arthur+martha

APPEAL IN AIR

2012-01-31T05:25:00.000-08:00

Phil's new poetry book has just been published. It brings together some strands of arthur+martha work, including the strange, zigzag aerial paths between mental health and creativity.

APPEAL IN AIR: anatomy of sadness

Press Release

Philip Davenport’s new book-length poem APPEAL IN AIR is in the form of a spreadsheet that adds together a suicide, a list of bird-names and a valedictory roll-call of poets. By using an accounting tool for an anatomy of sadness, the poem questions the way that we place value in our own lives. Who gets overlooked, what is unheard, what’s too loud?

The poem begins with a pile-up of noise, urban overload, into which is inserted the story of “A”, a true story of a suicide, verbatim from an overheard conversation. “… a thought lost in noise sold as music…” The poem drowns in random information, out of which come soaring flights of birds – first in tiny letters, then in flurries of word/birds that fill the page. The final section leaves us in the big wilderness spaces of the air.

“ringin beyond yr ears/blackbirds in London/starlings of Manchester/stitch th blue postcodes of th sky…”

Davenport’s debut was published by seminal avant-garde press Writers Forum in 1999; his poems handwritten on apples were shown at the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. His work has been variously billposted and exhibited throughout Europe and in China. Davenport curated the largest survey exhibition of Bob Cobbing’s work for Bury Text Festival in 2005 and the first posthumous gallery exhibition of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s work in 2006. His current sequence of spreadsheet poems have been exhibited in the Henry Moore Institute and will be shown at Turnpike gallery this April. He co-directs experimental arts organisation arthur+martha.

APPEAL IN AIR is published by Knives Forks and Spoons press, UK whose list includes many leading British avant-garde poets, particularly visual poets.

APPEAL IN AIR
isbn 978-1-907812-77-4
£12-00

Further information contact:

theknivesforksandspoonspress@hotmail.com
philipjohndavenport@hotmail.com

The book can be ordered online at this website:
www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk

Playing on bombsites

2012-01-31T03:03:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was our second visit to the 'buddy cafe', for people diagnosed with dementia and their carers. We are beginning to familiarise ourselves with new surroundings and get to know this large group of welcoming people.

We have been given a 'brief' to find out about the service given to people with dementia (and their carers) where the service is working- where there are gaps, from point of diagnose to end of life. Its a big task, but an exciting one. Our instinct as ever is to tread lightly, let the participants lead the conversations direction. Some working with people diagnosed with dementia hold the view that its to difficult to talk about the subject directly. However we're finding that people will talk about dementia - and in fact these conversations can be a relief, a letting go. Because dementia can become such a taboo, shrouded in fears and shame, there's a sometimes block around the whole area. Different people have massively different feelings about all this, be they carers, people with a diagnosis of dementia, or simply people with no direct connection, other than being fellow humans.

A gentleman Phil spoke to in the morning, with the intention of starting reminiscence, cut across his preamble to discuss what he really wanted - his 'condition'. He'd had to make adjustments to his language because of the changes wrought in him by the dementia - and this gave his words their own specificity and power. The disease was his "fall". It didn't progress in a straight line: "There's no such thing as beginnings and endings." His descriptions too were tangential, but had their own lucidity - an extraordinary poetry, to Phils ears. We will feature his full interview in another blog.

In the afternoon, 'M' a carer made a link between her wartime childhood and her current situation. She was talking about the paradox of needing to toughen up in order to care for someone with dementia, otherwise the experience will run you ragged. "I think my childhood made me stronger. We used to play on bombsites - they wouldn't let you do that now. If you're too protected you don't strive. One of my friends, a carer, is two years older than me and we have the same mentality. Another friend who's younger says, 'I need a counsellor.' In fact the doctors wanted me to see a counsellor. I saw this girl and she sat open mouthed at what I told her. She couldn't believe it. I don't need to speak to someone younger than my daughters to get advice. She didn't have the life experience to help me. So I didn't go again. I think people generally today are too soft. They EXPECT - rather than fighting."

Dave: a weird and wonderful sense of humour

2012-01-30T02:22:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we paid our second visit to Age Concern Salfords 'Buddy Cafe'. More on that later. I spent much of my day photographing the people attending the group, you can see examples at http://www.flickr.com I also had the opportunity to spend some time talking with Dave, pictured below. He spoke with great frankness about his memory loss.

"You deal with the hand you've been dealt with. I was born normal, now I've got Post Cognitive Impairment, it may or may not turn into Alzheimer's. I was diagnosed 2 years ago, just before my wife died. She always thought I would die first.

Part of the brain died, that part won't regenerate. There's no treatment for it, if I open my eyes in the morning I've got another day to look forward to- to get on with.

It effects my memory, my long term memory is going now. I can't remember some family birthdays.

If I wake up in the morning I look forward. All the shit you've got- (can I say that?) its the way of the world. A sense of humour, thats whats got me through it all. Thats basically it. A weird and wonderful sense of humour.

A house built on water

2012-01-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

A Winter Garden is a text/art project with people in Blackpool dealing with depression and isolation. The project is lead by writer Philip Davenport (from arthur+martha) and book artist Emily Speed. Philip writes:

“I found it difficult just coming into the room the first day I arrived. Coming from being quiet and hating the limelight. The first time you are edgy, then you see others writing and drawing and it's not so bad jumping in.” (Participant)

Our art/writing project is starting to find compass bearings, the beginning of a shape. We're using The morning sessions are picking up their pace, a great level of concentration was given in the group and the room bustled.

There's a fascinating dynamic going on here. To make a sweeping generalisation, people who're suffering depression tend to become inward-looking, yet are highly sensitive to their surroundings – so what way will they react to being in a group? There seems to be a tremendous push/pull going on in some participants. I understand some of this, because I also have a tendency to be inward-turned.

Writing and art can exacerbate this because it can allow the maker to float away in a bubble. But these activities are acts of communication too; they require others to make them complete. At present, there is a great deal of un-listening going on. People recognise that in order to have their words heard or art seen, they must also acknowledge others. But the acknowledgement in many cases is done by rote. I saw someone in the morning group pick up another's poem, glance at it momently and put it back down with a flat-voiced, unenthused: “Very good.”

However, it's only by acknowledging the words and actions of others fully that we can unwind from our own self-snaring selves. The pieces being made in Blackpool are SHARED self-reflections. And in order to share, you have to step to one side and let someone else stand in the mirror with you Narcissus.

“Take in the world through your eyes, through your windows. People read you through your eyes. Buildings have a facade, a facing. You also put on a public face, the way you dress, the way you present. But what goes on behind the facade? Are you a wreck on the inside? Does the building have rot, woodworm? A fireplace is a warm heart for a house, but it requires fuel. If you can't feed it, it turns cold.” (Participant)

Emily led the sessions this week and some beautiful things emerged. People drew themselves as buildings, imagined their own interior architecture – their world edge. One person imagined a house with (thru a trick of perspective) an ocean as the roof.

“Importance for me is the sea, not a house. My kitchen is in the sea, bedroom is in the sea. Through water I can feel the universe.” (Participant)

It seemed to me a fabulous metaphor - describing both the state of being sucked into the depths – beyond rescue by other humans, with their far-off muzzy cries - and yet also an image of a wondrous connection.

living history

2012-01-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

I'm in the midst of doing an early spring clean of my paperwork, and came across some photos that Sid Saunders, one of our group from Four Acre's St Helens gave me, photos and quotes that I never posted.... This day he was discussing his memories of holidays in Blackpool...

me, me 2 cousins, sat down on the sands at New Brighton, a bottle of water and a sandwich (Sid)

The coach would stop at the pub, the men would have a pint. Then the biggest job was getting the men out of the pub and back on the coach...

I can see them now, come on dad we want to get on the beach

Blackpool, I don't go now, I've got other fish to fry. (Sid)

I also came across this quote from Joan that sums up the isolation some older people feel: 'Feel like part of you is missing when your husband dies, you can be 18 hours and not talk to people- and I love to talk to people. I started to go to the garden centre on a Saturday to have lunch, just to be around people- nice if somebody talks to you.'

Always told him I loved him til the day he died

2012-01-19T01:49:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we started working on an exciting new project in Salford, partnered by Age Concern Salford and Salford PCT.

Our focus will be to engage both carers and individuals with a dementia diagnosis to explore their own dementia journey and related areas. We're working with Dr Caroline Swarbrick from The University of Manchester who will be doing more formal research, we hope that this unique combination of research methods, will create a rich source of material from which to draw up recommendations for the future commissioning of service.

With the help of the brilliant team from Age Concern Salford, our first day produced some wonderful work, although the afternoon session also brought up some issues that need to be addressed. We're finding our feet here, like some of the other newcomers to the group.

The morning session was excellent and we will build on this further to get some detailed insight from the older people - about their lives generally and also about dementia issues. We were particularly delighted that the gentlemen's group in the Cricket Club were so welcoming.

As a first workshop exercise, we span a piece of string around the room and attached questions and conversation triggers to it. Starting with an 'earliest memory', 'a favourite toy' and more many more pointers such as 'first kiss' and 'first job' finishing with a vision of 2050.
"First memory? Going to school from the air-raid shelter. I'd have a wash and a brush up at school and breakfast. My mum would go to work from the shelter, never saw my dad for years, he was out in the desert fighting. First air-raid when he was at home he spent the whole raid looking for us. We'd got so used to fending for ourselves we went straight to the shelter without him. He found us when the all-clear went. It always sticks in my mind. When the bombs cam on we went under the viaduct arches at Brindle Heath. There was an ack-ack gun on the railway above, firing at the sky..."

"My first kiss was in Swinton Pally, with my brother's friend. I was 15 and a half years old. He said 'I have to kiss you goodnight!' It was 1956. He's now my husband. Last summer we retraced where we used to court. It was lovely."

"If it weren't for my mother we would've all died. Worked at a fish and chip shop, Ross's chip shop - still there on Top Road. My mother saved us all - my dad was slow. She was doing dinners, suppers, teas. She was a wonderful woman, had three jobs."

"My father used to come home from the pub and sit down in front of the piano. We loved it, we all loved it. He could play anything. We'd singalong. And he never had a music lesson in his life."

"I first told my Ted I loved him after our fourth date. He was a real gentleman and everybody said so. Always told him I loved him til the day he died. And I still do."
Unfortunately the afternoon session was a little too much for some participants, after a morning's work reminiscing, some of which was emotional for them. In future sessions we plan to work alongside Age UK who'll run other activities for half the day, otherwise some participants will struggle with the day and it'll become counterproductive. - activities that are relaxing (ie cards, dominos, dancing, games etc). We can then work with individuals or small breakaway groups quietly, doing drawing games, working one to one, etc.

We will follow themes around the life story, letting this work about remembering also touch on the participants' experiences of dementia, their journey down the 'pathway' and their take on support services that they've received.

We're also looking forward to our own journey of learning. What will we hear of the human story of dementia? How do older people (not usually a generation that traditionally complains about authority) really feel about their relationship with the NHS, and related services? What can people share about their coping strategies? What's their experience of being diagnosed with dementia? What help have they had since diagnosis? Have their relationships with friends and family changed since? We have many questions, and probably many assumptions too, but the answers might come in forms that surprise us. It is a big part of the 'art' of this art project to stay open to these possibilities. Then what people say will teach us not only about dementia, but about the bigger us - our human selves.

illuminations

2012-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Blackpool is famous for its electric illuminations, but illuminations can also be moments of insight, or great clarity. They often come from crisis, but can also arrive more gently, simply through meeting people.

A poem touched that on the nature of this kind of illumination was written during our first workshops for A Winter Garden, poetry/art sessions at Blackpool Central Library. These first writing sessions have produced several poems, including this one below, co-written by eleven people as a group piece in the afternoon workshop.

illuminations

1

love is light

too long away

loneliness is eternity;

or perhaps

the colour of love is black?

- passionate, intense, a faraway sun

orange and yellow circle

solitude

is a sweet with a chewy centre

a locked box

it stops you in

bright-coloured

sky blue comfort

at the bottom of the ocean

relaxed and

stress-free

I’m having a lovely day

feel far

as the

stars

2

angel’s wings are the weight of love

look at a person’s face to

read emotional

expression:

a closed book

in a different

world

algo maravilloso

red: love is life

sontimento

I love being on my own

claret is the colour of happiness

a vibrant yellow

makes me

a bird in the wind that flies

infinite

el amor

feels a million miles away

the hand of time

moves slow when you leave

****

love can be fear

yet people are infinitely far

til they find time

fast and sparking.

Group poem

11 January 2011

A Winter Garden is a writing and art project, led by poet Philip Davenport (from arthur+martha) and book artist Emily Speed. Over the 10 weeks of the project, participants will crossover writing about their hometown Blackpool with writing about the self. Participants have been referred to the group because of problems with isolation and depression.

Philip writes:

The morning session was a delicate, tiptoe start with a small group. I was nervous, starting in on uneasy ground, but needn’t have worried. The three participants put themselves wholeheartedly into the writing exercises, making pieces that were brave and self-revealing. The session was quiet, studious; each writer in their own bubble. They worked beautifully as individuals, but I wished that they would also come together as a group to spark new energy. We might try bringing the group down to the café at the end of the sessions so that there’s an opportunity for people to gather less formally and start to bond.

