September brought Our Norwegian Trail to life with the most recent Mapping Event.We scribbled, played, discussed and stitched Our Story into creation on a beautiful sunny day despite half of our team being struck down by one of those Autumn bugs.
Large chalk drawings are always fun!We had lots of young helpers join in our antics outside on the pavement as well as a few inquisitive chats and walks down memory lane.
Artist Deirdre Nelson joined us over the two days with large printed squares of Dumfries.Embroidery silks at the ready she helped passers by stitch significant places in Dumfries’ Norwegian history as well as other personnel significance onto our maps.We are looking forward to welcoming her back to continue – and maybe tidy up slightly some of our own attempts – for the next ONS event STORY on the 10th, 11th and 12th of November, come join us!
If you have a place or a memory that relates to Dumfries’ Norwegian Story please do get in touch, we are keen to make this story truly Dumfries’.
We are coming to the end of working on the Art_Inbetween commission and it’s been a fascinating process. The outcome is a work called PRESENCE which is a set of cards to be used as ‘A divining tool for journeys through the restless territories and blurred boundaries of art in the social or public realm’ the cards are a creative tool to explore and reveal aspects of a project or practice and to provoke discussion and exploration.
Background
PRESENCE is a research led response to some of the questions that arose during the Art_Inbetween Summit held at The Stove Network earlier in 2016. The summit attempted to describe the distinctiveness of an evolving ‘rural’ contemporary arts practice with an emphasis on social/participatory/public art across the UK and our starting point was to try and understand this distinctiveness. What are the differences between rural arts practice and projects in urban settings with similar intentions or processes?
During the research phase, we worked with a number of artists, curators and producers using a word card process to explore core features of practice and context. These conversations were interesting and delved into territories that were slippery and shifting, we felt this area had more to offer to a wider audience. We began to work with the idea that practice was perhaps more important and distinctive than location and so the work began on developing PRESENCE; a method to explore and open up projects and practice that could become a companion on creative journeys, a navigational aid that could help understand and articulate the aims, methods and values of a project or practice. There are 16 CARDS, each exploring a core element of practice. Each card has a number of questions on the reverse. We suggest picking one or more card at regular intervals through a live project (or project development) and letting the questions lead into conversation and discussion.
The Cards
We see the cards as a ‘divining tool’ in the process of making creative work. They cannot be used to navigate the straightest, fastest route through a project or process but provide different positions to view the route from. They are not instructions or a model to build a project around and have no opinions about the best way to conduct a project – each project (and artist) is unique. Their role is to prompt, disrupt habits, to revisit assumptions and reassess progress and to re-excite artists and collaborators about their work and provide a tool for exploring projects and practice.
We have tried to create a process that will result in a series of overlapping views from different positions (The points of interest in situated or social practice are not stationary and two dimensional, but three dimensional and moving, sometimes through time as well as space) This compound eye allows us to examine the same issues from different positions and so learn different things from each viewpoint.
Open Source Future
PRESENCE is an open source project: all questions, concepts and card designs can be challenged, refuted or replaced. Our version is a starting point from which new sets can be constructed specifically tailored to a project or practice. A website is in the process of being set up that will include all design tools and templates to allow people to easily make new sets and upload their designs for others to use.
Huge thanks to everybody who contributed to the summit and to those who have helped with the development of PRESENCE.
If you are interested in getting a set of the PRESENCE cards – please contact [email protected]
An exhibition of original artwork and poetry by inmates from HMP Dumfries opened on 3rd October at The Stove, Dumfries. Organised by emerging artists’ platform, blueprint100 and curated by local artist Morgan Hardie, the exhibition included creative contributions ranging from oil on canvas, pastels, watercolours, ink drawings, as well as a selection of written work.
An example of work from one of the inmates at HMP Dumfries.
John Oates, Learning Centre Manager at HMP Dumfries, commented, “The Learning Centre at HMP Dumfries has an ethos in which we try to encourage positive learning and positive learning outcomes, including equality, tolerance, inclusiveness and development of community spirit. Through creative practices, we aim to enhance self-esteem and break down cultural barriers; in short, we want to positively change lives.”
The Learning Centre at HMP Dumfries regularly hold celebrations of learning achievement, and the Captive Art 3 Exhibition was a chance for the prisoners to gain public recognition for their achievements, through the attendance of invited guests from the local artistic and educational community. Local SNP member, Joan McAlpine, and Oliver Mundell MSP were amongst those present at the opening of the exhibition, as well as Andy Huntstone, the Deputy Governor at HMP Dumfries. The inmates also had the opportunity to display and sell their work at a recent Creative Art Exhibition at HMP Dumfries, with the proceeds from all sales going to a nominated local charity.
Captive Art 3 Exhibition Launch at The Stove Network.
