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| Cowslips - Lambley, Nottinghamshire April 2011. Photograph: Alex McKenzie |
I've just had some good news. Poetry Seen has been given a grant (of £1180) from Nottinghamshire County Council - to create an art installation as part of this year's Cowslip Sunday. Cowslip Sunday is the revival of a traditional community event in the village of Lambley, Nottinghamshire. For more details:
Because of my involvement with 'Cowslip Sunday' - I’ve been involved in the revived event since it’s inception in 2008 - I'd always thought the event would form some part of my Master's project ('An Exploration of Poetry as a Visual Form) - and the 2011 event gave me the opportunity me to create some 'visual poetry'.
I had been searching for locations that might be realistically viable to hang a banner (or banners) that could use some poetry but also be linked in with Cowslip Sunday itself. Whilst out dog-walking ‘I do wander everywhere’ around the village and the surrounding countryside and I knew I needed to find a location that allowed for the practicalities of hanging a banner that included lines of poetry. Eventually, when I was walking along a familiar but quite secluded woodland path – close to the location of the main Cowslip Sunday activities, it occurred to me that the trees along either side of the path could provide the ideal means to support one or a number of banners. The location also fulfilled one of the stated aims of the Lambley Arts Festival (organisers of Cowslip Sunday) – ‘To utilise as many spaces as possible in and around the village to create artistic work.’ Below is an aerial photograph showing the location of 'Poetry Seen at Cowslip Sunday' (the orange line); the main event takes place in the school playing fields.
At the same time I had been searching for a poetic text that would complement Cowslip Sunday. The main event of the day is a free, community production of a springtime ‘pantomime’ featuring a cast of local actors and musicians – and ‘A Fairy Song’ from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a nod to this theatrical aspect. It was also important that the piece should be relatively succinct – to make it practical to produce, and finally it was also fitting that in it’s subject matter ‘A Fairy Song’ was about the freedom to roam the landscape - to complement the location of the work.
In terms of producing the artwork the timing could have been better. The whole idea was a bit last minute and getting anything produced at the University campus was complicated by the imminent Easter break. My original plan was to produce 8 banners (each with one line of verse) but this needed to be modified. After looking into various methods of production I finally located a printer, based locally, who could produce printed vinyl banners – crucially at short notice and relatively cheaply; I would need to pay for the work myself and my finances were already strained by the harsh economic climate.
In the end I felt the actual banners perhaps lacked a little ‘original’ artistic value - in terms of production - but they at least enabled the project to take place. They also proved to be durable which was important for artwork that would be installed outdoors. David Longford, the organiser of Cowslip Sunday, was kind enough to describe the Poetry Seen contribution to the event as ‘a brilliant and lovely idea’ and was enthused by the way in which it encouraged local people – and visitors from further afield – to connect with the landscape in and around Lambley.
In 2012 the project will be extended to produce 8 pieces of double-sided banner artwork – to allow for the inclusion of ideas from local people, whether they want to contribute poetry, artwork or photographs. In particular we want to encourage the participation of the local school – as contributors of poetic texts and artwork. Eventually it would be great to have the schoolchildren involved as active participants in the installation of the work; the hanging of the banners along the woodland path could become a regular springtime Lambley ritual in the lead up to Cowslip Sunday itself.
In addition to the printed banners I am exploring the idea of creating another form of 'visual poetry' artwork, which I hope will add another dimension to the woodland walk. I'll post a blog about that idea later.
