Bee Friendly Garden for Hanley Park

AirSpace Gallery have been making interventions and doing projects in our local Hanley Park since 2010, in activity which has included artists' residencies, exhibitions and temporary artworks, as well as myself and Andrew Branscombe spending quite a bit of time in Hanley Park last year when it was one of our sites for the Birder's Paradise Project.

This year we are working with the Women's Institute group 'Let's Make Jam' and the Friends of Hanley Park, to develop a Bee Friendly Garden, within the Nature reserve area of the park.
Over a number of days this summer, we will be meeting in the park, armed with spades, loppers and gloves and changing this small area of the park - with a lovely new planting scheme and design to maximise habitats and food for bees (and other creatures).

We had our first day in the park last Friday, and had a great turnout. The jobs for week one were to join the woodchip path up to the main path, clear the weeds, and identify and plants to save, and make an attempt to move the rocks.

People really got stuck in and we got so much done! It was great to have such a good team of people working together.

By the end of the day we could already see the shape of our new garden emerging, and while we were working we found plenty of encouragement that wildlife are already making a great home here, so we will just be accentuating what is already present. 

We launch the garden on August 15th with some fantastic, family friendly workshops - tell your bee loving friends (and the bees.)

Community Maker Launches

The community maker project (one of the British Ceramics Biennial 'World in One City' projects) has now launched and we have had 3 events so far.

The first and last session planned to take place in the Portland Street Area, were designed as informal drop in picnic sessions - but the other 5 sessions were meant to take place in a local venue.
One of the major issues for the Portland Area community is the lack of an adequate meeting place. The shop, pub and community centre are all closed and boarded up - and so we had hoped to hold our events a little bit outside the area - at the Cobridge Coronation Club. In the end the club was not available, and as a result - we have had to create a temporary pop up workshop space, in the form of a large bell tent.

This has not been ideal - but certainly does bring into focus the real need for the lack of venue problem to be a top priority for development in the area. Part of our remit for the community maker project is to explore what the community needs to become successful and thrive - and we are finding out first hand just how much of  a hamper on community development the lack of a venue has been for the area.
That said, our pop up tent has proved to be a great space for a workshop - and has activated a newly developed green space in the area.

For our first session, which was due to take place on a Saturday from 12 - 3pm I worked with brilliant ceramic artist Alice Thatcher, who is assisting me with the project, to create a porcelain map of the area. We met at Spode Factory the day before and created our map, and tested the lino templates we would be using.

The lino plaques are based on the Victorian Language of flowers (which I have been using within my work for some time now). 

There are two plaques - one which has a design of a yellow carnation on it says 'needs work' - because in the Victorian language of Flowers you would give yellow carnations to express disappointment - and then a white camelia on the other - which says 'works' as the white camelia expresses perfection.

These were used at the drop in session to talk to people about the area - and ask them to say what works and what needs work here - which would eventually be added to our ceramic map, expressing a community's feelings about itself.

The session was also used to let people know about the other sessions - and invite them along. There was a lot of really positive thought about the area - with many people mentioning how friendly people are here, the location and proximity to city centre were mentioned, and the new developments with the green space and park were all described as positives. Things which needed work centred around fly tipping, litter, dog poo and some anti social behaviour and drug problems in the area - and again, mentioned a  number of times was the need for a community meeting place.

The fired plaques look great - and are now waiting to be glazed, before being added to the map, and potentially shown at BCB 2015. The first session was really good, and thanks to Alice Thatcher and Kornelia Herms who were brilliant help.

 The next two sessions we have had were both on week days, which I wasn't sure how many people would be able to come.

The first was a walk around the area - where we each had a map - and an idea to locate one good and one bad thing (physically) in the area, and then to select a plant from nearby to act as a marker for that thought - creating our own language of flowers of the area.

We then used the plants to press into clay, and while pressing them discussed some of the things in the area that are good and some bad - and also made an eco report on some of the many plants growing locally.

Then the next day we created Faces of the Community. Myself and Kornelia spent the afternoon on Wednesday after the plant workshop making lino stamps of eyes, noses and mouths to be used the next day.

They were used to create an impression in the clay, and then coloured oxides and tools were used to add extra details.

This session was really fruitful, as we were able to begin discussion about how to move forward with community plans and aspirations for a community space of some kind. The night before I attended a steering group meeting, where the council asked if the community would be interested in taking on the old shop (currently standing derelict in the middle of Denbigh Street) as a community enterprise and meeting space, and we were able to offer to gather thoughts on this, and other community initiatives during the community maker project.

With this in mind, the next two community maker sessions will focus on ideas for a community shop space, and considerations of what a community needs to thrive, then the next two sessions after that, we will look at considerations for an environmental budget which the council has to spend in the area - and which they want to consult the community over what it should be spent on. 