One prisoner commented, “All year long, the poets and artists at HMP Dumfries look forward to this particular event, as it allows us the opportunity to show the positive work that we can produce. The Creative Art Exhibition this year was much bigger and more inclusive than before, and gave those outside the prison walls the chance to see first-hand that there is creativity and enthusiasm to be found inside. Art in its many forms has inspired those in custody to express themselves and contribute to their rehabilitation.”
Inmates at HMP Dumfries with their exhibition work.
Captive Art 3 will continue to be on display in The Stove Café until 19th October.
Brave New Words once again returned to The Stove, on Friday 30th September, for a special night celebrating the first anniversary of this monthly platform for new writing, spoken and sung. The night consisted of an extraordinary mix of performance by local poets and songwriters, featuring film, music and a specially commissioned performance from local artists Michael Sullivan and Lee McQueen.
To celebrate their first birthday, Brave New Words teamed up with blueprint100 to create a special zine for the night. Blueprint100 held various workshops throughout the month of September, in which previous participants of the open mic night submitted their original poetry and artwork to be part of the zine. The zine is currently available in The Stove Café for a small donation, with all proceeds going towards The Sindigo Foundation.
Brave New Words zine.
Martin O’Neill, who runs Brave New Words, commented, “The past year has been incredible, we’ve seen people grow more confident with each month, heard some of the most inspiring poetry and played host to dynamic people, workshops and ideas. We were really pleased with the amount of people that came along to be a part of Brave New Words, and we would like to thank all the participants for contributing, as well as anyone who picked up a zine and donated money.”
The open mic night is part of our mission to bring vibrancy to evenings in the Town Centre. Through various performances, the event aims to challenge stigmas and stereotypes, whilst offering support to those willing to make a positive and impactful change in their home town and beyond. Over the past year, Brave New Words has held workshops with community groups, the general public and schools, in which they aim to celebrate diversity, and understand creative writing. They have also had the opportunity to host some of Scotland’s biggest names in the spoken word scene, voyaged to festivals, created multi-disciplinary installations and uncovered some incredible talent right here in the heart of Dumfries.
Jamie Court performing at Brave New Words
Brave New Words will return to The Stove on the 28th of this month for a special Halloween Spectacular open mic night.
To take part and for more information on events, please email [email protected].
This years Electric Fields festival saw a series of pop up Stove activity from commissioned work by Ailie Rutherford, art installations from Stove member Kirsty Turpie, a pop up Brave New Words tent and a gang of the Stove’s sign painting team who hand painted nearly 60 signs for the festival village.
Ailie Rutherford and Laurence Payot‘s People Pavilion popped up at various points throughout the festival, a roam people-constructed structure that danced it’s way around the site, creating temporary intimate spaces before dispersing through the crowds..
Kirsty Turpie‘s mad marble run maze was on-site throughout the weekend:
The Brave New Words tent ran both days of the two day festival, featuring a mix of local and national acts performing in our intimate and cosy teepee tent, organised by regular Brave New Words organiser and curatorial team member Martin Joseph O’Neill.
In the run up to the festival itself, The Stove’s workshop room turned into a sign painting factory, where a steadfast team worked through the weekends to prepare new signs for the festival site.
Huge thank you to our various teams of volunteers and supporters who helped out with various Stove themed projects, from sign painters, to pavillion dancers, performers, poets, and artists – and big up to the Electric Fields festival team for putting together a great weekend at Drumlanrig (extra points for perfect weather conditions!).
In August we reclaimed the High Street of Dumfries town centre with football (albeit in a cage – next time we can try without!).Celebrating the long standing friendship of local football club Greystone Rovers with Norway started in a 1940 match between Dumfries locals and Norwegian exiles resulting in a draw. A rematch was called and eventually played in Bergen in 1951 beginning a series of exchange visits over the years since.With Greystone Rovers 80th anniversary upcoming in 2018 they are keen to resume their friendship and exchange opportunities for their club members.Graham Muir, club manager, has supported The Stove’s Our Norwegian Story project as an important recognition of how beneficial these friendships can be.
This event tied in with the Our Land festival of events across Scotland looking at land use and the importance of community ownership of these spaces.The Stove wrote an article to highlight how our events can reach out to tackle wider national issues which can be found here on The Common Space website:
Our Norwegian Story continues to develop, with the depth of stories bubbling up from under the surface, with personnel memories knitting together these more historical events.
Stay tuned for more next week – Films, food, drawing big maps and stitching our story into existence!
Football in our Streets
Activity outside The Stove
The Greystone Rovers youth team
Screen printing T-shirts with Sarah Keast
Memorabilia from the 70 year relationship between Greystone Rovers and SK Brann was on display in The Stove
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