The afternoon arrived by way of complete contrast with a large band of participants – people shared ideas, sympathies, jokes. The room was a-buzz and it was hard to quieten them enough to get focus.

After an exercise based on John Cage’s 4’33, writing into silence, we wet into the toughest piece of the day, writing directly about the mist powerful emotional states – love, loneliness, happiness. It was made as a group piece; once each line was written, the page was passed onto the next person, making for changes in tone and stance of the poem, which became a prismatic folding in of viewpoints. The piece was full of bright images, sharply-felt, like strung jewels. It’s called illuminations – named for Blackpool and for the poet Arthur Rimbaud.

For all of the participants, writing came at the cost of a great deal of emotional energy. Sometimes writing like this will slide into difficult terrain; it’s a risk, but there’s much to be gained – insight, release, connection with others - in fact, moments of illumination.

Feedback from staff training sessions

2011-12-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

Just winding arthur+martha work down now, ready for our Christmas break. Gary Conley from St Helens Council just sent us some wonderful feedback sent by participants from the staff training sessions:

Hi Gary

...I found the sessions very helpful and relevant to me as I am commencing training in "Prepare to Teach in Lifelong sector....as they prepared me for the voluntary work which I am undertaking, in particular having the experience of going into a day centre occupied by service users was helpful this gave me an insight into what is is like to work with older people...

Lois was very inspirational in particular I enjoyed the embroidery session, as I hope to become a craft teacher, I found myself observing how she delivered the training and this has set the scene for what I could emulate within my voluntary group. I have since purchased embroidery threads needles , scissors, linen and embroidery hoops so that I now feel fully equipped to try this out and I am thinking of different ways I could introduce embroidery to a group.

Lois was enthusiastic and inspirational, and was able to convey so much of her experience, and it was very interesting to see the books that she has had published detailing her work.

All in all I thought the whole experience was beneficial and the opportunity was well timed with just starting out to develop a career in training Arts and Crafts.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity, it has been very helpful.

Hi Gary,

We really enjoyed the Arthur and Martha training, Initially we thought we
would not really be able to use any of the ideas, wrong, Margaret and
myself are going to be looking at incorporating some of the activities with
our Service users. I have already tried the creative writing exercise with
one of the service users.

We thought the training was just right and both Lois and Phil were very informative and gave us lots of ideas.

If any further training comes up would you please let us know.

Hi Gary,

For me, as a poet, the training sessions with the Arthur and Martha artists Lois and Phil, have given me an insight into how I can enhance my own workshops by including art techniques alongside poetry as part of my practice. It has also been interesting to find out how poetry exercises have been used successfully with groups of older people with whom I have started to work as a writer myself. Lois and Phil created a relaxed and friendly atmosphere while delivering informative and quality workshops and valuing the contributions and feedback of participants. It was particularly rewarding for me to be able to get professional advice and feedback on my workshop structure and practice from two established and highly regarded art practitioners at this stage of my professional development. I would recommend that anyone aiming for best practice in using art particularly with older people to take the opportunity to attend workshops or to shadow these artists.

Thanks for inviting me to the training

Winterlude

2011-12-20T02:40:00.000-08:00

There's rain snaking down the windows and the wind is ice-flavoured. I'm in a cafe in Manchester, wishing my toes were warmer and less wet, but otherwise cheerful. It's the end of the year - arthur+martha will take a holiday interlude until our various projects start up in January. This blog is by way of a hello to the many people we've spent time with in 2011 - and with it comes the wish of warmth, emotional and actual.

It's been a bustle of a year - Lois and I started 2011 working with young carers in Warrington, a very sweet-hearted group, whose lives called on them to be adult beyond the capability of many grown-ups. Then we entered another and very different world, during our project with homeless people in Manchester and Bury. We invited homeless and vulnerable-housed people to customise tourist postcards of Manchester, showing an often unnoticed face of the city. This work was exhibited in the Bury Text Festival and on the BBC Big Screen in the city centre. Then in St Helens, working at Four Acre, we had the great pleasure of helping to start a creative group for older people, some of whom had become very isolated.

In all of these walks of life we met kindness, humour and insight although it sometimes had harsh surroundings. In fact, the remarkable grace that many people showed was both humbling and uplifting. I complain about wet feet, but am sitting in a comfortable room, within a comfortable life.

Despite their uncomfortable lives, participants often make pieces that are artistically ambitious, tough, fragile, funny and emotive. The fact that they may have been dismissed by society in general does not diminish their inherent talent. In fact the power of their work often derives from the outsider perspective that people bring and their determination to find a way to express it.

We would like to thank all who've made work and shared their humour, creativity, the day-to-day of their lives. We also wish to acknowledge the kind help of several individuals this year - Penny Anderson, Steve Giasson, Owen Hutchings, Joanne our poetical support in St Helens and Joan Birkett our artistical one, Gemma Cameron and finally Rebecca Guest, editor extraordinary.

Happy winterlude one and all.

The relation of hard cash to the memory palace

2011-11-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

My goodbye session at Chester Lane Library reminscence=art group. It's become ingrained for me to rattle up there on the bike, drink a cuppa while trying to tame my wildly disorganised papers and then welcome the group. My body will probably try to launch itself early out of bed next Thursday - and for some Thursdays to come.

My final two visits have been in part training sessions for Joanne, a local poet who has shadowed us throughout the St Helens project - and in part a broader discussion with the group about their aspirations. I will write about the training at another time, this account is about the legacy of the project, aside from art.

I believe we've left them something of value - namely this group, made of themselves. However they choose to use it, they own a little human network, full of possibilities. We talked about what these possibles might be and I listed their thoughts, then reflected them back.

I was very struck by how unassuming the group are about what they themselves have to offer us all - their reminiscence as art has had 3000 plus 'visits' on the internet and the poem iced onto Woolworths window in the town centre was seen and appreciated by hundreds and hundreds of local folk. People DO value these memories it's just that there's not a clearly defined outlet. Where do you usually go memory shopping? And to extend this metaphor, the appreciation of memory work doesn't necessarily show itself in terms of £££ sales, which is how we are taught to assign value.

Brenda used the phrase ‘group memory’ to describe the sense of a communal reminiscence – sharing memories as a way of energising them within a group. Every Thursday, Chester Lane Library becomes a kind of commune within the 'memory palace'. Turning them into art or poems passes memories to others outside, which is where Lois and I and Joanne step into the process. If you're outside, you can participate by reading or viewing the work, but can't reciprocate. It is the to and fro of the group that makes it such a source of human warmth, a fire to gather round. Brenda described it in precisely these terms: “The warmth. Telling stories and banter. Talking and doing.”

Such a thing is needed when you're pushed to the edge of social relevance, as many older people are. Sadly, the shape of loneliness is the negative image of the gathering, the shadow cast by the fire. Margaret commented: “As you get older, your brain becomes invisible. People don’t value your thoughts and opinions.”

One person talked about being at a wedding, silent and unacknowledged, because as the older relative she was considered unworthy of inclusion. She wasn't introduced to anybody, she was literally unobserved. The rejection stayed with her and depressed her for days afterwards.

If this little group helps to allieviate such biting loneliness, then it has value. If all our daft experimenting and wordplay and art-cake decorating and poem stitching has helped people to be seen and heard, then it has value.

We shook hands and they wished me well; I felt a heart-twinge as I looked back.

Enabling: Conference

2011-11-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

Brilliant! Thanks so much Lois. Really enjoyed your workshop! It was so refreshing!

Val Hulme, Bolton at Home

On the 11th October at Bolton Museum I enjoyed listening to a morning of speakers at the Enabling: Inclusive Arts Practice for Public Health and Well Being Event. It was great to see what other arts groups are working on, share practical ideas and experience. Speakers included Clive Parkinson, Director Arts for Health, MMU, who typical to form, gave a great heart felt manifesto for arts and health.

In the afternoon I lead a practical arts workshop Session to a group including Housing Officers, artists, arts officers...

Many thanks, Lois. It was great to experience some of your work first hand and speak to you afterwards - best of luck with all your future projects.

Sarah Crossland, Designer/Owner

I've been going to (and speaking at) quite a few conferences of late. Its been a really useful experience, at every event there is a mix of great and not so great speakers, and always lots of inspiration from fellow attendees. Its so important to get out and see what other people are doing, it seems particularly valuable right now in this time of economic crisis, that people are confident enough to share ideas, experiences and wisdoms...

Staff Training

2011-10-31T04:28:00.000-07:00

Following on from our project in Four Acre, Phil and I have been asked to run some workshops for a group of staff from Care Homes and Day Centres in St Helens.

From my point of view what I wanted was the up-skilling of staff who deliver art activities in homes and day centres, and the raising of the bar in the area of creativeness with the overall purpose of giving the service users the feeling of well being.

The feedback I have got from the participants have been very positive indeed. They are enjoying the pace and the atmosphere of the sessions and are liking meeting other people from similar working environments who they can share not only ideas with but practices as well. The staff enjoyed the card making session and also the discussion about art and its role in well-being.
I believe that your sessions are more than meeting my goal.

Gary Conley
Cultural Co-ordinator
St Helens

Each of our workshop sessions had a different theme, the first looking at Felt Making and how it could be used with participants with a wide range of different skills and abilities.

The second was a look at how we can use Art Postcards in participatory arts, for example adapting the picture and its meaning with paint, collage or scratching. We also used the art cards to start a discussion about engagement with art, or what might be called art appreciation. For this workshop I was inspired by the work done by MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, New York) who have done some wonderful work with people diagnosed with Dementia engaging them with their collection. There are some very useful free downloadable PDFs from their website.

The third week we investigated embroidery and how it could be used with participants. I invited people to look at embroidered samplers for inspiration, and to try out some ideas for themselves. (pictured in this blog) The room fell silent as the group got totally absorbed in the activity. Like many of the older people we work with in hospital or care homes, many of this group hadn't done any embroidery since school and it came as a revelation. Many of the group left with their samples in hand, explaining they were off to do more at home. Another very satisfying day.

The Dinner Bell

2011-10-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

I loved music at school, my favourite musical instrument? the dinner bell. George White

On Thursday morning Joanne and I joined the arts group at Four Acre Library, St Helens. Next week will be my last session- and I am getting serious pangs of sadness. I've been getting so much from this

group- an education and lots of laughter.

Joanne and Marion

This week my task was siting back and observing how Joanne got on with facilitating the group. This isn't such an easy job for me, who likes to be in control... as I sat burning to ask questions myself and wanting to join in with my take on the conversation! and it was such a fascinating conversation. We were discussing schooling- the realities for children during and into the 50s.

6 on the backside in front of the whole class if you were naughty Eddie

What struck me again was all the wasted talent and crushed aspirations. A story I have heard before (my father-in-law won a scholarship to a grammar school and couldn't take up the place as his parents didn't have the money for the uniform) was repeated here today, Joan had won a scholarship;

We couldn't afford the clothes, couldn't afford the equipment, the headteacher said to my mother 'you can't afford to come'. Joan

Brenda, Marion and Sid

Marion whose parents did manage to borrow enough money for her to get her uniform, spent the whole time in one oversized coat, brought large when she started school (I never grew any taller than that first day) recalled feeling she never fitted in with the people from the middle class backgrounds. She was always aware of her frayed and darned cuffs. She would run the gaunlet of the other kids going to the local schools, who teased her 'lend us your hat, we're havin soup tonight!' She felt she didnt fit in anywhere.

Norma and Eddy

After the very lively reminiscence, the group used their memories to effect in acrostic poems. The fantastic legacy of the project here is a lively enthusiastic group, who seem willing to try any art or poetry exercise presented to them. Who support each other creatively and socially, and who will continue to meet up weekly long after I am no longer part of the group. I'll miss them all.

circular poems in cycles

2011-10-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

As part of the Four Acre project, with St Helens Arts Service, Phil and I are offering training and practical skills for people who want to run art/poetry workshops. Last Thursday, local poet Joanne joined the Chester Lane Library group for some hands-on experience.

We played with ideas of circular poems, based on the morning reminiscence about Royal Jubilees. We catered for all points of view on this topic - Royalists and Royalty-dislikers alike. Most people present were too young to remember 1935 when George mk 5 had his Jubilee; however, many had some memories of the 1977 (Sex Pistol soundtracked) Silver Jubilee. The 2002 one seemed to pass us all by. The inspiration for the circular poems came from Jubilee souvenir coins - and the notions of societal hierarchy that we inherit.

Joanne talked people through the circular poem idea, then together we helped participants create the circularity of their own short verses. Norma took it in her stride, delighting in the wordplay and helping the others with practical solutions. Sid gave us all much to laugh about as he recounted the celebration of Lady Di's wedding, where as he puts it 'I imbibed to much alcohol' and ended up losing his teeth I'm pleased to say they were found the next day in the rockery, they went straight back in, without any further pause for breath. And they still look alright to me.

The Big Draw

2011-10-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Big Draw event at St Helens Central Library went really well. In a drop in session in the main library space, I worked with 29 children, parents, grandparents and carers aged from 2 to 85.

Part of the success was down to having a strong but simple idea to work on- something that participants could get hold of and understand easily. Using the theme of dreams of flying, participants drew a feather (bird, angel, dinosaur...) on one side of a swing tag, and on the reverse wrote a line describing a flying dream. If no dreams could be recalled, then a word that described what it would feel like to fly. The labels then were attached to wings I had made prior to the workshop.

