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The Stove Presents: Art Shorts

Saturday, 4 May at 6.00 pm

The Stove Arts Collective presents a programme of short films by and about local (or local-ish) art and artists.

InBetween: Dumfries – As part of a national project exploring the role of the arts in shaping the future of market towns led by The Stove in collaboration with the University of Newcastle, five artists worked in and around Dumfries during 2012 to create works that examined place, identity, and belonging. This 15-minute film details the works created by Mike Inglis, Hannah Brackston, Suzanne Parry-John, Marion Preez, and Lisa Gallacher, with commentary by the artists.

Stonypath Days – Shot on 8mm film in 1973, this film by Professor Stephen Bann of Bristol University gives a rare insight into the early period of Little Sparta, the artist’s garden created by Ian Hamilton Finlay and his wife Sue at Stonypath in the Pentland Hills. Accompanied by a four-minute interview with their son Alec Finlay and contemporary views of the garden commissioned in 2012 by TATE Media.

The Eskdalemuir Harmonium – A US-built harmonium is disintegrating in a farmhouse near Lockerbie. An intimate visual exploration of a much-loved but decaying instrument, accompanied by an interview with its current owner, this short film by sound artist and filmmaker Chris Dooks is the result of his repeated ‘pilgrimages’ to visit the dying device.

Booking info: Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Mill Road, Dumfries DG2 7BE – Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Ticket prices are £6.30 (£4.70 conc), available from the Box Office (01387 264808) or at the door.

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News

Our Foundation Gathering

The ‘Foundation Gathering’ always sounded more like a cheesy Sci-Fi convention than an art event… The Stove’s ‘Foundation Gathering’ has now landed on Earth, complete with dry ice (or was that just folks breathing in the ‘bracing’ conditions?) and wobbly flying saucers.

More than 60 folks turned out on Wednesday – drawn by an invitation to come and be part of the future of the arts in the region by shaping the idea of a membership that will be at the heart of the organisation’s operation and decision-making.

Phil Jones (Business Development Manager) gave a welcome and defined The Stove as a project with the potential to be at the vanguard of a new genre of arts provision in Scotland – a social enterprise that aims to provide means for residents of Dumfries to play an active part in the future of their town.

Phil describes The Stove as ‘two things: 1) A Building – a fully accessible arts resource for the general public and creative practitioners… and 2) An Organisation – delivering participative public arts projects and undertaking commissions in the region and nationally

One of The Stove’s founding members, Colin Tennant, then gave a brief illustrated presentation of the work completed by the group to date and their plans for the future. To date, The Stove has delivered a highly successful programme of public arts events including ‘First Foot’ (part of Big Burns Supper 2012), ‘Punkin’ the Jubilee’ (Guid Nychburris 2012), and the Dumfries Music Conference – which brought industry professionals to the town to explain the contemporary digital music scene to the region’s young music entrepreneurs.

In 2013/14, The Stove will refurbish and open premises at 100 High Street as a public arts centre, complete a sculpture commission in Creetown, and work as one of three local partners delivering the inaugural Environmental Art Festival Scotland.

For the main part of the evening, Andrew Lyon of the International Futures Forum led a workshop that got people started working in small groups to make sculptures from a pile of recycled materials. Andrew’s organisation works to find creative ways of thinking about the future, and he asked groups to build a sculpture that illustrated the ideas and hopes they had for what The Stove could do for themselves and the wider community.

An amazing outpouring of creativity ensued, and groups then explained to others what their sculptures represented. Andrew Lyon then skilfully gathered all these ideas together into a creative discussion about how The Stove could operate as a democratic organisation with a membership, a board, and a ‘curatorial committee’. A general discussion followed, and 43 people signed up as the initial members of The Stove.

Membership is open to everyone and is free – if you would like to be a part of this innovative experiment in building a collaborative creative organisation for Dumfries and Galloway, then please send an email to [email protected], and you will be sent a membership form.

The first Stove AGM is set for mid-May 2013, where the members will be invited to elect a board to run the organisation on their behalf.

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News Project Updates

Creetown Appoints Nation’s Youngest Town Crier

A school girl has become Britain’s youngest town crier – at the tender age of eight.

Evie Cloy found herself with an opportunity when she turned up to a contest to find the next ‘bellman’ for the seaside town of Creetown in Dumfries. The town has been without a crier since 1962, when WW1 veteran James Blake died at the age of 74 after 33 years of service.

But not a single adult participated in the competition to find a successor, so Evie stepped up – with a very direct bid for the job. Looking the judges straight in the eye, she took a breath and yelled, “My name is Evie Cloy and I want to be the next town crier of Creetown.”