Then our final event locally for 8th August is planned as another community picnic event - and will involve the planting of a community flower bed (plus we will make some plant markers in clay) as well as the first community tea party - which the Portland Street Community Group will be helping with. So far the project is going extraordinarily well - and though it is a lot of work - I am really enjoying it.

We have generated lots of imagery, which could potentially be used on our community maker table ware - and then, if the coincidence about Enid Seeney (Homemaker Designer) being trained at Spode wasn't enough - it also turns out that she was once courting Andrew (my partner)'s Dad! June (Andy's Mum) was shocked to discover the links we were making to Enid's pattern, and told us this amazing piece of family history and connection - she said she has a super 8 video of Enid and her husband paddling in the sea in Devon, from a visit Andy's Father made years ago. I hope we can dig that footage out - she also mentioned  that it had been a shame that Enid had not gone back to ceramics after being married. I am sure that this part of the project will become important, but at the moment - it is just so strange!

Cryopreservation at SYSON Project Space - Nottingham

I have been thinking a lot recently about the direction my work is going in, and the interests I am currently exploring - many of which involve urban nature - and attempting to create spaces for advocating the inclusion of green spaces within developments in cities. This is a direct result of my surroundings; as with most artists I am very influenced by what is happening around me - and in fact this leads my work to evolve simultaneously with the evolution of the city. A few years back, when there was a lot of housing renewal taking place in the city, my work explored that - aiming to uncover the human aspect of housing renewal with a body of work around the demolition going on in the city (which culminated in the Indefinable City Exhibition at AirSpace in 2007 - and my work 'Terrace.')

I was interested in the way the sites would change so quickly - houses there one day, then rubble, and then freshly tilled soil - almost calling out for wheat seeds to be sown in the creation of urban harvest fields. I did visit some of the sites to spread seed back in 2008 - one of those visits was a result of a £1 commission - from The Eccentric City Newspaper and is documented on my blog here.

Back in 2008 I was already thinking about these sites as potential community assets - and instead of regarding Brownfield Sites as eyesores, was already considering that their interim use could be much more fruitful. Then - as the sites of demolition lay untouched for a number of years, I became more and more interested in the way that the sites develop over time - and the activity that begins to happen on the sites. At first, the sites become used by people as places where usual rules are suspended, strange objects and collections begin to appear - evidence of wayward activity taking place. I documented this stage - and one image in particular - taken on the Cinema site became quite successful for me - included in a few exhibitions and as a postcard, it sold quite a number.

As the sites became more and more overgrown with plants, they have become really richly abundant nature havens, very important within the ecology of a city.
Back in 2012 - while in Japan, I was considering how I could start to look at, and bring others to look at the potential of the sites in relation to the plants and flowers growing there, and to bring people to recognise just how beautiful some of these sites have become.
On my return to the UK from the residency in the mountains, where I focused some of my time on learning ikebana techniques, I visited three of the larger Brownfield Sites within the City Centre of Stoke-on-Trent, with the view to create 3 Brownfield Ikebana.
The first was the Abbatoir Site:

The Abbatoir had been demolished less than a year before this - but the plants on the site had very quickly taken hold - and in fact in this area I saw a number of dragon flies and damsel flies. The rich variety of species found on this site was quite astonishing - and I wonder whether it was anything to do with spoil from the abbatoir over the years, contributing to very fertile soil.

On each site I foraged for a vessel - to be used as a vase and flowers (weeds?) and other foliage for the floral display.

I then returned to the gallery to turn the collected objects and weeds into Ikebana. 

The other two sites which I visited were the Greyhound Track:

 Where there is a real abundance of sedums, succulents and other alpine plants.This is a quite large, and well established site, a space which has been empty for quite some time.

and then one of my favourite Brownfield Sites in the city centre - the ABC Cinema Site, where there are some wonderful buddleia (of various colours) - but also - forget-me-nots, woad and weld.

This site has been interesting to follow - as it is such a public site - right next to the New Tesco development - but which for years Tesco refused to admit belongs to them. The site is now up for sale - so maybe will see development soon, as a whole new business development has opened up over the road - which may bring new interest.

The ABC Cinema site has a lot of choice for vessels - because people visiting Tesco tend to sit on the wall and consume their purchases, before lobbing them down onto the site - there is quite a mound of rubbish there these days.
Alongside the Ikebana - I created a 'How To' works instruction, so that other people can make ikebana if they want to.