I love to see how given the same tools to draw with, the same material to draw on, everyones drawings are so different, reflecting their personality, their mood, their idea of a feather...

The alternative activity was creating paper-cut feathers from tissue paper, old magazines, wrapping paper etc. A simple task, but one participants seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Many were taken home, the remaining were attached to another pair of wings.

Czech Conference

2011-10-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Work from our recent project A Little Sentence, is going to be shown by artist Sarah Butterworth in the Czech Republic during a conference held in Most, the Usti Region of the Czech Republic where there is a relatively high crime rate.

It is being held by the social and psychological centre O.sMOSTY. The conference will bring together youth workers, teachers, artists and prison workers wishing to discover innovative ways of working with prisoners and young people at risk of offending.

If you'd like to find out more about the conference it's on
www.osmosty.cz but all in Czech!

Library of Dreams: The Big Draw

2011-10-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Saturday 8th October, 11.00 till 3.00pm, you can join me and other artists to celebrate The Big Draw 2011, in a day of dream themed drawing activities on paper and screen. The family activities will take place at the MASH Gallery, St Helens Central Library, St Helens.

I will be sharing the space with artists from Library of Dreams, who are running monthly workshop sessions, hoping to collect, share and interpret the dreams of mums, dads, carers, grandparents, children.... and express them through the arts. http://libraryofdreams.org.uk/

The theme for my drawing and making will be dreams of flying....

Combating older people’s loneliness and social isolation

2011-09-26T02:57:00.000-07:00

In November Owen Hutchings from St Helens Arts Service, Phil and I will be of to London to talk at the Bloom conference: Combating older people’s loneliness and social isolation. November 8, 2011

Loneliness and social isolation are among the greatest sources of misery for older people living in the UK today – one in 10 older people say they suffer from "intense" loneliness and more than half of people over the age of 75 live alone, according to research by Age UK.

This Bloom conference sets out fresh objectives and provides practical guidance and inspiring examples from a range of settings for providers and commissioners of care and support services for older people – to enhance family relationships, encourage love and friendship, and promote community involvement and engagement.

You can find out more and book at place by following http://www.lemosandcrane.co.uk

Yarn bombing

2011-09-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yarn bombing otherwise called guerrilla knitting or graffiti knitting has hit my local town of New Mills, Derbyshire with a splash of colour and laughter. The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S with Texas knitters trying to find creative ways to use leftover and unfinished knitting projects...

Many shop windows have been adorned with knitting, with displays of knitted fruit, cakes, bikes and sausages in associated shops.

This wonderful knitted graffiti has been made by the Woolly Wanderers, and is showing between the 10th and the 25th September. You can find out more about them at http://newmills-woollywander.blogspot.com/

A Little Sentence: Platform Gallery, Leicester

2011-09-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

The exhibition at the wonderful Platform Gallery, Leicester is up and running and gaining some really positive attention. The exhibition of tattoos on paper: words & art from young offenders, seems to be doing everything we hoped it would- giving a voice to people, challenging pre-conceptions and stimulating conversation.

Really great exhibition - the subject matter of the different artists was thought provoking, sad at times as well as humorous, all looked really stunning in black ink lines. Would really recommend a visit William Caxton

...I think the pieces will have a positive effect on a wider audience understanding some of the thoughts of the young offenders who created them. Carolyn White

...it looks really professional and the setting is a superb space to show the work. Each piece drew me in and made me think of the 'untold' background story to the words and images created here. Matilda Arnold

To read more comments, and to make some of your own, please visit: http://www.pedestrian.info To view more photos please visit http://www.flickr.com

The exhibition will run till the 2nd October.

"GROW ROSES or you are wasting time & time is the one thing you never get back." (Participant, HMYOI Glen Parva 2011)

Enabling: Inclusive Arts Practice for Public Health and Well Being

2011-09-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

In October I will be running a workshop event at the Conference, Enabling: Inclusive Arts Practice for Public Health and Well Being.

Enabling: Inclusive Arts Practice for Public Health and Well Being

11^th October 2011
Bolton Central Museum

Bolton Council Arts Development Service invite you to an event to promote inclusive arts practice for public health and wellbeing and to inform your future decision-making and development in this growing area of work.

In the current changing economic climate, with a move to the big society, localism bill, shared services, personalisation and opening up of services for commissioning opportunities, there is a need to equip organisations in the third sector, arts and creative industries with the knowledge needed to ensure they are able to keep up and exploit new opportunities to their fullest. The day will cover inclusive arts practice, how to be tender ready and win contracts in health and social care and how to navigate the emerging health commissioning process.

You can find out more at: http://enablingartsandhealth.eventbrite.com/

A LITTLE SENTENCE = Tattoos on paper: words & art from young offenders.

2011-09-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Phil and I went down to Leicester to set up a new exhibition showcasing our recent project with Young Offenders...

An exhibition of tattoos designed by young offenders to explore and explain their lives opens at Pedestrian Gallery in Leicester, UK on 14^th September to the 2nd October 2011. Private view Thursday 22nd September 5.30 to 7.30.

In summer 2011, young offenders in HMYOI Glen Parva used the stylings of tattoos to design images and poetic statements. Tattoos contain some of the most powerful statements that people make - layering words, image and identity.

Through a combination of writing and art workshops, participants pinned their feelings down on paper, to be seen and appreciated by the wider community in Leicester. They pay tribute to the people they care about most, describing their dreams and some nightmares too. They are touching, funny, ambiguous and surpisingly vulnerable.

The project was a partnership between arthur+martha CIC, Rideout and the Education Department of Milton Keynes College. arthur+martha work with people whose voices might not be heard – homeless people, school pupils in danger of exclusion, older people in healthcare, holocaust survivors and others. Rideout, the commissioners of this project, have facilitated creative work in prisons for over a decade.

A Little Sentence is part of The Truth About, Rideout's programme of work in which professional artists are commissioned to develop new artworks that arise from spending time working with prisoners. The Truth About has been funded with support from the European Union (DG Justice), Simplyhealth, and Arts Council England. Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation) is a registered charity that specialises in arts projects in the fields of crime, justice, punishment and the prison estate.

"GROW ROSES or you are wasting time & time you never get back." (Participant, HMYOI Glen Parva 2011)

pic'n'mix part 2

2011-09-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

good old FW always been here 2/6
picknmix rummage
elastic for yr knickers 1/-

On Saturday pic'n'mix went truly interactive: we invited shoppers, staff on their breaks, children and their grandmas to add to the icing poem, celebrating memories of Woolworths, at St Helens.

if you didn’t have any money 3/6
you could spend hours in
/- Woolies = where I first tasted
a quarter of allsorts a quarter of buttered brazils £sd

Five large glass doors were covered in coloured iced drawings and writing, featuring sweeties, buttons and bows, records, Ladybird clothing, cutlery, pots and pans and 'much, much more'.

quarter toffee treacle
thought I’d die happy
licqorice stringing ~
MUST GO Woolies goin cheap sweets in cellophane 6d
lollies in cardboard 3d
aniseed balls last forever =

The artwork attracted a constant flow of people, wanting to join in and share stories. Woolies is a communal memory of more than a shop: the danger of steeling sweeties from the pic 'n' mix, or a meeting place for a first date, or where 'my mummy worked', or the counter where you got your first school uniform, or where you went because you couldn't afford anything better.

walk around town with our eyes open
[we think but]
look up see the beauty see 2/6
hooks + eyes press-studs + rings

As the day went on the windows filled, I was kept busy getting extra stocks of icing, while musical floats went by as part of the Street Festival celebration.

Ella singing =
“Diamond bracelets Woolies doesn’t sell BABY”
stood outside /- it was raining
2oz sparkly bling

While Phil and I led the icing crowd, volunteers from the Four Acre group looked after a large stall showing the embroidery, ceramics and other artwork they'd helped to create; they invited the general public to create their own poetic doilies and decorated biscuits. Over the two days the team of volunteers helped 100s of people create their own artworks to take away. Thank you so much Marion and George, Brenda, Marion, Norma, Eddy and Joan.

More photos from the day can be found at http://www.flickr.com/
To read about the rest of the project at Four Acre, please look at our other blogs...

FINAL lost in the age of retail parks OFFER
in Ladybird clothes in white kneesocks
stood in Woolies doorway.

(Group poem
Chester Lane Library
1st Sept 2011)

pic'n'mix

2011-09-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

On the 2nd of September as part of our project in Four Acre, Phil and I took to the streets, to make an installation on the windows and doors of the disused Woolworth Store right in the heart of the shopping area on Church Square, St Helens.

pic’n’mix transformed for a couple of days the sadly neglected face of Woolies into a joyful, witty, poignant work of self-expression, straight from the community which this store once served. The poem lasted as long as the rain held of, and sticky fingers resisted.

This piece was jointly composed by the Chester Lane Library art/reminiscence group in commemoration of Woolworths. This poem was one of the outputs of community art/poetry workshops commissioned by St Helens Council and delivered by arthur+martha in 2011.

pic’n’mix was written in icing sugar, in reference to Woolies sweet counter and had a hugely welcoming and enthusiastic response from the public. Some comments from passers-by were incorporated into the piece.

The poem is one single line that stretches along the bottom of the entire shop front, so that the reader has a sense of walking through the piece, into an earlier era that exists now only in memory. It is a work of collective reminiscence, verbatim from the Chester Lane group – it is literally the voice of the community, celebrating their past and also subtly reflecting on the transience of all things.

The work layers together the everyday poetry of conversation and the act of memory: childhood nostalgia, oral history, humour, anger, celebration, commemoration. A coming together of many individuals. The poem marks a shared past, not only of people in St Helens, but of working people across a whole century in all their tragedies and triumphs.

if you didn’t have any money 3/6

you could spend hours in

/- Woolies = where I first tasted

a quarter of allsorts a quarter of buttered brazils £sd

You can find more images on-line at flickr

Four Acre Tea Party

2011-09-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

I've just loaded onto our portfolio site taken last week at the sunny Four Acre Tea Party event. Here are some examples...

Joan and Phil

Mayor Tom Hargreaves signing embroidered tablecloth

embroidered napkin

teacup and saucer with reminiscence and tablecloth

embroidered bunting

library group at the tea party

some of the 'working worms'

Kathy Johnson, Head of Libraries in St Helens said of the project "...it is a wonderful project, you have really tapped into something special. Well done to you!

embroidered tablecloth (detail)

for more images please go to: http://www.flickr.com

Thanks must go to Owen Hutchings, Jill Lynes of Re-New, All the members of 'The Up Plonky Activities Group', the Working Worms, Pat and Les Andrew and Mayor Tom Hargreaves.

News from the 'underclass'

2011-08-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

"walk past a restaurant // smile @ them thats th mask // I wont let them see me hungry #rainer" (Tweet from Engels)

Tweet From Engels is an 'anti-epic' poem made from encounters with homeless people. It's another phase of our a map of you project, working with homeless and vulnerably housed people in Manchester and Bury. The overall a map of you project has so far encompassed an exhibition at Bury Text Festival, screenings of short animations at the BBC Big Screen in Manchester city centre which will run over the course of the next 12 months, and two sequences of 'concertina' postcards. The raw material of all of this is the lives of homeless people, which in some cases are as harsh as the working class lives Engels described in 19th century Manchester.

missing outside beyond reach

"my friend got murdered ystrday backdoor open lights on = stoppd // that was th last time I // spoke 2 her he batterd her again #rai"

Tweet from Engels, which is disseminated through our Twitter feed, has now been running for several weeks. It's been getting some very emotive responses; people react to the plight of the 'writers'. And having something as big as this arrive in instalments is a good bite-size way to read, little verse fragments incoming as mobile phone updates or emails. The verses become surprises; some of them jolt because the stories they tell are so sad and sore. They are tales of the so-called 'underclass', a term that's started appearing in the papers again, in post-riots jargon.

"I wake up + think oh no another day will I walk in2 sum1 whos generous //? //or a fist #kit"

It takes time to find a shape that's suitable for material as emotive as this, to give it balance. Julia, my partner, suggested we try Englyns to glue the poem together. They're an ancient Welsh poetic form, the closest thing that we have to a homegrown haiku - fantastically complex to write, echoing and re-echoing resonances. But the tightness of them suits the tight restraints of writing a tweet - 140 characters or you're out. And the pun on Engels was too good to resist. Throughout the poem we've scattered quotes from Engels (as #fred) so that he is in conversation with the homeless people of today.

"yr info about conditions in #Manchester is of gr8 interest 2 me// th newspapers having chosen 2 draw a veil #fred"

In the end, we've kept it formally very loose, breaking up the interviews and poems we'd gathered into little tweet-size chunks. In the background, the maths of the englyn applied to the poem as a whole rather than each verse and instead of rhymes we have erasures, to underscore the idea of people being societally excluded. The Manchester poet copland smith helped to create this overall shape. Dropped into it there are little 'pure' englyn moments.

"[cant go on th balcony fleein // vision of walls fallin // split second 2 get back in // gettin too old for fightin] #sal"

The final piece is a collaboration between homeless people, who spoke and wrote the work and poets who acted as editors and instigators. High up the credits in this are Rebecca Guest, Steve Giasson, Geof Huth.

