Fossils, Art and Inspiration

Fossils,

Art and Inspiration

Art Days for Grown-ups

Sunday 10th March and

Sunday 17th March 2013

Dove Valley Centre

nr Longnor

10.30 - 4

create our own
ancient rockpools?

These days are partly training for our existing volunteers, training for possible new volunteers and also just days for adults who'd like to have a go themselves. We have worried about the wording of these - we want to offer days for adults and teenagers rather than families - we do a lot of activities for family groups but sometimes it is good for grow-ups to have some creative time that is just for themselves...

These days also mark the overlap between the end of  our "Exploring with Stories" project and the start of the next phase of "Ancient Landscapes"

just drawing...

Inspired by fossils from local limestone and the rich landscapes of the Upper Dove Valley, we'll share skills, ideas and techniques giving ourselves time to experiment and reflect

No experience needed - just join in and have a go!

Workshops are free and materials are provided but spaces are limited so please book a place (either day or both)

Further details sent with confirmation

Sunday 10th: crochet your own coral, needle-felt a fish, printing fossils, small models of monsters

Sunday 17th: making tiny people, plankton cloths, casting fossils, just drawing, fossil lanterns

Booking and more information:

stoneandwater@btinternet.com

07791 096857

http://exploringwithstories.blogspot.co.uk

Ancient Landscapes on display

seen through the window, we catch passers-by attention!

Our first Ancient Landscape installation is on display in The Emporium in Leek, in the Staffordshire Moorlands for the next week....

I especially like our yellow fish!

Ancient Landscapes

Ancient Landscapes is a partner project to Exploring with Stories and we thought you might enjoy the delights of a project bringing limestone to life

we've had a busy few days as the second phase of this project begins, or maybe as the tide runs again toward the full. (PIctures from the first phase can be found on my own Creeping Toad blog - I am Gordon MacLellan, is one of the workshop artists and disorganiser of a lot of the Stone and Water projects)

Antler coral

With Ancient Landscapes, we are looking at the limestone of the Peak District where we live and the fossils that rock contains. Then mixing observation, deduction and wild imagination, we work to create the original environments that spawned our limestone as installations in crochet, knitting, clay, beads, felt and anything else that takes our artists fancy!

coral development takes concentration

....concentration, and tea!

The first installation is on display in Leek for the next two weeks as part of the Borderland Voices exhibit in the Emporium Art Exhibition (details to follow)

Meanwhile, a new group has taken up the challenge of extending the ancient landscape and a session at Buxton Museum last week, led on to a workshop at Fairfield Community Centre today. Five more sessions will follow and then we'll see just how our coral garden grows before it unfolds its glories again in the Buxton Art Trail in the summer

Inspiration

Our use of crochet in Ancient Landscapes was inspired by the global Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project (http://crochetcoralreef.org/) whose influence we acknowledge even though we couldn't afford to sign into their network as a community group.

The connection between those techniques, other artforms and our Peak District landscapes comes from Stone and Water, a Buxton-based community group dedicated to celebrating the creativity of the people and landscapes of the Peaks.