And a Brownfield Ikebana workshop in 2012 invited conversation with others about the sites - and the rich materials to be found there.
Where we are in 2015 - we are seeing quite a lot of these now flourishing, abundant Brownfield Sites being developed across the city - so what have been quite important interim nature havens - are slowly disappearing. The abattoir site - which was so rich and fertile, is now just a very small triangle of land between Tesco and the new Premier Inn, perhaps the triangle is a bit in between that noone knows who owns. As these sites are developed, the local, fairly newly established ecology is being upset - I have not seen a dragon fly around since the Premier Inn was built - which is a great shame. Stoke-on-Trent is said to be one of the greenest cities - and I think that the Brownfield Site has a really important role to play in that. For just over a year then, I have been thinking about how I might start to advocate that developers consider including a permanent 'Brownfield Plot' in any new schemes - incorporating these beautiful oases of green into their plans, and providing a permanent home for nature.
I developed a proposal during the 'Beneath the Pavement' project which AirSpace led on, working with the City Centre Partnership, which focuses on the idea of Brownfield Flora, as an advocacy document for working with developers. I hope to put this into practice in the coming years, and will looking for opportunities to do that. I had hoped to revisit the Brownfield Sites in the city - and see how they are developing, and was recently asked to take part in the Cryopreservation Exhibition at SYSON project space in Nottingham. Cryopreservation is an exhibition curated by Division of Laboour and looks at the rich history of man's relationship to flowers. I was really pleased to be asked to be involved - as Heather and Ivan Morison are also in the show, whose work I really admire.
This was a great opportunity to revisit Brownfield Ikebana and the 3 sites - to see how they are changing and developing.

The biggest change was on the site of the Abbatoir - back in 2012 this had been a fairly large and abundant site, but today there is just a small triangle of land remaining undeveloped, between Tesco and the Premier Inn.

It is still, however, rich in a diverse range of flowers and grasses - and able to provide a good selection for the Brownfield Ikebana: Abbatoir, 2015.

I visited each of the 3 sites, and in each case, collected weeds and rubbish from the sites to act as vessel and flower selection for the ikebana, before returning to my studio to assemble the 3 new Ikebana for 2015.

Although these three sites are within a 5 minute walk from each other the difference in flora to be found on the sites is significant - and in addition, different types of materials are available for the vessels. The Abbatoir site has a good variety of more readily recognised flowers - things like aquilegia and large daisies, which may have escaped from a garden somewhere.

Brownfield Ikebana: Abbatoir, 2015 is an omission variation ikebana - where the line for man has been left out of the display (usually there are three main lines, representing earth, heaven and man in basic ikebana displays.)

Brownfield Ikebana: Greyhound Track, 2015 is a traditional Ikebana display and incorporates rusted metal elements collected from the site - the vessel is a shallow tin (tobacco tin) and there is a piece of salvaged pipe and chain, and a penny. The floral selection includes a couple of different succulents - one, a well established sedum.

Brownfield Ikebana: ABC Cinema, 2015 is a divided variation, where the 3 main lines are split across 2 vessels (one, a luncheon meat container, and one a wooden door knob) and has a very subtle, light coloured scheme, not unlike the 2012 version. The very delicate flowers selected include forget me not, herb robert, cow parsley and moss.
The sites are still beautifully rich in source material and I hope to do more with the Brownfield Ikebana works in the coming year.

Above and below, works installed at SYSON, Nottingham as part of the Cryopreservation Exhibition.

The fresh ikebana displays were exhibited alongside postcards of the 2012 Ikebana.

Spode China Rose

I am so pleased that we (AirSpace Gallery) have been commissioned by the New Art Gallery Walsall to take part in the exhibition 'Small Worlds', with the Spode China Rose project.
This project began in 2013 with an idea to intervene within a disused garden space at the Spode Factory - and since then we have: worked with a ceramic flower maker and a rose breeder, redesigned and renovated a slice of the garden and installed newly named rose species, launched the project at The British Ceramics Biennial, held a successful crowdfunding campaign and now showcasing the project in an exhibition.

It was an interesting proposition to present a public realm intervention project of this kind within the context of a contemporary art gallery - and has provided a really valuable point for reflecting on the project ahead of stage two of the project for 2015 - the second renovated slice to be launched during BCB 2015. We decided that the exhibition would reveal to the public the process which we embark upon when making a public realm intervention - usually an action research process.

We also wanted to open out the process - so that people could see how we went about putting this project together - but also - how the learning from it can be applied elsewhere. This lead to the inclusion of one of my works instructions - specially put together for this project.
In addition for the first time we are trying to show one of the roses in the exhibition.
I have shown a live plant before - in the Aftermath Studio Exhibition in 2009 - documentation here.

This was an apple tree and only had to stay in the gallery for a week - but the rose bush in Small Worlds has to be alive for 3 months, in addition - due to Walsall having such important artworks in their collection, there are particular rules about what can be brought into the building - the plant has to be completely pest free, and the soil has had to be twice frozen! This has lead to a bit of an unhappy rose bush. The rose is under a lamp - so I do hope it does ok.