"wots th magic word? // please? abracadabra? #anon"

Some of the piece simply describes everyday routine, some of it is angry, some scared, some visionary. Although the poem is of course made of words, and I've talked about the technicalities of word-making a great deal in this particular blog, the chance to hear these people and to help them be heard has affected me beyond words. Working with these folk and helping to shape this many-handed poem has left me hearing and re-hearing them.

"Id giv anything 4a #normal life 50 million id turn it down u cant buy a normal life #lev "

(Finally, a special thanks for kind support from Penny Anderson, Catherine Braithwaite, Matt Dalby and Ed Richardson)

Kershaw Day Centre

2011-08-16T00:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon as part of the project at Four Acre, St Helens, we visited Kershaw Day Centre, working with a group of older people many of whom suffered from memory loss.

I had a wonderful afternoon - focussing my time on two participants. B & E.

When I sat down, B. explained to me 'I don't remember anything.' However as so often happens when one memory is triggered there is a rush of others. It seems that relaxation is the key, if any pressure is put on either by other people or yourself to try and capture a thought it stubbornly refuses to resurface; if you gently go round the houses, or are prompted by other people's memories, your own are released.

E had had a very bad fall and hit her head resulting in severe memory loss; gradually her recollection is improving. 'Getting memories back is a magnificent feeling. It feels like I'm coming alive. I feel I've been away somewhere. It's hard to get your brain to remember, but a brilliant feeling when it comes back. On my own I thought I was a freak, I thought I had no life left. Coming in here you realise there are other people with the same problems - some worse. This has been a brilliant afternoon. Talking and being part of a group helps. I'll remember all of this. It will be in my memory I'm sure it will.'

B's infectious sense of humour made the three of us laugh through some of the hard realities that they discussed. B has dementia, at one point she described the condition 'Loss of memory its terrible, frightening, its murder. I remember being terrified. My husband, he's my carer, he say's "I'm not even trying to remember." I say 'remember what?' I tease him. I say one day when I'm in my grave, these memories will come back and haunt you.... whoooo.'

Both women selected short pieces of their reminiscence to write on doilies, for our forthcoming teaparty event. Our conversation started with descriptions of cold, and led into romance and a delightful description of B's wedding day. 'Any functions coming up we all mucked in. For my wedding all we had were tins of PREM (spam) and a tin opener. It was a very good do, everyone brought something...'

Chester Lane Library - remembering into reality

2011-08-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

11 August 2011

Yesterday we joined our regular group at Chester Lane Library, Four Acre, St Helens to reminisce, embroider and create poems.

Brenda embroidering salmon, cucumber and tomato sandwich.

'Its been something of interest to us all. If there wasn't the group would just frizzle away.' (George)

'I'm really enjoying the sessions. Great. You would never get a chance to hear all those memories normally. You hear someone and it triggers another thought in you and you share again.' (Eddie)

Eddie writing poem on doily

'You come away with a good feeling. Memories can be rose-tinted, but there were bad old days too and we look at them both. You can pick them up and you can leave them behind.' (Brenda)

Ray's Dear Mother doily

'We're turning the remembering into reality - into art.' (Ray)

'We've all made friends - we've all got something to share, something to talk about.' (Joan)

'I'm learning alot from everybody - the sessions are making me grow.' (Jeanette)

Mary and Joan working on embroidery

'I live on my own and sometimes I go many hours without speaking to anyone. This group means I can talk to someone.' (Anonymous)

For more photos from the project please visit http://www.flickr.com

Dirty knees climbing trees

2011-08-07T07:02:00.001-07:00

The St Helen's Four Acre project of making and remembering is near to a finish and the work finding its shape. Memories have become drawings and writings, which have in turn become embroideries, postcards, cakestands - and now ceramics. In editing we've tried to walk a line between the playfulness of childhood reminiscence and the narrowing poverty that people described.

There's a tenderness in this material which finds many expressions. 'Nauty boy settle down/nauty boy settled down' tells a world in two simple phrases. They could be the voice of a mother settling a baby, they could be mischievous young man come into the settled state of adulthood. The fact that one line is present tense, one line past puts the two statements in continual dialogue. The spelling mistake 'nauty' evokes classroom boredoms and class divides.

That balancing act between play and hardship, which we've tried to find in the artworks, was a very real part of many people's lives. How do you become more than just a 'survivalist' (as one of the homeless men we met described himself)? A touching aspect of this project has been the optimism and humour we've encountered. Despite the cramping effects of economic reality, most folk recounted their childhoods with great warmth and even glee.

The ceramics are a kind of finale for the project, a formal frame for the picture of these lives. The pieces are the result of many try-outs on paper plates, which we used for maquettes. Because we only had time and resources to make enough ceramics for one teaset, we had to shortlist. I thought of the pieces as circular poems - texts carrying an idea that works happily as a loop. We drew on the concrete (or shaped) poetry tradition for this, particularly the recent circle poems of Alec Finlay, son of the legendary Ian Hamilton F.

The originals were handwritten and we transcribed from them using tracing paper. We also used some of Lois' collection of tourist memorabilia as a source for fonts and layouts to guide us. Cup and saucer sets were the simplest, using a keyword or words and splitting them between the two objects. So for instance, one of my favourites 'Tuppence' was divided between a cup and saucer Tup/pence. The plates became much more complex, with longer stories unfolding and even spiralling. One of them replicated the circularity of progress through the year in a child's life - familiar waystations like easter eggs, walking to Sunday School, a favourite coat come round again and again, indicating a movement through time and yet also hinting that time when you're young is infinite, an endless wheeling of summer bicycle adventures.

Some of the pieces melt past and present together. A nice joke about this is a poem by Joan Ashcroft, which has also become a plate: 'I am blond, beautiful, in the midst of youth five foot ten a natural fashion PLATE alright! alright! I will tell the truth I'm five foot two, mousey and pass my sellby date. The end.'

In the photos you'll see the embroidered napkins that are companions to the ceramics, like the piece by Marian White that gives the title to this blog. But the unseen presence in these works is time itself and how we all move through it, with whatever grace or grimness we choose.

A very few of the ceramics are in these photos, there are more on flickr and best of all the pieces can be viewed as part of a teaparty at Four Acre later on this month, or at the Street Art Festival in St Helens town centre, early September.

A huge thanks to Claire Parker all her help, advice and use of Kiln. More photos of the hand-painted ceramics can be found at http://www.flickr.com

all in a bottle of gin

2011-07-22T00:04:00.001-07:00

Thursday's library session in the morning was the best yet - we're gathering a really enthusiastic bunch of artists, embroiderers, writers. Two new people joined the group, giving us a total of ten folk participating from the community. The quality of engagement and making was excellent. Beautiful, thoughtful work was produced in the session and brought in as 'homework' - and again, many of the group took embroidery work away to finish this week, in time for the garden party. George has caught the embroidery bug, having started for the first time ever last week... Phil and I are very pleased as to how this is developing.

The pieces layer together the everyday poetry of conversation and the act of memory: childhood nostalgia, saucy postcards, teatime gentility, skipping songs ('all in, a bottle of gin...') oral history, humour, anger, celebration, commemoration. The teacloths, tea-cosies, tablecloths, napkins and ceramics are a coming together of many individuals. They mark a shared past, not only that of people in Four Acre, but of working people across a whole century in all their tragedies and triumphs.

@tweetfromengels Manchester, UK

2011-07-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

arthur+martha have launched our first twitter poem - in collaboration with homeless people in Manchester and Bury. During the course of our map of you project we spoke with many homeless people. These interviews were edited by participants and various writers to produce a long collaborative poem, which appears in tweet form four times a day at

http://twitter.com You can also read twitter updates on this blog, situated below the blog archive. tweetfromengels has been picked up on Clare Horton's radar in The Guardian

The 'verses' are snapshots in text of homeless lives, in all their moods - joy, terror, humour, resilience, anger. Famously, Engels wrote about the harshness of 19th Century Manchester; people today who live a comparable existence are the homeless. We imagined a dialogue between Engels and the homeless people of Manchester. Interspersed through the poem is found material from Engel's correspondence with Marx, and his classic The Condition of the English Working Class.

The idea of the poem was developed with Candian Steve Giasson - who suggested a kind of anti-epic, inspired by Louis Zukovsky. Geof Huth (from USA) met several Big Issue vendors, prompting several of the lines. The Mancunian poet copland smith helped us to give the poem formal design, based on the traditional Welsh poetic form the englyn - ours is a very free variation of this tight discipline. Longtime arthur+martha colleague Rebecca Guest helped Philip edit the final piece. Most importantly, the many homeless and vulnerably-housed people we met gave us their time - and trusted us to open up details of their lives, for which we are very grateful.

This project is in partnership with the Text Festival, The Big Issue in the North, The Red Door (Bury Housing Concern), Brighter Futures, The Booth Centre, The Lowry, LOVE Creative, the BBC. Poets and writers who've been involved include Steve Giasson, Geof Huth, copland smith, Anna MacGowan, Scott Thurston. Editors Philip Davenport and Rebecca Guest.

The resulting long poem will be tweeted over the coming weeks and streamed as occasional online video through an LED by LOVE Creative.

A Map of You was funded by Arts Council England.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

2011-07-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we visited 'Mature Matters' in Four Acre, St Helens. Participants joined in conversations with topics including cleanliness, societal problems, the birth of the estate of Four Acre, gardening etc. As we talked members of the group drew onto napkins and tablecloths and embellished them with stitch. Phil gathered a couple of comments about the project...

Mary K

I love history, the older you get the more you look back. It happens to everyone, even the younger ones will remember in the future. It's important to us all to know: where you come from, gives you roots, stability. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You pass things on - baking with gran, walks in the country, planting seeds. We recently went to where my granddaughter planted some saplings, now it's a wood. She remembers. It's important, all these things you do. Your dialect: 'O'er yonder', 'Tha knows' it's the way you are.

Let's face it, things have improved physically, but we've lost community. Labour-saving devices took alot of physical activity away - and left us with obesity. Communities have never been the same since we got TV. Years ago, mums sat outside talking, following the sun. Now they're separated, stuck inside four walls.

If you behave in this way, showing them everything you do, it passes on community. You are making memories for the younger ones. It does work, it has been planted. It does matter. I see such waifs and strays round here and just a word with them helps. Deprived kids - but they come over and talk to me. They just want someone to talk to, to show them another way. Otherwise how do they escape? If their mum's dealing drugs out the back window, what are they learning?

Ann and her embroidery

Mary G and Mary K

Mary G

It's a circle of life. If you don't keep the circle going that's when the trouble starts. If you can't pass on to your children and grandchildren what's right then you're in trouble. Aspects of life, your life. This art is useful, but it needs to be given a modern context - put it on the internet, texts. The old ideas are fine, the grassroots as I call them. But it needs to be in the new idiom.

Dot, Ann, Mary G and Mary K

think on; don't get dirty

2011-07-15T03:20:00.000-07:00

As our group of regulars sat and reminisced, I kept an eye out for other potential participants, inviting unsuspecting visitors to the library to join our group. There is a pattern emerging with this, I often find when first approached people their wary of joining the full group- but happy to sit and chat one-to-one. Its a reminder that so many of us are shy, and a group of new people can be intimidating- even if you are usually starved of company.

Marion Davis with napkin ready to embroider 'Father couldn't give a tuppenny toss'

Yesterday I went prepared with a pile of napkins and embroidery threads. Some of these were vintage ready made napkins, beautifully embroidered with pretty little flowers, others where napkins I made from cut up embroidered tablecloths and chair backs. Its a joy to see these textiles have a new lease of life, some have been kindly donated by my good friend Melanie, others from participants themselves, others brought from ebay, some from my collection. There is a delight just handling these textiles from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, the quality and weight of the linen fabric, so much more substantial than the majority of textiles produced today. The original embroidery was done with great care, as Marion said 'you had to decorate things yourself, as everything you brought was plain'.

After an initial lively group discussion about washing bodies of dirt, grime and all things mucky, the group of participants enthusiastically got on with selecting lines of their memories to write onto napkins of their choice.

George White with napkin ready to embroider 'Jack, Jack, shine your light'

For me a sign of a really well received workshop was that everyone wanted to take their work home to finish. Their showing great pride in their embroideries, and a desire to share them with a wider audience, for which we are very grateful!

Jeanette Flanigan with napkin embroidery in progress

One of the delights of running art workshops in the community is seeing subtle changes in peoples behaviour as they relax into a session. One participant in particular caught my attention as she started to overcome her shyness, contribute to the group and participate in the practical work. At the start of the session she had stated that she didn't want to/couldn't embroider- by the end of the session she was requesting a collection of napkins to take home to embellish.

Brenda Gilmore with her embroidered cake stand

One problem we have with this group is they don't want to finish. Each week we have lost track of time, and overshot the end. This week, there were participants noisily chatting half an hour after the end of the session. It was only the rumbling of my stomach that finally got people moving in a homeward direction.

Marion White with embroidery in progress

"If people weren't interested they wouldn't come to the sessions. Nobody usually bothers talking with us about the 60s when I was growing up and the things we did- not in the way we do here. This is our era, not our parents or grandparents..." Marion White.

More photos of Four Acre work at http://www.flickr.com/

11th July Library

2011-07-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

7 participants joined us at the library on Monday, we are beginning to see regulars to these sessions, sitting alongside people 'dropping in' for a first visit, and those we first met at sessions in the Bingo, Tesco or in the doctors surgery.

