begin her #messagestoIceland, sending supportive messages to those still pushing for constitutional change in the country.
Reel to Real is our regular cinema series of issue based and topic films, followed by open discussions, workshops and food share events encouraging our audiences to engage more indepth with some of the themes and topics discussed in the films screened.
Week beginning 28th March sees the Stove welcome the Scottish Year of Architecture, Innovation and Design into our world with a series of events and activity, as the first part of an ongoing project, Making Dumfries. Over the course of the next few months, Making Dumfries will create opportunities to contribute to the development of a new vision for the town centre, with workshops facilitated by leading local designers and cultural groups, of which our events are the starting point of.
Square Go
Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th of March 10am – 4pm daily
Join the Stove alongside a team of local architects, artists and planners in creating a giant pavement drawing re-imagining the town centre – whatever your interests. How would you like to experience Dumfries in the future? As part of Square Go, the Glasgow Institute of Architects will set up the travelling pavilion, Eolas in the square which will be the HQ for our Square Go project, drop by and get involved.
If you are interesting in participating in the development of this project there are more details available here
Possible Scotland
Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th of March Lateral North’s touring project, Possible Scotland will visit Dumfries as it travels around Scotland in 2016 to support and work with the Square Go project. Join the team for an open workshop on Wednesday, from 2 – 5pm.
Scottish Scenic Route exhibition
28th March – 8th April
From the 28th of March, the Stove will host the Scottish Scenic Route exhibition, a project exploring the impact and possibility of small architectural interventions along Scotland’s key tourist routes.
Film Premiere
Tuesday 29th March 7pm
The premiere of a specially comissioned film by artist and filmmaker, John Wallace exploring the history and culture of Dumfries High Street. The screening will be accompanied by talks and discussions on the past and future of the High Street. All welcome.
Following on from last weeks Art_Inbetween summit, and reposted from Sarah Beattie-Smith’s blog, (visit it here to read the full report), some reflections from her attending the first day of Art_Inbetween:
” “Don’t think of art and politics as separate parts of your life – you can do both”. These were the simple words of Katharine from The Stove in Dumfries that, in a few seconds, managed to make disparate bits of my life make sense. Our conversation took place at a thoroughly inspiring event – Art_Inbetween – at the newly refurbished Stove on Dumfries high street last week. Luckily for me, it was just one of a whole day full of provocative, compelling and exciting conversations with artists, performers, community workers and more.
…
It was a breath of fresh air to drive over the hills to Dumfries last week, to listen to people from across Scotland and the rest of the UK talk about art as activism, about art in a rural context, the politics of artistic practice and the very real political barriers to cultural creation in this country. Art_Inbetween was described as “a summit on arts practice in rural regions” but brought out discussions much more diverse than the description suggests. A morning of conversations about Dumfries and Galloway and the creative thread that runs through the region was followed by workshops on topics as diverse as the structures in place to support the arts and the problems of a rural/urban definition for how seriously rural-based artists are taken.
I was really heartened to hear the feedback from the different workshops at the end, all reaching the same conclusions. That capitalism, centralisation and an urban-focused economy are all deeply destructive and that we need greater democracy, participation and equality across the country if we’re to stand any hope of truly supporting the arts in D&G and beyond.
Throughout the day, it became increasingly clear to me that art and “the arts” more generally are not something separate from society. Indeed, to think of art in this way runs the risk of devaluing artistic practice and alienating many of the people who would benefit most from participating in it. If we’re to support the arts, through things like the Scottish Green Party’s Intermittent Work Scheme and protection for arts venues and studios, we must do so with an understanding that artistic endeavour is at the very heart of cultural life in Scotland. We must understand that art and politics are neither separate nor mutually exclusive, but bound up together.”
If you have been passing the Stove over the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed Simon Harlow’s team of artists and makers are very much installed on the ground floor making final preparations towards the regular opening of The Stove, from Monday 29th of February.
From the 29th, The Stove will be open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm, including drop-in information point and cafe space on the ground floor. The cafe at the Stove will be run by Angela and Colin Green, who will continue to run their current business, Mrs Green’s up the street. The Stove will offer a place to drop in, meet, exchange and find out about current events and activities as well as a space to enjoy hot drinks, cakes and lunches. We hope that if the cafe is successful that we can extend opening hours to include more evening provision, and the space will also support our evening events – such as Brave New Words and Reel to Real Cinema, which will continue.
Plate designing and food discussion workshop with the Open Jar Collective
The drop-in space will function as a place to visit to find out about the Stove and our upcoming programme, as well as a location for workshops, meetings and small scale activities. More details on this space will be announced online, or drop by from the 29th of February to find out more.
The first floor will continue as our project space, with pop up events, workshops and activity taking place. Find out more about our programme here
The second floor is made up of our own digital suite, workshop, and small offices, currently rented out by the LGBT+ Group, Blueprint100, several local artists and guitar teacher David Bass.
If you would like to find out more about how you can use the stove cafe and drop in space, for projects, ideas or events find out about how to submit ideas to us here
Final tweaks to the new designs for our cafe furniture, being produced in partnership with Maklab
The refurbishment of the Stove cafe and interior is being led and created by Simon Harlow of Silo Design and Build. Based in Glasgow, Simon was selected from our design commission call out, and has led an exciting process exploring how to design a functional and beautiful space, using a range of local materials and skills. More about Simon and his design practice available online here
What’s in store at The Stove this year? With building works continuing downstairs in The Stove this month ahead of our regular opening times from next month, the Stove’s operations and curatorial teams are busy preparing and planning for a bumper 2016 year. Select each image below for more details.
“Quest” is an ongoing environmental project by artist Jan Hogarth, exploring our relationship with the environment, land, and water. Jan’s working practice grows out of a deep love of the land (in the broadest sense of the word—by “land” I mean water, trees, animals, mountains, etc.), an empathy for it, and a deep desire to heal it. Jan has been working with Sheila Pollock, a practitioner in the healing arts for over 30 years, and invites others who love the land to become involved in the environmental art quests.
In Celtic tradition, healing wells, springs, and the sources of rivers were thought to possess sacred and healing properties.
“Quest” explores rituals and the truths behind them to create and invent new environmental art rituals aimed at healing the environment. The idea of searching for the source of the Nith originated from a local rumour that the Lynors of Dumfries Guid Nychburris took spring water from the source of the Nith and carried it with them when they rode the boundaries of the town. My friend Sheila, who has been working in the healing arts, and I went in search of the source of the Nith, which is located at Dalmellington in Ayrshire. Instead, we found an environmental catastrophe in the form of open-cast mines and landfill sites, with no access to the source due to the activities of the open-cast mine operators. It was shocking—how could this river be healed when its source serves as an example of how we take from the land without empathy for our energy consumption? This seemed to act as a metaphor for the wider issue of climate change. The problem lies with us—our lack of love for non-human life and our lack of reverence for nature, water, and the land.
Sheila has worked with Jan on the Quests project, focusing on the energy of water and its places, and exploring how to lift that energy and raise its vibration. Through dowsing, there is evidence that the vibration of the water she worked on during Quest 1 was raised, and that improvement has been sustained. The Nith presents a significant challenge due to its source in an open-cast mine. Sheila and Jan will be discussing this on Thursday evening at the Stove as part of their work.
Jan’s install in preparation for SUBMERGE
Quest is part of SUBMERGE, an exhibition featured in ArtCOP Dumfries, running daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm until Saturday, 12th December.
Jan and Sheila will be discussing Quest as part of A Question of Scale
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