One of the panel, Allan Lowden, the town crier from nearby Gatehouse, said, “Evie might have been the smallest contestant but she definitely had the biggest voice.” The youngster, who has been given a handmade ceremonial jacket and will be appearing in the town over the next few months, said, “I’m really pleased. There hasn’t been a town crier in Creetown for 51 years, so I love my new job. I was a bit nervous but once I started shouting, I felt better. I’m quite glad no adults wanted the job.”

Her proud father David, 45, said, “She’ll be making announcements at local events and fetes.”

“There were two categories in the competition, over-16s and under-16s, but nobody over 16 turned up. It seems like the younger participants were more interested. Evie’s very pleased. Her younger sister Katie, who’s five, was excited about the competition but too shy to participate.”

Organiser Will Levi Marshall said, “It’s great that Creetown finally has a town crier again after all these years, and we’re delighted that Evie will be doing the honours. Recently, we’ve been exploring different methods of communication throughout Creetown’s history, including flags, the ancient ferry route to Wigtown, flares, bell casting and, of course, reviving the tradition of the Town Crier.”

James Blake, Creetown’s last town crier, was something of a local legend. After his death in 1962, his obituary recorded that “as a bellman, he had few equals, his fine resonant voice often being heard a mile away, and visitors to Creetown often stared in amazement when they met him on his rounds.

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News Opportunities

Your Invite to Our Foundation Gathering

The Stove Needs Your Help!

The Stove is organising itself properly for the future and needs your help to do this – we’re inviting people interested in the arts in Dumfries and Galloway to join us for an informal evening to share their thoughts on our performance so far and how we can improve in the future. After agreeing on a way forward, everyone will be offered free membership of The Stove.

You might wonder how this relates to you?

We believe The Stove can make a genuine contribution to the future of our region – benefiting both the creative sector and the wider population.

How does this involve you?

The Stove is two things:

A Building

you need to come to this gathering if:

  • You’d like to see a place in the centre of Dumfries where you can meet other creative individuals, get information about what is going on locally and further afield.
  • You’d like to be able to hire affordable space to hold workshops/events.
  • You’d like to present or perform in a space dedicated to multi-disciplinary contemporary arts.
  • You’d like to rent a small serviced space in the centre of Dumfries.
  • You’re interested in joining the artist team to work on a series of commissions that will be integrated into the building.
  • You want to know about the progress with the building (we aim to have completed the necessary building work by the end of 2023).

An Organisation

You should come along if you are interested in:

  • Collaborating with other artists as part of teams to take on large commissions.
  • Bringing forward new ideas for projects/initiatives that require an ‘organisation’ to carry them forward. Note: One of The Stove’s rules is, ‘If you have an idea, you need to be prepared to implement it yourself.’
  • Joining forces if you represent an organisation and are looking to collaborate and share resources/expertise.
  • Learning new skills by participating in Stove projects.
  • Building a creative career in Dumfries and Galloway.
  • Supporting early-career individuals to get started locally.
  • Enhancing the arts scene in Dumfries and Galloway.
  • Collaborating with the creative sector in your work, even if you are not part of it, as we offer valuable assistance.

The aim is to find a creative solution that works for all of us to set up The Stove as the best thing it can be. By attending, you will have the opportunity to integrate yourself into the Stove network from the beginning of this exciting new phase of the venture.

You do not need any expertise of any kind to take part – just enthusiasm and an open mind and heart.

Informal workshop led by Andrew Lyon until 7:30 PM, with refreshments and chat afterwards.

Please RSVP to [email protected] to help us estimate attendance numbers.

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News

Mr. Bill Drummond on Film in Dumfries

An Exclusive from our friends over at The Commonty:

Last week we posted a short film by John Wallace about his attempts to discover what Bill Drummond said in Dumfries when he performed his lecture Why Andy Warhol is Shite at Greyfriars Church on November 8th as part of The Stove’s Inbetween: Dumfries event. Bill Drummond is notoriously camera shy (as John found out) – but today The Commonty received an anonymous package containing film footage of Bill Drummond apparently on the Auld Brig in Dumfries… There is no explanation with the footage, and we can only assume that either Bill was practicing for his performance, or that this was one of his legendary acts of contrariness to give a filmed interview to a stranger (or even one of the things a previous audience had voted that he should do).

In any case, we are truly grateful to our anonymous filmmaker and present for your pleasure – exclusive footage of Mr. Bill Drummond telling us why he believes Andy Warhol is Shite:

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News Project Updates

What Did Bill Drummond Say in Dumfries?

World-renowned contemporary artist Bill Drummond was in Dumfries last week where he presented a performance lecture called ‘Why Andy Warhol is Shite’. Eaglesfield filmmaker John Wallace was there that evening, but was ejected from the venue at Mr. Drummond’s insistence that his work not be recorded in any way.

Below is Wallace’s account of his attempts to discover the truths Bill Drummond was sharing with Doonhamers last Thursday night:

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