"It's nice sewing on your own, but much nicer sewing in a group like this." Brenda

"It's been years since I picked the embroidery stuff up. I've really enjoyed it, I'm made up."

Joan Abel-Beswick

More photos at http://www.flickr.com

story of a rope

2011-07-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

poem making

(Poem written at Chester Lane Library, Four Acre, 11th July)

sat on the kerb
waiting my turn
didn't think of myself as
poor
I thought poor people
didn't wash their faces

making a big dish of crisps
then the penny would go in the meter
wireless cut out
you had to go out in the dark
'This is the Man in Black
saying goodnight.'

Dick Barton: we listened
a quarter to 7
a gramophone to wind up
and the bedding damp

played on the road
sat on the kerb, waiting my turn
for skipping
told off by dad
cos men spat in the street

lived with my grandparents
8 in the house
be quiet or go outside
a tow-rope thick with grease and oil
a skipping rope
a walk to Sefton Park
one day a year Sunday School to
Thurstaton Hall

going to the parish
aunty was means tested:
they wouldn't give her money
for a new pair of shoes
refused permission

cocoa and sugar
coloured sherberts, a ha'penny poke
ate it til your tongue was raw
sticky lice
(didn't have the price)
strings of sugar
a tow-rope thick with grease and oil
a skipping rope
put it round the old
gaslight
and swing.

Joan Ashcroft and Anonymous
11th July 2011

Bingo! Art and social change! Limericks!

2011-07-12T02:23:00.001-07:00

Mary writing her Limerick, a young lady from Haydock..

'Eyes down!'

I'm sitting next to Mary (she says she has her wicked head on) and Les is calling out the bingo numbers at the Monday night session. It's been a flurry of people today in Four Acre: our biggest group in the library ('All the 2s, quack quack') a gaggle of talking and ideas and friendships. Poems are emerging and the group embroidery on the tablecloth is slowly but sure gathering colours, images, stories – becoming a tapestry of memory and community. There is great affection for the shared past in the arthur+martha sessions here - we meet humorous acceptance of memory and age, mixed with nostalgic pleasure and some rage – and joy.

We checked in with Owen today on progress, who told us we've worked with over 80 people in St Helens. Gradually, a regular band of people are coming to the library sessions and the work that's emerge has become deeper and more heartfelt, yet paradoxically more celebratory and lighter as we've explored.

'Legs 11!'

Mary nudges me because I'm not concentrating hard enough on the numbers in front of me. Scattered around the bingo tables this time are some of the 'saucy' seaside postcards that are also becoming layered with strands of story, reminiscence, jokes, limericks.

Teresa writing about melon eating...

Pat and one of her Limericks...

There is shared struggle in many people's lifestories here – through wars, poverty, relationship breakdowns and disappointments – but there is also a huge sense of fun and of shared history. We're trying to combine the playfulness and the seriousness we encounter in the work that's produced.

The bingo session tonight is a great moment for daftness, but we've also met other sides of these folk. To see these lives being relived through conversation, to witness drawing, poetry, stitching, joking, has been a passport to another world, one that's now in the past but is in some ways an explanation of now.

The greatest resource of any society is the people in it. Sometimes in 'problem communities' there's a tendency to think that people = problems. That what is DONE TO people is the important thing, the magic cure be it social work or art or medicine. This is a profound misunderstanding. The value is in the people themselves and the richness of their experience. Communicating the texture of that experience is a complex, often contradictory, project, but that is the job of artwork. If it manages to pass on a fraction of that complexity, it will be valued and it will do good. Because in passing on experience in all its forms, you pass on the big lessons in being human.

'5 Oh, 5 Oh, it's off to work we go...'

A slap of sea and a tickle of sand

2011-07-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

Threads of the previous day's 'charabanc' outing were picked up and re-wound through the next day's session at Chester Lane Library. Lois, Joan and I were joined by George, Monica and Sid and one 'anon' lady. During the Wednesday coach journey we'd passed around 'saucy' postcards for people to customise with their own brand of sauce. These had led to a great deal of Sid James style guffawing to punctuate the drive. (Val, Paul and Nicky, I'm looking at you.)

one weeks holiday in the year

This time we reused the postcards, adding a layer of more ambiguous material - little patchworks of memory. Some of the most moving were the crystal-sharp descriptions of people's dads, baking hot on the beach, but unwilling to remove their suits and hats. George recalled his besuited father struggling for what felt like hours to open a deckchair on Blackpool beach, with a crowd of onlookers yelling gleeful encouragement, his face awash with sweat.

meat paste and spam

Sid pointed out that as many of the dads were miners, they were often ashamed to show their bodies, because they couldn't wash away the engrained coaldust, or the scars. Some of these memories too found their way onto the cards. Joan's father, in her mind's eye, would come home from the pit with a back covered in welts, "It was as if he'd been whipped."

mostly Blackpool

This layering of experiences made the cards a multilayered evocation of the seaside holidays that disappear under nostalgia cliches. The saucy postcards were given an extra humour dollop from George with his engagingly daft double entendres. Then playing against this came the sketchier little moments, kids sitting on a beach eating meat paste sandwiches amongst "More flat caps than you'd ever seen."

The boys of summer

2011-07-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

tickle away while I retrieve your gold card

A big grey-sky rolling out on the fields of St Helens, so heavy it seemed the pylons were the only thing keeping it off the ground. Weather for a British seaside outing. It was our charabanc trip, the first time arthur+martha had been on an outing like this, so Lois and I were duly nervous – neither had slept much. I'd convinced myself that that I needed to provide a continual onboard entertainment service and had harrowing dreams of glitter suits.

The truth was simply that people got onto two minibuses, set off, started cracking jokes, ate sandwiches, larked in the backseats and jogged one another's memories for the seaside of childhood. The people who came – Les and Pat and Jan and George and Monica and Raymond and Nicky to name but a few - hailed from St Helens, particularly the Bingo group and Mature Matters at Four Acre, our centre of gravity. I took notes of whatever caught my ear and suddenly we were at Lytham Hall stately home.

The guided tour we found ourselves on took us through large ornate rooms and followed the slow decline of the local aristocratic clan whose faces hung on canvases around the walls. The final child of the line was named Easter Daffodil, by which time you guessed they were into eccentric waters and sinking fast.

On the minibus travelling over I talked to Chris, who described her work of many years as a probation officer in St Helens, the crippling effect she'd observed of drugs, alcohol and sometimes incest – and how the community is rebuilding itself. The two strands of story seemed to cross over at the Hall, in those privileged rooms.

meow

Later, Lois and I sat in the sunshine by the seafront with the Bingo group, who we'd only met superficially before. They rollicked through lunch, swapping shared times. Lois had a video camera and so we caught a little of Les on camera. He talked very movingly about the process of caring for other people, how it can give you strength in subtle ways, even buys an extra lease on life. It struck me that this was the common ground between both groups, their determined commitment to their neighbourhood, no matter how spiky it could be. As Les talked, three of our party passed by on a miniature train, waving an laughing. They were my age, the children of these 'older people' reliving their own pasts. I had a momentary pang for a 3 year old me riding a similar train in Dymchurch of the 1960s.

We also videoed George White, who told his stories of working on the beaches along this coast and had Monica his wife of 50 years in continual laughter. 'The sun always comes out for us,' she said when Lois asked how they managed to stay so happy. They brought the sun for all of us; the sky was blue for our whole time by the sea, like those recollections of childhood that always seem to be gold lit.

The journey home was a tired gallop, blurring by in motorways and traffic rush. We passed the Halfway House pub and suddenly I remembered Sid Saunders' story of trying to persuade his dad and the other men from their charabanc party to come out of this same pub 70 years ago, so that they could get on with their journey to the beach: “C'mon dad!”

from the pit

more saucy postcards at http://www.flickr.com/

Stephenson Card Group

2011-07-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as part of our project in Four Acre, St Helens, we ran a workshop with the Stephenson Card Group of 8 participants with learning difficulties and their carers. We were made very welcome by the wonderfully friendly and productive group, led by Julie White.

Chris drawing

Working on the paper plates, we discussed with the group the nature of joy and happiness, and what it meant to each of them. Each participant drew with enthusiasm and energy, expressing themselves as individuals through their artwork.

Chris's Baddies!

Julie commented, "It has been a good opportunity for the service users to express themselves. Its opened up conversations, like what makes people happy. Its a great opportunity to chat others and interaction with new people, other societies and groups. I think it went really well."

Chris's artwork, Gerald drawing

Anita added "People enjoyed the group, some service users joined in that wouldn't normally focus so long. Its been really stimulating for them."

flower plate, with everyone's drawings

Chris's plate

Jillian looking at her photos

Laurence's plate

Lynne's plates

new videos

2011-07-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Lytham St Anns, I made a series of short films of some of the participants from Four Acre, St Helens reminiscing about holidays past. I'm in the process of doing some very simple editing and posting these as I go on our flickr site. You can see an example here, with Monica White recalling memories of her mam in the Charabanc, pictured below.

tales of the charabanc

2011-07-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

(Group poem devised during 'charabanc' coach trip to the English seaside)

along the proms down to the sea
we’re the sitting-on-benches age
on the bench with a bottle of whisky
the big dipper’s
a bit rickety

tuppence to go to New Brighton
if you were posh
if you were skint
Formby cost nothing
nothing there
except squirrels
and beach
go to the island
time the tides or you’re stuck
see the seals
bouncing on the sands
30 years ago through the summer
camping Ullswater fishing
6 o’clock in the morning rat-arsed
the little gets
threw maggots in the sleeping bag
Fleetwood fishing
Pontins has been knocked down
Lime Street to Wiltshire a 6 hour run
come on gotta get back
you never told me you joined that OAP club
proper shiny bald grandad
'Could you wear a wig when you come to see me in school?'
the things children say
I don’t want to be in heaven
I don’t want to be a star
I don’t want
everything

a wishing well throw some pennies
take them to the lakes
are we nearly there yet?
on the ferry cross the Mersey
Colwyn, a convalescent house
my dad had been on the Burma Railway in the war
prisoner, trauma
no one ever talked about it but he had his problems
went to Colwyn every so often
I remember picking up fir cones for him from the road
on the way there
are we nearly there yet?
another time in Liverpool
he’s wearing a trilby
the pigeons on his hat and shoulders
‘D’you want to feed the birds?’

don’t forget the driver
if a hearse passed, people would stop
raise a hat and wouldn’t move til it passed on
get dropped off
and have butties on the beach
meat paste and spam
spam fritters, bucket and spade
collect shells and come home filthy
it wasn’t a good day if you came home clean
grouchy hot and sweaty
bugger this go to the beach at Bourton
a beach and big marquees
wooden duckboards, bath in an enamel bowl
what would I want with a place like Lytham Hall?
cockling on the beach
soak em in saltwater and nan would cook em
in a great big pan
about ten of us
playing a cardgame called Shithead
she asked us very posh what’re you playing
don't forget the driver, sir
rough hands
you can have the gardener I’ll have the butler
hunting ground for an ancient British tribe
death or triumph
the penultimate squire

the drinks are getting more expensive
are we there yet?
Venus after her bath
Lady Violet was rather a large lady
to be seen by candlelight
a pint of Guinness
put on top of the coffin
at every pub
milking lambing and felling
live hard and play hard
(one thing you can say about em
they can drink themselves sober)
Blackpool
the naughty postcards
two men sitting on deckchairs:
‘Nice to be out in the air isn’t it?’
‘Yes I think I’ll get mine out as well.’
girls in one room
boys in another, top and tail
heads and feet
heads and feet.

Group poem
Chris, Joan, Donna, Les, Pat, Pauline, Nicky, Val

award winning!

2011-06-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

Our project with St Helens Council's Art Service in Four Acre, has just won an award! We finished runner-up in the national Lemos and Crane Bloom awards. To find out more please visit www.sthelens.gov.uk and http://www.lemosandcrane.co.uk/

Judges described the Four Acre project as: “A really good way to identify isolated older people who are not in touch with statutory services” and “a well conceived, executed and documented example of the stimulation and fun that the arts can give.”

The panel of judges were: Andrew Barnett, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; David Cutler, The Baring Foundation; Tim Joss, The Rayne Foundation; Katherine Payne, The Mercers’ Company; Louise Telford, Northern Rock Foundation.

Thanks so much for everyone who voted for the project.

orange, an apple, a shiny penny

2011-06-27T02:27:00.000-07:00

During our session with the Bingo group in Four Acre, St Helens, a poem was created on the theme of birthday celebrations.... Thanks again for making us feels so welcome and joining in our activities with so much energy and enthusiasm.

couldn't wait to be 10
to be 11
to be 12
mother did a bit of baking
never a party
couldn't afford one
8 to a bed
13 in one house
a nightmare of the past
a spread and a cake
a cap gun – I love cowboys
little tin toys
a teaparty, told the girls at school
lucky to get a present
parents not working
eldest of 6, always poor
mother baked endless cakes 1947, 48, 49
lucky if I got a card

wish each other a few
good
sandwiches
didn't celebrate
such a lot of us in the family
grandchildren
great and
great great
went iceskating, silver blades
an endless pattern
Springfield and opposite the Baths
hired a disco
played your own
Saints got beat in the final
on my 18th
Cadburys Selection, an orange, an apple
nuts as well
a shiny penny
safe endless days
everyone was your aunt or uncle

now
we spoil our kids cos we didn't have it
enjoy life
an endless tapestry
share it with as many as possible
friends come to the house
grandchildren bring me things
I will stay 69
I'm not going to be 71 this year
I'm still here
that's celebration enough

group poem
20 June 2011
Bingo group, Four Acre, St Helens

Pimplets Pies and Bourbon biscuits

2011-06-24T03:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday for the project in Four Acre St Helens, Phil, Joanne and I spent the morning at Kershaw Day Centre working with people diagnosed with dementia. As ever on a first visit to a new venue I felt a mix of excitement and apprehension, but all concerns quickly disappeared as we were met by wonderfully welcoming Gary Conley, who quickly settled us in with cups of tea and introductions to staff. As we talked Gary pointing out with great pride the potters wheel, he talked of wanting to try out new things with this art group, of pushing the boundaries and raising expectations.