In addition to the rose in the gallery, we also have a gabion planter made using unglazed biscuit ware from the Spode Factory (designed and built by Andy) on the roof terrace with 3 of the rose bushes.

The exhibition at Walsall has some fantastic artists in it - and though I didn't make it to the Private View - I am looking forward to getting across to see the show soon.
Here is a text I wrote for the exhibition - which explains the project:

The Spode Rose Project aims to raise questions around the use of neglected spaces in cities – and act as a call for others to reimagine and rethink the overlooked in urban settings.

The project examines the role that artists may have in their environments and has, at its heart, a commitment to action research processes. Through the project, AirSpace Gallery have adopted a process which first seeks to observe and understand the way a neglected city site is operating, or at least to understand what is, or is not happening there – then through an in depth research process which understands the history, geography and stakeholders of a site, aims to form a responsive plan to see the space transformed (even if just temporarily.) Next comes action, where plans are carried out; and importantly once action has been taken, a period of reflection is undertaken, to understand what has happened, and what the resulting new context might be. At this point the cycle begins again.

Our interest as a gallery, and as a group of individuals, is to understand the role that artists and art organisations can have in the places they live and work – but also to advocate for the creative rethinking of public space – to consider public space as something which belongs to, and is, to some extent, governed by the Public. In this way, the public can feel active and activated to make change, where change is needed. Our gallery programme has, in recent years, sought to explore the various ways that artists are responding to their contexts, and the difference that artists and other creative practitioners can make. Through our public realm programming we also seek to set out the differences that we as artists, and our organisation, can make, by being engaged and responsible citizens – and using the skills we have to make positive action where we live.

The Spode Rose Project is one such example.

The project looks to understand the history and possible future usage of an abandoned city garden. Much of the time the garden stands, forgotten and inaccessible, at the edge of The Kingsway,  Stoke-Upon-Trent’s main civic car park, and at the back of the Spode Factory, formerly one of the most significant ceramics factories in Staffordshire.   The garden site is activated every two years, when the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) takes place in the city; when suddenly the garden becomes the main entrance to the Spode China Hall exhibiting space. Thousands of visitors come through this beautiful, but overgrown green space during the biennial.

As a partner in the BCB we saw the potential of the site, as a space for intervention. A little research told us that this had been a beautiful garden once, much loved by the workers at the Spode Factory (that closed in 2010), and so we embarked on a project to aim to breathe new life into the site – via a design for a garden which would hope to  encourage interest and to suggest a future for  the space.

At the same time as our physical research, into the plants growing in the garden, and our historic research into the garden and factory, the BCB was working on various projects using ceramic flowers. They were working with ceramic flower maker, Rita Floyd, who had been taken on and learned her craft at Aynsley Pottery as a teenager, over twenty years earlier. Whereas  in previous years, hundreds of factory workers were employed to make floral wares, the art of ceramic flower making is now all but lost in Stoke-on-Trent. The idea of the rethinking and repurposing of these creative skills appeals to us, and feels similar to our approach to the space itself. We decided to work with Rita Floyd in designing a beautiful new rose – to celebrate the BCB, the Spode Factory Site, and its rich heritage but in addition to act as an emblem for the rethinking and reimagining of a city’s resources – whether they be spaces, skills or people. Our plan was to take Rita’s rose to a rose breeder – and together to develop a newly named rose – as a fitting motif.

Our research told us the type of rose we wanted to develop would be a beautiful, traditional, full bloomed rose, with a heady fragrance – and that the colour, of course, would reflect the material that Rita was working with, bone china white.

We visited a few rose breeders with a prototype ceramic rose, before a visit in July 2013  to a field full of blooms brought us to Gareth Fryer – whose family has been breeding roses for over 100 years.

We worked with Gareth Fryer to see the naming of our rose, which formed the centre point of our design for the Spode Rose Garden. 

The project began in 2013 – we renovated a slice of the garden, as we wanted to show the difference that could be made, and also because we do not have the resources to renovate or maintain the full space – but anyway, that’s not the point. The point is for the intervention to be a catalyst; a demonstration of what could be done, a suggestion, but not necessarily a permanent solution. The slice asks a question – should the full garden be renovated? And if so, who should do it, and after that, who will look after it? So part of the project is about asking those questions.

In 2015 – with the arrival of the newly bred Spode China Rose bushes, we are working to develop another slice, and to gather interest, support and potential stake holders in the garden site, which will launch as part of the BCB 2015. Since 2013, exciting changes have begun offering a new creative use for the Spode Factory,this will include 40  artists’ studios, a world class exhibition and events space, and creative units for small businesses.  Soon the Spode Rose Garden will have a new generation of creative inhabitants as neighbours – and a place within the development plans for the whole Spode Factory site.