Support Us

Tag: Environmental Art

Categories
News Project Updates

EAFS – Adventures

The Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2015—an international biennial of contemporary art practice in the landscape—ventured off-grid into the wilds of the Lowther Hills in South West Scotland. This two-day festival, based at Morton Castle near Thornhill, explored themes of generosity and hospitality, journeys and migrations, as well as foolishness and playfulness as ways to understand the world. The weekend featured art installations, experiments, walks, talks, performances, and campfire discussions.

EAFS 2015 was created and co-produced by The Stove Network and Wide Open, in collaboration with the exceptional Robbie Coleman and the EAFS recharge team, with additional support from Spring Fling.

Categories
News Project Updates

EAFS – Discussions

The Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2015—an international biennial of contemporary art practice in the landscape—ventured off-grid into the wilds of the Lowther Hills in South West Scotland. This two-day festival, based at Morton Castle near Thornhill, explored themes of generosity and hospitality, journeys and migrations, as well as foolishness and playfulness as ways of understanding the world. Across the weekend, attendees engaged with art installations, experiments, walks, talks, performances, and campfire discussions.

EAFS was a hub for gathering, meeting, and open-air discussion. During the day, visitors embarked on walks and adventures into the landscape, and in the evenings, they returned to the festival site to share new discoveries from their explorations. Around the campfires, conversations delved into a wide range of topics—from navigating new futures to death and the unknown, tracing local watercourses, and exploring innovative approaches to tackling global climate change.

EAFS 2015 was created and co-produced by The Stove Network and Wide Open, in collaboration with the exceptional Robbie Coleman and the EAFS recharge team, with additional support from Spring Fling.

Categories
News

Environmental Arts Festival Scotland 2015…

In 2013, The Stove Network joined forces with Wide-Open and Spring Fling to co-produce the first Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS) in Dumfries and Galloway. Now, we are delighted to announce that we are part of bringing you the second outing of the festival—EAFS 2015, Off-Grid, has been announced this week.

The ruins of Morton Castle, along with its fabulous surrounding countryside, will provide the spectacular backdrop for the Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2015 over the weekend of 29th–30th August.

The festival, held in Dumfries and Galloway, will be an intriguing and playful opportunity for artists to help change ideas and influence thinking about how we need to adapt and evolve in an era of climate change.

There will be a strong emphasis on youth, with five interns playing a central role in organising and delivering the project, helping to build a wider, younger audience to engage with environmental issues.

At the heart of the event will be a variety of specially commissioned artworks, as well as walks, fireside conversations, food art, and other activities to inspire the imagination.

Ruaridh Thin-Smith, one of the interns, said: “The festival will be really enjoyable and fun while addressing some of the most pressing issues of our age.

“EAFS is about getting young people to understand a simple truth—that, whatever it might seem, we are in control of our own spaces, our places, our environment.

“If we can understand that we have the power to affect positive changes and make our planet a better place to live, then we can accomplish anything.”

The other interns, all from Dumfries and Galloway, which is home to EAFS, are Meredith Langley Vine, Katie Anderson, Daniel Leigh, and Kerry Annison. The EAFS youth project, which involves a wider group of young people as well as the interns, is funded by the Holywood Trust.

Over the last year, the EAFS team has been developing the ethos for a thoughtful and playful festival for 2015. This is reflected in the central themes of “inventiveness, foolishness, and generosity as a way of understanding the world.”

The festival aims to attract visitors from all over Scotland and beyond, bringing together people who work with the land, scientists, artists, environmentalists, cultural thinkers, poets, and performers to participate in the event.

Jan Hogarth, a co-curator of EAFS, said: “The castle and its amazing landscape are a brilliant place for an environmental art event that is all about our changing relationship with the environment.

“We are expecting lots of interest from all over the region and the country as a whole in the event, and we are delighted to be working with our team of five interns. They are bringing a huge vitality and a fresh perspective to EAFS.

“We are very grateful for the support of the Holywood Trust and their recognition of the need to engage young people in the arts and landscape.”

Photos by Colin Tennant.

Categories
News Project Updates

Nithraid – The Results Are In!

Nithraid

The Whitesands came alive this weekend – as the Nithraid did indeed come up with the tide. From the starting point at Carsethorn, thirteen boats made the trip up the Caul – with first place being awarded to Piella, skippered by Adam Booth with a time of 2 hours and 6 minutes. But a challenging race it proved to be, as sandbanks, strong currents, and low winds made the course a tricky one.