As participants arrived we formed a group around the tables and started chatting about food and cooking. Our mouths soon were watering with talk of Pimlets Pies and homemade baked custards. For the poetry and art work we focussed our attentions on cakes, pies and biscuits, and after a very lively discussion (which the staff seemed to enjoy as much as the participants) we divided up into smaller groups to select individual lines to write onto card cakestands.

Some participants decided to draw their memories rather than to write about them. John worked through double vision to produce these beautiful drawings of fruit cakes and bananas.

Later I collected signatures for a layer of cakestand, although we all might sign our names less (with the loss of checks and emailing replacing writing letters) the writing of a signature is something most of us take for granted. However with memory loss or/and double vision, for many of the group the simple act of signing a name became an activity that needed great concentration and focus. Their struggle and determination made the work even more poignant.

For more photos please visit http://www.flickr.com

The Bloom Awards

2011-06-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that the current arthur+martha project in Four Acre, St Helens has been short-listed for the national Bloom Awards. The Bloom Awards are for excellence and innovation in improving the quality of life, dignity and well-being of older people receiving care and support. We would really value your support. To register and to cast your vote on the various projects in the awards please follow this link http://lemosandcrane.co.uk/ and look for St Helen’s Council- Arts Service: Art of the Unexpected. Voting closes 24th June (5pm)

caring, embroidered bunting in progress

Poems about succumbing to temptation iced onto cakes, childhood memories painted onto plates, or make do and mend stitched onto tablecloths, bunting describing manners, reminiscence celebrating rule-breaking drawn onto cake stands, fading memories written on doilies, 'sugar' graffiti that evokes the tastes and smells of long gone childhoods…. poems and artwork commemorating those we care about and times of real poverty.

We have been inviting older people in the community to make a mix of poetry and art, celebrating their lives and visions. We’re trying to reach those who might not normally join in with art activities, by taking our workshops to the local Bingo night, housebound peoples homes, the doctors surgery, Tesco’s, a day centre for people diagnosed with dementia a local library…

We’re inviting the participants to stretch a little beyond their usual habits and social circle, meet some new people, try out some unusual creative avenues. It allows participants to share their view of the world in a vibrant dialogue with their community.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/

8 in a bed

2011-06-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this while Les calls the bingo numbers in St Michaels' church hall, Four Acre, St. Helens. Les and Pat , both over-60s, run the bingo night, the allotment group (just won a prize) and Les used to oversee the Boxing Club too. He's a big man, a scaled-up version of the ordinary, with a big voice and a sharp insight in people. He's the anchorman in this group of people, calling the Bingo, making connections, helping to hold the centre of the community.

We went from table to table before the bingo stand and asked the folk here to offer a thought or two about celebration, then cut up their lines and let them fall into a rough shape. The poem that emerged sketched out a little story of struggle, but also perseverance: “I'm still here, that's celebration enough.”

teacher pulled hair to celebrate birthday

Many people had grown up with very little in the way of possessions or money and their families had grafted hard and long all their lives. The older people especially had a tough ride – one person remembered growing up in a family of 13, all sharing a little house with only three bedrooms. Very few remembered celebrating birthdays with a heap of toys – but the thing they did own was a strong sense of family, community: “Those were safe days. Everyone was your aunty or uncle.”

8 to a bed, 13 of us but oh what happy days

Les watched us work and then observed: “I've often noticed if you ask people to write down their thoughts they get all tongue-tied in their heads. But if someone writes it down for them, they get the ideas across clear as you like.”

This is one of the fundamentals of our work and it was sharp of him to pick up on such an important aspect of it. These moments of conversation - the flashes of recollection, or humour - are the energy feeding everything we do and those moments must be encouraged and valued. Some of the most powerful encounters in my life have been made through these arthur+martha sessions, I only hope that we serve the people we meet well.

selection orange apple shiny penny nuts I loved my home

The bingo's ending, people are packing in a flurry of numbers, discarded score sheets. Les makes a final farewell before the PA is switched off: "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, hope to see you all next time. For now - bye."

ballons with short reminisces

tacked, taped and nailed

2011-06-21T04:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning Phil and I were working in the Four Acre Library. The venue has become wonderfully familiar now and in turn Phil and I are not such a strange sight to the locals. A number of times children in the library have recognised us from the workshop we did in the local school and said hello, Phil recounts how when he's cycling to catch the train local children are smiling and waving and saying 'hello, and there's the poet!' Its a slow process getting to know a new community, but it feels like we are making a small step in the right direction.

Margaret Clarke writing poetic line on tablecloth

Yesterday we worked with a great mix of older people including a couple we met during 1 to 1 sessions, one woman we met during our drop in session at the local Tesco's, another we first met at the session in the Doctors Waiting room- its great to see these more unusual venues paying back with participants joining the group at the Library.

Sid Saunders writing poetic text on tablecloth

We worked on the theme of 'make do and mend' and after some very lively reminiscence, we focussed on stitching- from repairing clothes to making cloggs from boots to pulling out the stitches on a cut arm...
Short poetic lines where selected from the reminiscence and written onto the tablecloth (and will be embellished with stitch at another day) It reads:

God Grant that I may see the stitch until my dying day
boots when they wore away
take them to the cloggers
tacked taped and nailed to turn them to
sparking clogs
pit drawers
sew them with shot fire wire when they riped
we riped the oil cloth off the floor
to burn it to get us warm
bless this house and the family that live within
the work I have done
lives on.

for more photos please visit http://www.flickr.com

embroidered 'posh' bunting and tablecloths

2011-06-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

bunting in progress, A slap

I've just been reminded that today is the 20 year anniversary of my graduation from the Embroidery Degree at MMU. (Manchester College as it was then) Its a bit of a shocker. To celebrate I've just posted some current embroidery work done with older people in the project Four Acre, St Helens.

Since graduating, I haven't done much in the way of stitchy embroidery, favouring instead painting and other quicker methods of working in textiles. However this project has been a joy, there is something really relaxing about sitting down absorbed in stitch, and wonderfully social if you combine it with other people, tea and cake.

if theres stress in anyway, tablecloth in progress

The embroidery works on-line at flickr are bunting (half made) based on reminiscence about Manners, and the consequences if you didn't have them! The other, the on-going embroidery is the tablecloth, covered in poetic phrases that tell of the importance of tea drinking, sometimes cheeky, at times touching and funny, with delicate drawings in stitch of tea cups and pots.

tea will solve all, tablecloth in progress

and yes, sometimes tea will solve all.

REQUIEM

2011-06-10T06:29:00.001-07:00

Visual poems by Satu Kaikkonen and Steve Giasson at the Fusilier Museum, Bury.

The Text Festival in Bury has been an extraordinary gathering of international poets and artists, redrawing the map of language. Exhibitions from the festival extend out from the art gallery to the Fusilier Museum and the Transport Museum. Philip, who curated the Transport Museum show, also helped place works selected by Tony Trehy in the Fusilier Museum. Here are his explanatory notes on some of the pieces in the show:

REQUIEM

Main Entrance doors

Derek Beaulieu

Language is one of the barriers between people that cause conflict. Beaulieu's poems are often abstract constructions of letters with no obvious linguistic meaning. So, this is an international declaration of peace.

Derek Beaulieu letrasetting his work onto the glass door at the museum

Exhibition entrance

George Widener/Ian Hamilton Finlay/Christian Bok/Anonymous

All of these pieces describe machines of destruction. Widener is an 'outsider' artist who depicted plane and shipping disasters. He was often short of money, working on cheap paper napkins instead of art paper. Ian Hamilton Finlay used images of military equipment to describe the violence of nature and nature to describe human violence. Christian Bok's 'language virus' is of course a kind of killer, as is the sniper at the end of the wall.

Second World War

Irene Barberis's line of black words is taken from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Here, the words echo the shape of a machine-gun belt; bullets for the gun sitting over them.

Musical instrument Displays

Satu Kaikkonen/Anonymous

In these two cabinets, the work of the Finnish visual poet Satu Kaikkonen provides an unplayable musical score for the silent instruments (see photo above). Kaikkonen, one of the leading experimental poets in Finland, is also a music teacher. Hidden at the base of one of the cabinets is a postcard from the sequence 'a map of you', made by homeless and vulnerably housed people in Bury and Manchester - more of these postcards can be seen at Bury Transport Museum. The single word message of the card can be read in many ways - perhaps here it refers to the solace brought by music.

One man tent

Fatima Quieros

This visual poem (or 'vispo') by South American Fatima Quieros is a variation on the letter X. Here it rests on the empty sleeping bag like a question - who was the ex-occupant of this bag?

Normandy Room

Steve Giasson

Canadian poet Steve Giasson has listed the names of all the dead in Homer's Iliad, the heroes and the unsung (see photo above). The piece speaks to the other roll calls of the dead in this room - the many Fusiliers who gave their lives in two world wars.

Modern War

Stephen Butler/Philip Davenport

Butler's triptych subtly points up the physical brutality of war. Davenport's spreadsheet is based on his notes taken at war crime hearings in the Hague. The trial concerned the massacre of Muslim men and boys in Bosnia. The poem counts up the dead, using a spreadsheet like a kind of mourning abacus. (Philip's account of writing the poem at a war crime trial in The Hague is to be found on this blog, titled "I am sitting in a room" written March 2009.)

Visual poem by Stephen Butler

Closeup of Steve Giasson poem

The Text Festival continues until 9 July 2011; please contact 0161 253 5878 for dates and opening times of specific exhibitions or events.

arthur+martha+me

2011-06-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

The artist Tabitha Moses has been working with us on the Four Acre project, giving us invaluable help and now this informative feedback...

I suppose I got in touch with arthur+martha because I've had a growing feeling that running creative workshops hasn't been as fulfilling or profound as it could be - for all concerned. Sometimes, not always, it seems that participants have a pretty superficial experience, just coming along and making something crafty pretty quickly, not much one-to-one interaction, following instructions, not engaging very deeply with the creative process. Of course it's not compulsory that they have an epiphany but there is such potential to open up internal vistas through exploring and challenging yourself…

I've noticed the benefits of working as a pair – there is someone to bounce ideas around with, to discuss how the project is going, share the workload, bringing individual strengths to the workshops (Phil's words/poetry and Lois's design/visual skills), developing the projects through conversation.

Other things I've noticed…

- It's important to let people use their own voice in the words and visuals – handwriting, drawing, spoken words

- People have the choice of words or visuals, they can engage initially in the most comfortable way

- Very simple 'art' techniques that don't scare people away. I love how the handwriting is transformed into something permanent by embroidery or transfer onto crockery

- Questions and topics of conversation are universal and open to interpretation. People can respond as lightly or as deeply as they wish

- Longer term projects allow greater depth, exploration, relationships to develop

- The one-to-ones are new to me. Important for reaching deeper places, thoughts, ideas, memories

- The blog is a vital part of arthur+martha. It acts as a record of events, a place for reflection, an advertising tool, a virtual gallery, somewhere the participants can direct friends and family to.

Phil mentioned that it was important for him to allow his own practice to inform the workshops. I've found this rather difficult in the past, thinking of my practice as being composed of the visual and making parts only. However I now realise how heavily I draw on people's accounts, stories, reminiscences for my subject matter. This can definitely be brought into future workshops.

Tabitha and Mr Clarke

It was a real privilege to sit in on the session with Mr and Mrs Clarke, all those memories, stories, people, places. We had a right old laugh. Important to pass on the knowledge too. I don't know how housebound Mr and Mrs C are but they seemed to enjoy the company and the chance to reminisce. Keeps the brain ticking over. I liked how they were encouraged to look at their stories in an unorthodox way, cutting up sentences and making poetry.

So, thank you Lois and Phil. You're doing a great and inspiring job.

Boiled Bone Soup at Tesco

2011-06-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

participant in Four Acre 'Tesco' workshop

Tesco in Four Acre were kind enough to let us run a workshop in their supermarket, so we (Phil, Lois, Tabitha) duly set up shop. We had cakes, tablecloths, balloons to write on, all of them stark white in contrast to the multicolours of the stacked shelves around us. The memories of food ushered in by the older people we met were also in stark contrast to the plenty on display. Perhaps it's impossible nowadays to imagine the short supply of those wartime childhoods, but the power of telling came through both loud and clear. One man actually shook with anger at the very idea of wasted food: his mother had raised his family on not-quite-enough. They didn't starve, but they certainly were acquainted with hunger, intimately and often.

