It’s interesting how obsessions grow. A current obsession is for signs—hand-painted and homegrown. We’ve been holding onto our sign-free frontage: The Stove, now under new management, is becoming a growing, changing space in the town.
The face of our high streets and their signage has, of course, changed dramatically with the introduction of mass-produced, nationwide branding. The loss of independent retailers has also transformed the landscape and language of our streets.
Even RS McColl’s had nice signs at one point! (Look closely)My Product Will Enrich Your Status In Life from Mobstr
Also appearing in our social media stream this week is the phenomenon of ‘ghost-signs‘: the remnants of old signs, shops, businesses, and brands—gone and almost forgotten within our urban landscapes. At first, we couldn’t identify too many in the Dumfries-scape, but upon closer inspection, we are starting to notice them cropping up around town.
This one on Buccleuch Street—double-layered signs? Does anyone have any idea what these signs may have been, or know of any other good sites around the town? If so, please get in touch!
Where are we going with this? That, of course, is all to be revealed. Guid Nychburris Day is fast approaching, and over the next week, the town will be gearing up for the annual festivities on the 20th of June.
We will be holding a hands-on, sign-themed event and workshop during our first Saturday Drop-In. Drop by between 12 noon and 4 pm on Guid Nychburris Day and get involved! It will be suitable for all ages and abilities, and participation is free.
Every Tuesday at The Stove is Drop-In Day. Yesterday, we had some very special visitors all the way from India—the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, no less! The band were in the region courtesy of our friends at DG Arts Festival, who asked if they could spend an afternoon with The Stove and host a workshop in the evening.
Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band outside The Stove – photo Brian PritchardDumfries danced – photo Ellen Mitchelland danced….some local salsa dancers came along and taught some steps to Bollywood tunes – photo Brian Pritchardand danced….members of the local community from India saw an opportunity to break out their glad rags for the occasion – photo Ellen Mitchellthere was hooping – photo Brian Pritchardthere was chatting – photo Ellen Mitchellthere was balancing – photo Brian PritchardWatching Dumfropolis – photo Graeme Robertsonand the Young Stove discussed it all afterwards… photo Brian Pritchard
Quite a day at The Stove… bring on some more! Another Drop-In next week—are you coming?
Photos courtesy of Brian Pritchard, Ellen Mitchell, and Graeme Robertson.
Whilst working with the Young Stove to imagine what The Stove could become, this thought arose: The Stove would undoubtedly have quite a lot to say. But what about the rest of the town? If the old buildings in Dumfries could speak, what stories would they tell?
If the old brig would speak, what stories would it tell?
Would it shout loud, or whisper quietly to a neighbour? We thought it best to ask around.
Responses are flooding in, and orange speech bubbles are floating around town. (What would Rabbie say, sitting with his view of the High Street?) Which places have the loudest voices? Voices began to pour in thick and fast, helped along by Herald Moxie and a band of merry Young Stovies.
Want to see more speech bubbles? A selection is available here.
Which speech bubbles could we stand up for? Which voices could we wear?
There comes a time when it is wise to call in an expert. Our expert on hand was the talented and patient printmaker and artist, Sarah Keast. An island of calm amidst the apparent chaos, The Stove was like a ship sailing through a wild afternoon of frenzied T-shirt printing.
And still, we printed on. We ran out of T-shirts, made a quick T-shirt run, printed more T-shirts, and ran out of ink before the afternoon was through—printing nearly 140 T-shirts in just four hours. The Young Stove proved themselves to be an unstoppable tide of creative energy.
Beyond Doubt Into Love may well be a T-shirt for a moment in time. One thing’s for sure: they are a rare and precious commodity, created by our community. If anyone has a large men’s in neon pink, we’ve had a request for one.
This is less of an end and more of a beginning—keep an eye out for speech bubbles. Once you start noticing them, they tend to pop up all over the place…
It’s easy to forget just how extraordinarily important the places where we live are. They are our frame, our point of reference, and a huge portion of the real detail of life. This capacity of the land to shape us takes on a special dimension when we have either lived somewhere for a very long time or spent the early years of our life there. I was born in Upper Nithsdale and spent the best part of two decades in the area before leaving for the city. It is a familiar narrative: the draw of study, work, and a faster pace of life. Yet, as a creative person, I am increasingly aware of the influence of D&G on my thought processes—a language of place through which much of my work is communicated. Because of this, and because of a longstanding ambition to return to the region, Mark Lyken and Emma Dove’s recent Hame installation for The Stove Network resonated with me.