Photo Credits: Colin Tennant
Nithraid
The Salt Cow Being Lowered into the Nith by the Winning Team. Photo Credits: Oriel Marshal

The Salt Cow was paraded through the streets of Dumfries with all ceremonial care, gathering numbers as it passed the Midsteeple, rounded the Burns statue (twice), went down the Vennels, and across the Devorgilla Bridge to continue a loop around the river bridges to the beating of drums (and diggeri-moos).

Banners were released over the Old Bridge as the boats arrived, proclaiming the words of Dumfries, including:

Seize the potential.

On the brink.

Decent.

Cut rates.

Despite the slightly dreich conditions, spectators arrived and lined both sides of the river to behold the unusual sight. Many thanks go out to everyone who was involved and to all who turned out on Saturday.

Categories
News Project Updates

The Nithraid

Celebrate the Nithraid: Dumfries’ Annual River Race and Festival

From now till September, The Stove will be inviting people to contribute to an event that celebrates the River Nith’s importance – both historically and today. From its role as a trade route delivering economic lifeblood to Dumfries, to its significance as a conservation area, and to individuals and groups who find peace, tranquillity, and joy from its banks and passing moments.

Forming part of the Environmental Arts Festival Scotland, The Nithraid will culminate in a daring dinghy race from Carsethorn to the very centre of Dumfries on Saturday, 21st September. As the equinox pushes the tide to its annual peak, intrepid sailors will tackle the river head-on, surfing (maybe literally) the incoming tide to reach the finishing line at the Caul in Dumfries, where the salt water and fresh water meet.

When the boats arrive in the town, they will be greeted by a sculptured cow cast in salt and The Stove’s huge fabric banners floating downstream from the Old Bridge, welcoming them to Dumfries with messages from the townspeople. We would like your help writing those messages.

We’ll be decorating banners at community events in August and September and will turn to our social media channels for inspiration too. As we gather words and phrases, we’ll start to build a wall of words. Then our bicycle-powered poetry machine will mix them up and stick them together to form messages for our banners.

The Stove’s community fun day takes place in Lochside on Sunday, 18th August, and we hope to do a similar event in Dumfries town centre on Tuesday, 10th September. The social media initiative will kick off in August. Keep your eyes peeled for #NithRaid on Twitter and Facebook.

Our River Nith; the passenger, the deliverer, and the exporter. With untold tales from its length and breadth, and its historical depths. From its rise in the East Ayrshire hills to Ards Point, 15 miles south of Dumfries, where it meets the Solway Firth and greets the wider world – connecting the town locally, nationally, and globally.

Categories
News Project Updates

Nith Scoping – About to Sweep the Nation

Environmental Artist Hannah Brackston has spent three months exploring the different relationships that people have with the River Nith in Dumfries. Throughout the week of ‘Inbetween: Dumfries’, the artist will be inviting people to peer into the depths of the river using specially created ‘Nith Scoping’ equipment. Also, look out for Hannah’s limited edition newspaper all about the Nith – available at venues around town.

Here are the details of how ‘Nith Scoping’ works… For detailed times and locations, download the full ‘Inbetween’ programme or look in The Stove windows (100 High Street, DG1 2BJ).

“Nithscoping is a new activity I have invented to provide people in Dumfries with an exciting experience of their river from a perspective from which it is seldom seen. It addresses the challenge and struggle we can have in trying to understand and engage with natural forces, such as rivers, which we no longer have an industrial use for or much control over. In the case of the River Nith in Dumfries, the riverbed is one of the most talked-about topics in the town, not because most people have actually seen it, but because it lies at the heart of a strongly held dredging debate. It is trapped invisibly between those who want it removed to solve the town’s enduring flooding problems and environmental groups and geologists who work to protect its essential biodiversity. In my attempt to understand this debate further, I was troubled by a question: surely, it is more meaningful to debate something we can actually look at? Several adapted pieces of piping, a magnifying lens, some recycled bicycle inner tubes, duct tape, truck tarpaulin, and empty water bottles later, this has become possible…”

Hannah Brackston | Environmental Artist
  • Nith Scoping Times:
    • Monday 5th Nov: 08:52 – 14:59 (Whitesands) 
    • Tuesday 6th Nov: 09:40 – 15:50 (Whitesands) 
    • Wednesday 7th Nov: 10:43 – 16:57 (Greensands) 
    • Thursday 8th Nov: 12:00 – 18:14 (Whitesands) 
    • Friday 9th Nov: 13:13 – 19:26 (Whitesands)
    • Saturday 10th Nov: view all the Nith Scoping equipment and talk to the artist about the week’s experiences – come to The Stove between 3 pm and 4 pm.
Skip to content