Go Hungry cake

Hungry? I used to steal potatoes and peas and carrots from farmers' fields. It's what you had to do. (Anon)

Boiled Bone Soup in yellow enamel bowls. No flavour, but it filled. (Marie)

fairy cakes with quotes from Participants written on (then eaten)

War recipes: Irish Stew. No veg, apart from a dirty carrot. A piece of meat the size of an oxo. Hold a leek in the pot for 5 minutes to give extra taste. The next week we made bread. No yeast. (Joan)

The first banana I had was out of a tin. (Jeff)

Short pieces of reminiscence were selected by participants to write onto cakes, napkins and paper tablecloths. More photos at flickr

(A big thank you to Louise Applegate at Tesco for helping to facilitate this session and Tesco's for providing the materials for the workshop.)

A van delivered the tea leaves, another the milk, another the bread....

St.Teresa's Primary School, St Helens

2011-06-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

Do heroes date? Are most of today's toys virtual? We wanted to start an intergenerational conversation at St Helens, so Phil and I worked on an activity for children to engage older people in discussion. Last Wednesday morning we were given warm tea and welcome by Years 5 and 6 at St.Teresa's Primary School, Four Acre.

We chose themes that would connect across the decades. Year 6 listed Heroes - they selected and justified their personal heroes: varying from Zeus, to 'my Nan' to Jesus to tweenpoppers JLS. The children drew an image symbolizing their choice on a paper plate, taking care to leave room on their artwork for the older person to write their reply in circular form. For Year 5, we discussed Toys and Games, resulting in a diverse and at times disturbing mix of computer games and classic children's toys. From the delightfully monikered Killzone 3, to one girl who chose her Grandma's Whip and Top. Phil attained a level of doubtful cool because he'd played Assassain's Creed.

One of the creative challenges was to draw in the round - to make a drawing with no top or bottom, that could be viewed from all directions; it's a great stimulator to set projects in which the world is seen in a slightly different way.

I was saddened to hear several children hitting the 'I cant draw' wall. They needed lots of reassurance and encouragement. Where do the problems set in? I believe that all children can draw, I see children aged 0-5 before starting school who delight in mark making, colour and texture, seeming more interested in the process than the end result. Where and how does this change? Unfortunately confidence is easily knocked. Sometimes this problem is added to by the very people who are trying to assist. I've sometimes seen classroom assistants trying to help out by drawing for children. We have met many older people over the years who cry out 'I can't draw', citing the fact that they haven't done anything arty since school. Many recount how a teacher's or parent's throwaway criticism put them off for life.

Kung Fu Panda in a heart.

One of the boys I worked with insisted he couldn't draw, however he was full of enthusiasm for the subject (his hero was his saviour Aunty, who he symbolized with a Kung Fu Panda that she gave him, enveloped in a heart) With encouragement, he conquered his fear and designed this delightful plate. The hard won pieces are often the best; they depict their own struggle.

We asked the children to imagine they were reporters, and brainstormed with them a list of questions they would like to ask older people about the theme of Heroes or Games. Their questions showed imagination and some sophistication. I would love to be a fly on the wall for the conversations they'll have with the older people they choose to work with.

Over the morning the two groups produced thoughtful work, enthusiastic and engaged. I look forward to the seeing the finished artworks. Thanks again to the school for making us feel so welcome, and providing pencils, pens and those essential cups of tea.

a huge kettle always simmering

2011-06-05T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Phil and I spent a happy and productive morning at Four acre Library, with a small but highly motivated group of participants. We worked on the embroidered tablecloth with an image
of a brown teapot, and writing sharing the tradition of teadrinking...

Sid spoke with great affection and humor about his mam and dad, he wrote on the tablecloth: "It was that strong we called it black treacle, there were spoons of it heaped like logs floating''. and "an open grate a huge kettle always simmering. She'd cook immaculate."

Mary shared her memories of growing up on a farm: "Nothing tastes so good as sitting under a haystack or stook of corn and drinking that tea''

One of the challenges in working in a drop in session is you never know how many people will be joining you- an empty room or and overcrowded one or a mad rush with everyone turning up 5 minutes before the finish time. This time the library was quite quiet, so our group was small. But the conversation blossomed and kept blossoming. Our pair of participants really engaged in the subject matter, the conversation and the artworks. They'd both been to previous sessions, and seemed keen to join us again in future ones - a tentative start in creating a new creative group in Four Acre. One of the joys of group work is setting an activity up and then watching it take of and have a life of its own. Here the encounters were social as well as creative - our two main participants were strangers at the start, but soon discovered that they were brought up in the same neighborhood and shared many memories, the atmosphere turned into a little party.

more photos at http://www.flickr.com

The pros and cons of manners

2011-06-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

A visit from Mayor Tom Hargreaves added an extra voice to our session with the Mature Matters group at St Helens. The Mayor is deeply involved with his local community and so the discussion started with ideas of community - what makes a healthy community? What are signs of it sickening? From this we moved into examining how we're all taught to inter-relate. The pros and cons of manners. Key phrases from this discussion were embroidered onto bunting, like moral post-its from a shared past. 'Eat with your mouth closed.' 'Sit up straight.' 'Manners!' 'Ps + Qs.' The group itself is a little community, a cheerful and supportive one, run by Doreen and Monica. As Doreen said: 'Community? You've got to get to know people. And care about them.'

Caring

embroidering the bunting

Key words from this discussion were embroidered onto bunting, like little moral post-its..

A visit from Mayor Tom Hargreaves added an extra voice to our session with the Mature Matters group in Four Acre.

Mature Matters and the Mayor

Owen and the Mayor

Pauline and Jane

Scripture cake

Vintage cookery books

For more images please visit http://www.flickr.com

conclusions drawn from being alive

2011-06-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

The most moving session I've witnessed at Four Acre was with one man. During the course of reflection and reminiscence, he travelled through his whole life. At first, his summary of it was dismissive. 'Mundane job, mundane job, mundane job.' His manner was brittle and defensive. He was shut away in his house and within himself.

In the course of talking, his world began to unfurl. He remembered the adventures he'd happily undertaken, the crazy-seeming risks. He recollected his encounters not only with other people on his global travels, but also the natural world, the landscapes, the wild edges of the earth. I made notes of his experience and read them back to him, reaffirming the richness of his past. I asked him to make a piece of writing that reflected on his experiences. He was too self-conscious to write or draw in front of us, so we left him with pen and paper.

For our second session, he had written a little philosophical rumination; the conclusions he'd drawn from being alive. He had also decided to join an artgroup. He was also less guarded. Little chinks had opened in his armour and through them escaped some hints of his old bravery. Because we had the opportunity to work one-to-one with this man, a remarkable thing occurred. We were privileged enough to be part of a rare moment - when someone looks at themselves and changes as a result of that act of reflection.

Of course my account is subjective. How can we really know what happens in another person's head, or heart? But something about the quality of that particular afternoon makes me believe my 6th sense. The fact that I can see his face before me in my minds eye as I write, can recall the conversation, tells me how deeply it affected me.

How do you measure human engagement? Behind every publicly-funded art project there's a tussle going on between art and numbers. How deeply engaged are the participants, versus how many participants? How much does it cost versus how much art is in the art? This is public money and as many of the public as possible should benefit. But if the engagement is shallow, then what's the point?

arthur+martha usually works with groups: being in a group is often a great encourager and pleasure for people. The social dynamic becomes part of the texture of the art. However, numbers are not the whole story. The strength of a piece of art is the intensity of its vision and the conclusions it draws. Neither the personal experiences nor the power of the artwork can be number-crunched - they need another kind of accounting.

me red hair always got me in trouble

2011-05-31T07:12:00.001-07:00

The cliche of being restricted to your house is that it's tragic. In fact, the soundtrack to the session we've documented below was laughter. There are many housebound people tucked away in our communities who have a great deal more to offer than misery. This is not to belittle the difficulty of their situation, just to reaffirm that determined people can rise above circumstances. As part of the project at Four Acre, we've worked one-to-one with several house-bound older people. At this particular 'one-to-one' there were in fact five people present. Phil, Owen and I sat with Joe and Joan, who shared some of their stories while we made notes. This material was then edited into a poem by Joe and Joan the following week.

Phil and Joe

Joe

I can remember my dad coming home, rifle in his hand. He used to paste me, didn’t half lay into us. He went over to Europe in the war. He was strict, we could do with a few like that now.

Jo
an

Joan

Well-behaved. Catholic, every Sunday morning get up, Sunday clothes on, to the church, in the winter a red coat, black skirt, Sunday shoes. Easter - egg, paint the face on. My dad told us to come to 11 o’clock mass and we’d never heard him sing like that – we couldn’t stop laughing. We didn’t half get in trouble – ‘You’ll go to 9 o’clock mass in future.’

I had an old bike, riding around on the slopes, all the tyres were popped, no brakes, no spokes. I had more bruises than anything. Went to Downies, all hills and grass. Went there to play rounders. Southport without brakes. Over the red rocks, through the cemetery. Did a lot of walking – a bottle of water and a jam butty, go to Taylor Park.

When I grew up we took our kids to Colwyn Bay every week. The kids loved it, sandwiches and pop. (When we was young we never went.) Colwyn Bay, open air swimming. It was a change, we worked all week, it was our day out on a Sunday. The kids’d play on the sand, they couldn’t go far and it didn’t cost a lot. Splashing and racing. Now they take their own children. They remember, ‘We loved it. Didn’t want to come home.’

Joe

My old chap died age 56, I hated him but I loved him. Joan and I married 1961, fifty years. What’s the secret of a good marriage? Fighting. She was always throwing coffee at me, I had to keep decorating the house. It’s been alright cock.

I was a loose pattern maker, been made redundant 6 times, some hard times. Last 15 years we’ve done a lot of travelling. Used to go to Spain once every 5 weeks, have the cases packed ready. When the kids were little we’d go to Colwyn Bay – they still do it now cos they remember it.

Only went to Blackpool a few times. Went there and parked accidentally in the police compound – and I had two bald tires and a licence out of date. Went to Frodsham Mill, Delamere Forst with no brakes – needed an up hill to stop the car.

I was goalkeep for the Town and a man asked me how old I was. I said 15 and he said, ‘It’s a pity, it’s a pity.’ I always wondered was that my big chance?

My dad had two heart attacks watching Saints, he got that excited watching Saints. Saints was everything. When we meet Wiganers we still argue about it! I could have played, went for trials, but was to small. Fit as a butcher’s dog.

Used to go swimming in the Hotties Water. Hot water coming off the tanks at Pilks, sprinklers into the canal water. Pilks, that was the town. All went into Pilkingtons, Ravenhead. In the 50s or 60s at the Hotties, people going with nets for the tropical fish. I learnt to swim in the clay hole from the brick works- Shirley Pitt in the Delph. Used to climb up the walls, 200 yards high. Everything was dangerous in those days, they’d put a rope round you and throw you in the water- you soon learnt how to swim. I learnt in half a day. If you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t go back again. Used to climb up the walls like spiders, you had to do it or you’d be out of the gang. It was nothing, just an everyday thing.

There were bridges across two old slag heaps and we hung swing ropes, 20 feet up- how nobody got killed I don’t know. The mine was shut but the shaft was still left open, we used to climb down the rope to a big tied knot and swing across the shaft- 600 feet deep. We used to throw things down it and wait to hear it plop. Used to think if we ever fall down there, you’d be dead.

I remember em saying, “I’m going to hit you now, not for what you did, but for getting caught.” Playing on a haystack in Shirdley Park, fell right through it, Police chasing us right across fields, right through Parr, right back to our house- ‘Him with the red hair - he’s been in trouble again - been at it again.’ Me red hair always got me in trouble.

The Last Supper carved onto a pearl

2011-05-31T07:06:00.001-07:00

As part of the project at Four Acre, Phil was lucky enough to meet an amazingly well-travelled man who shared some of his story:

Australia is the biggest beach in the world. But they’ve got Great White Sharks. I used to swim every day... and the city gents, the office workers they’d all go for a swim. Beautiful water. This one fella had been swimming 16 years and one morning he went in and a Great White bit his leg off. Though his mates dragged him out the blood loss killed him. But the people still go swimming and surfing and the Great Whites still come circling.

We went up to the tropics and I made friends with an Aboriginal man. The Aboriginals are allowed to hunt any animal... We hunted with them, catching turtles. They cut them open then we had to look away cos the killing is sacred – the spear goes through the shell with a hook and they use that to pull it on its back and kill it. They gave us turtle meat, meat off a shark, Manatees, doogong, they spear and eat. Whatever they kill they bring to all the families.

...Live on the beach, throw a fishing rod and catch my tea, then move on to the city. Torpedo Rocks. The sky gets strange colours in Australia. Green, blue, pink, the whole place on fire. I saw an Aboriginal man dive in the water with a 20-foot tiger shark. They know the behaviour of the animals, the spiders size of my hand, the striped sea snakes.

How extraordinary that some people will never envisage what you’re missing, what you’re going to miss. I’ve not missed it, it’s changed me. I appreciate both humans and animals now, what good they do. It’s been a wealth. The Aboriginies are great taxidermists, great carvers. I’ve seen the Last Supper carved onto a pearl...

Chiropody and art?

2011-05-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

It's a winning combination. Last Thursday, we worked with people waiting for the Chiropody clinic in the Four Acre Health Centre. As in our previous session, they were quick encounters, so we devised an activity that was easy to achieve in a short time.