Perhaps one reasonable working definition of art could be: a community talking to itself about itself. This was a fascinatingly literal instance of that process, with audio clips of people discussing their relationships contextualised against meditative imagery of the area. Seeing the places we know celebrated and examined in this fashion makes them more real and more vital. It is a process of validation through which both the bonds and the divides in our community are exposed. The installation made us question which voices were included and which were not—whose particular home was being offered a platform?
On a formal level, the piece made use of the suggestive space of 100 High Street, succeeding in creating a feeling of audience participation through its non-linear looseness. At the risk of overstating the point, wandering through the multiple levels of the installation captured something of the jagged, contingent nature of our existence in place. If and when the piece is transposed into a linear production, it will undoubtedly be engaging but very different, precisely calibrated as it was to radiate from the town centre. Lyken and Dove guided us through a mixture of voices that spoke with the random authority of community. From recollections of a previous era to the impressions of youth, for two weeks, The Stove became an open archive of shared experience. Just as ‘hame’ doesn’t quite mean the same as ‘home’ to me, all the small details and nuances of life in D&G carry a particular shading. It was this peculiar quality of rootedness that the installation articulated so well. Fortunately, Hame was also too stylish to fall into the traps of tourist information or museum exhibits that a piece of its nature might otherwise face.
The Stove is a commendable effort to further invigorate a growing community of creative people in and around Dumfries and, in doing so, contribute to the revitalisation of the town centre. As one of the many young locals living elsewhere but with half an eye on home, I find projects like this encouraging. Alongside the growing number of music festivals in the region, the successes of Spring Fling and other arts events, D&G seems to be building towards a creative critical mass—a blossoming that is being noticed on a national level. Perhaps we don’t need to look so far away after all if we have these things at hame.
Our friends at Dumfries and Galloway Council joined in the #OpenHouse spirit at The Stove today and suggested a wee public event to officially sign over the lease of 100 High Street to The Stove Network.
A genuine act of faith in seeking alternative futures for the town on behalf of our Council—fair play to them!
Signatories from left David Smith (Chair of The Stove Network), Alex Haswell (Director Community and Customer Services), Councillor Ted Thompson (Provost of Dumfries)
Clem from Open Jar cooking Bannock on Dumfries High Street
By Mark Zygadlo
I offer my reflections on a couple of aspects of the gathering to mark the reopening of 100 High Street, Dumfries, on 29th May 2015.
First, the building is just a building—open or closed. The Stove, on the other hand, has never been away. However, the resumption of 100 High Street is a cause for celebration because, occupied by The Stove, the building becomes a symbol, a statement of intent, a declaration in the heart of the town, redolent with possibility.
These are carefully chosen words. When you get to be an old Stovie like me, you can laugh in the face of cool and bravely speak of sentiment. For this, I take my lead from Moxie, who put her wares gently on the table at the reopening and slid under the radar to remind me—at any rate—that to be anything meaningful, an artist not least, you have to be a human being first. This was cleverly done. Addressed obliquely and full of ambiguity, her condimental list invoked the mysterious nine-tenths. Elementary, my dear Moxie. Fundamental.
I love that brownie orange
Onward, the mugs. Whisked back to my first days at art school—longer ago than even my newfound bravery wants to consider—messing about with a process I couldn’t quite handle, yet desperate for my mug to somehow transcend its mugginess and become art. Then not caring if it did or… hang on—I love that browny orange; let’s get some more of that! The noise level, the concentration, the babies… what’s going on? Is this a family or something?
The sledgehammer of the Young Stove finally cracked it
Thanks to a shock-resistant bottle and the shock-absorbing qualities built into the fabric and spirit of the old Stove—useful qualities against the vicissitudes of the future—the sledgehammer of the young Stove finally cracked it. “Jules, fetchez la vache” comes to mind for some reason; a phrase so poignant for an old Nithraider that I include it despite its irrelevance. So what? So what? So what? John Dowson, the only other resident of the High Street, told us what. The making of history, he said, quite rightly.
Now, here’s a thing, and it’s one of my favourite things: life is lived forward but looked at backwards. History is the backward view—a mash-up of memories, archives, documents, photographs, and, of course, the way we have shaped the environment. It’s all history. But the making of history is the process of living, doing, making things happen, and changing the place we live in.
A good definition of The Stove.
The noise level, the concentration, the babies… what’s going on? Is this a family or something? Mark Zygadlo – standing centre…Moxie DePaulitte – far left (pink hair)mugginessJohn Dowson, the only other resident of the High Street, told us what. The making of history, he said.Thanks to a shock resistant bottle and the shock absorbing qualities built into the fabric and spirit of the old Stove. Heid Wetting attempt by the Young Stove…..see very funny video – https://www.facebook.com/thestoveherald/videos/250690988434614/?pnref=storyBannock Making led by Open Jar CollectiveClem from Open Jar cooking Bannock on Dumfries High Street
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