There can be a price to pay working in this manner; the depth of the work can suffer, it feels at times as if you're surface-scratching at the subject matter. We have set ourselves the aim of creating a large community artwork, so there is also a building pressure to get making.

However on the plus side, there's an opportunity to meet and talk to people who might not normally partake in art events, (some of whom may join us again at future sessions). Also, something rather wonderful happens when placing arts and reminiscence in an unusual setting - a subtle change in atmosphere, a lessening of tension. Doctors' waiting rooms can have an air of apprehension; to find yourself taking part in a conversation about childhood games is welcome distraction - perhaps even gives a medicinal lift in well being.

We noticed a general hush when the participants were talking, as other occupants in the waiting room quietly listened in. Conversations would sometimes start to spill, with those listening joining with their own contributions whispering amongst themselves.

We created little flags, one side naming a childhood game played by the participant, the other side the location the game was played at. Names of roads and games sounded poetic, they seemed to conjure up more than they actually said.

lamp to lamp

from there to there

McColloh Street

Finger Post

stonies we called marbles

July Street

lemonade power at Carr Mill

Happy Valley

tin can bongo

pie crust jump on your back

ginny can or piggy

Stanley Park

knock on the door

and run away

The flags we plan to place in sandwiches at a teaparty event, any excuse for lunch... more photos of the evidence to follow another day.

the tide took all the sand away

2011-05-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

get on the sands at Blackpool buy a jug of tea and paper cups for threpence... Irene

Our theme was childhood holidays, our target group 'over 60s', our materials paper plates and we were sustained by cups of tea, donuts and chocolate mini rolls. Yesterday morning Phil and I were based at Four Acre Library, joined by Owen from the Arts Service and a wonderful new addition to our group, Tabitha Moses.

We've gone away with five children and this is the Gods truth, with £5. Five of them, two children in nappies. We got off the coach in Blackpool, it was throwing it down, we went for plastic macs in Woolworths... Irene

This was an informal drop-in session: over the morning 8 participants 'dropped', some staying for 10 minutes, some an hour. Everyone gave generously of their memories and selected single lines to create circular poems, written on paper plates. The paper plates will be used as designs for ceramic versions.

The photograph I have, my younger brother, I can see to this day, my brother and the other is sat down on the sand on New Brighton eating butties... Sid

The benefit of a drop-in session is that spontanaeity helps to take away some of the apprehension about making art and writing poetry. We regularly work with older people who haven't done any art or poetry since school. Many were put off it at a tender age. By working in a familiar environment and approaching the art and poetry through reminiscence, we seem to be winning over a little gang of makers.

As ever, our topic travelled far from seaside sun to include many other subjects; some were chilling recollections of poverty that brought back Tuesday's session with Rainer Ganahl:

There were seven of us in the family. Two up two down. Two sisters shared one bed, then 3 boys shared a bed with me mum and dad, an army jacket on the bed to keep us warm. When you couldn't afford coal you would burn anything. Once we tore the linoleum off the floor to burn, anything to give you some heat. Alan

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/

Rosy Lee

2011-05-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

We're aware of tweeness and the dangers thereof. We've been putting little pieces of poetic writing about childhood onto cakes and doilies and tablecloths and we've got our eye on bunting. It could all get hopelessly rose-tinted, couldn't it?

But these are St Helens childhoods viewed through 70-80 years of living, sometimes hard living. Many people talk of happiness, but they also talk of lack.

if there's stress in anyway a cup of tea...

We'd decided to talk about tea-drinking, that Great British Staple - and especially teadrinking when faced with a crisis. Tea is a big part of our shared culture, a fondly-held tradition. It's often delivered with little frilly extras, like teacosies, doilies and iced cake as ornaments. But what I'd not really considered was tea as a means of just getting through the day.

During our drop-in at our regular library haunt in Four Acre, we encountered several people whose thoughts on tea were anything but rosy. B told us about working 12 hour shifts, grafting from light to night on one meal a day. The tea trolley at work was the thing that kept them propped up, a pick-me-up and an appetite suppressant.

My Mrs is a bugger for tea

Tea is also the Great Comforter as another participant said. 'When someone died we were awash. Would you like another drink?'

Rainer Ganahl, Fred Engels and the Red Door

2011-05-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

(Typed from Phil’s rough notes.)

Walking over to The Red Door, feeling nervous. Don’t know what this meeting will be, it’s throwing dice. We’re bringing artist Rainer Ganahl into a homeless drop-in centre in Bury. Rainer is obsessed by Marx and Engels, he’s locked into the books, into that moment, floating it alongside our own time. His work in Bury shows the Marx/Engels classics heaped in vitrines, with similar literature.

Engels’ work describes the plight of a whole people, the working people of Britain, as they struggle to feed the industrial processes of the 19th century – and desperately to feed themselves. Engel’s The Condition of the English Working Class is an angry book, outraged by the stories it tells – people living in holes in the ground, dying starved, diseased, trodden down by the ‘good’, or ignored. It’s Darwin’s fight for survival on a human scale, and like Darwin it is the beginning of a theory that’ll change everything.

In 2011, the British people who live the life closest to Engel’s descriptions are the homeless.

The group at Red Door shape-shifts around Rainer G as he leads a reading aloud of Engel’s words. Two young girls sit on a sofa; they jolt involuntarily when we read a section about prostitution. A leans back in a nearby armchair, his expression veiled, but listening intensely. He won’t say a word until the teabreak, away from the others. K and R sit at the table with Rainer, Lois and myself. A volunteer who’d recently been homeless comes in and out of the room as his chores permit.

Ganahl is an imposing character, brimmed with mischievous energy, his head planted with a bright blue woolly hat like his own personal blue-sky weather system. He’s such an alien presence that people don’t quite know what to make of him, unsure what signs to read.

What we do read is Engels. The stunning brutality of those little vignettes send us into a horrible lulled trance. (A woman found dead under a blanket in her room, with her children, all starved.) People abused and abusing to the point of raw mind-sickness. Between the readings come back parallel stories from the people in this room, this NOW. Tales of streetlife, blurred with shaky emotion, drugs and shock.

For myself, the most moving point comes when I go away from the table to stand outside for some air with A. Between drags on a cig, A tells me about the hostels and rough sleepers he’s met in North Manchester, on the same journey he himself has made, with nowhere home. ‘People under umbrellas, people in plastic bags, anything, trying to keep warm, keeping dry. Seen them at night, some died. From the 19th century to now, it’s not long is it? Not a long distance we’ve come.’

Through the 2 hour session, K sits directly opposite Rainer, listening and responding to the history book with his own life. When Rainer talks about the rough clothes working people wore, K shows us his fleeces, jammed under his anorak in layers to keep in warmth. He’s sleeping on cardboard at the moment; when he gets too cold he’ll walk around town to restart his circulation, recharge the warmth in his muscles. As the session continues, details of K’s life emerge: successive jobs, redundancy, substance abuse, a spin down into homelessness. K reiterates many times that he has a drink problem. Eventually Rainer interrupts: “Is the homelessness your responsibility alone, or is it systemic?’ He repeats the word SYSTEMIC.

K shakes his head, unable to accept this new possibility: ‘I’ve gotta problem.’ It’s a saddening moment, the nastier side of psychotherapy culture, of ‘owning’ your problem. I think back over the many conversations we’ve had during this project around the crucial question: why are you homeless? How many people pin it to their own personal failings – marital breadown, substance abuse, job loss, bad health, bad timing? But is that really the whole chapter and verse of the story? The society system we live in has a part. Shouldering the thing yourself is a crushing burden.

After the session, Rainer and I talk about how it went. He chides us for being sentimental. I chide him for not listening to people as fully as they need.

Evening, I come to another Engels reading that Rainer has convened, this time with artists from Manchester. There’s a student-ish atmosphere and I take great joy in close-reading the text, a process I’d usually apply to a poem. We touch on Engel's dubious references, naivity, and the naturalisation of predjudices against the Irish. It’s a pleasantly academic discussion, though once again dominated by one person. A large Germanic art pixie, the charisma gathers round Ganahl like a crackle in the air. Likeable/dislikeable, charming, pissy - a man with enormous focus, though one who doesn’t listen well because his own head is raging with ideas. He is a lightening conductor, but this second group contains no real electricity; the charged moment has already occurred. What fixes in my memory is walking with him through that red-painted door.

At the exhibition launch, Rainer dresses a young artist, Laura, in pages from Engel's book, ceremonially recalling the fustian clothes worn by the poor. But it also harks to K's layered fleeces, proofing him against the night chill. The performance is a witty piece, sharp and rather knowing. I wonder if K will have to walk around tonight to keep himself alive; the day's been rain-drenched and the evening clouds are ominous.

Rainer Ganahl’s exhibition Engels Engels Engels (co-curated by Maurice Carlin and Helen Kaplinsky) is showing alongside the a map of you exhibition at Bury Transport Museum as part of the international Text Festival. Works by homeless and vulnerably housed people in Bury and Manchester are part of the a map of you exhibition.

come ere, I know yer Dad!

2011-05-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday afternoon in Four Acre. The risk of isolation for 'housebound' older people is increasing. Changing family structures, geographical mobility and living longer all contribute to greater levels of loneliness in hidden segments of society. For a while Phil and I have wanted to work again with older 'housebound' people, and this project in St Helens has given us an opportunity. And what an opportunity - the most fantastically funny, warm-welcoming group of people.

Joan Ellam

Our first hosts were Joe and Joan, who regaled us with childhood adventures. Joe recounted with glee: There were bridges across two old slag heaps and we hung swing ropes, 20 feet up - how nobody got killed I don’t know. The mine was shut but the shaft was still left open, we used to climb down the rope to a big tied knot and swing across the shaft - 600 feet deep...

Joe Ellam

I met up next with Mr and Mrs Clarke, who continued the thread of childhood adventures and mischief outdoors. I only got into trouble once - I was just a good runner they never caught me! Mrs Clarke

At the Hotties, you’d strip and dive into the water, Pilks Police would call ‘come ere, I know your dad’ no towels or anything, just pick the clothes and start running…Get chased down the street with all me clothes tucked under me arm. Mr Clarke

Mr Tommy Clarke

As with the morning there was talk about poverty. Mum said: ‘If I don’t come back in half an hour come and look for me’. It was gone three quarters of an hour, and we found her, she was sat on the train sleepers laughing in hysterics, ‘They’ve took me bag of coal off me, the bleedin little monkeys.’ She was took to court and fined 7&6. She said in court: ‘Before I give you the money, can I have the bag of coal back?' When you’ve got 5 kids and your cold- what your going to do? ‘Who’d of fed you if I had gone to jail?’ Mrs Clarke.

Mrs Margaret Clarke

The one-to-one sessions let us open dialogue with people who get missed, not just the immobile, or ill - but people who're shy, those whose experiences put them outside the norm, people with over-protective relatives; there are many reasons why voices don't get heard. These unheard, possibly isolated, people often have been desperately starved of human connection. To tell their stories and to be acknowledged is an opportunity to stand outside their own life narrative and think about the shape of it, perhaps even rewrite it.

In the course of today, we talked with a woman who told us she's so short of company she rides the bus to town everyday simply to be among people. Another person was overwhelmed by their (very vocal) partner. Another was piecing together confidence after a nervous breakdown and marriage split. As he talked, we heard him tentatively shift from a depressive cast to celebratory. It was, as they say, the sun coming out.

A big thanks must go to Val Guard from Helena Partnerships and Pat and Les Andrew for their hard work helping to set up these sessions. Without these people to make introductions, there would have been no sessions.

For more photos, please visit http://www.flickr.com/

mailout.co

2011-05-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wonderful mailout.co participatory arts magazine, for writing a feature about our project a map of you. You can see it on line at http://mailout.co

Bury Text Festival: a map of you

2011-05-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

Philip writes:

...There are two satellite exhibitions to the Text Festival: Requiem in the Fusiliers' Museum and a map of you in Bury Transport Museum. I've guest curated the Transport Museum show, using a selection of works by visual poets and artists placed as poetic interrogations of the exhibits and the visitors. Where are you heading? What space do you carry in your head, what kind of map?

The exhibition includes work by seminal poetic experimenters Robert Grenier, Bob Cobbing, Paula Claire, bp Nichol as well as noted artists Jurgen Olbrich and Rainer Ganahl. But two pieces are especially worthy of mention in this dispatch – one is a miniature tour de force by Marton Koppany, the other a sequence of outsider-ish pieces made by homeless people.

This show takes its title from the arthur+martha visual poetry project a map of you with homeless people in Manchester and Bury. These postcards in bus windows carry tiny handwritten stories, fragmentary reports of homeless people's lives in Manchester and Bury. Funny, troubled, elusive. The modest pieces are adapted tourist postcards of Manchester with landmark buildings removed and text written into the white space that's left. Like the works by Widener and fellow outsider Harald Stoffers, they're emotionally direct, powered by focussing instinct and the moment. They sidestep the self-regarding careerism that sometimes hangs around galleries and instead substitute honesty and even a kind of grace.

These are works made in extremis, not in some academic snug. They speak their vulnerability with their own material – the scurrying handwriting, the cheapness of the found objects they're scribed upon, the mis-spells, the brevity of expression – as if they know all too well their place in the pecking order... (Essay extract)

for more images please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthur-and-martha

a map of you: postcards from the homeless

2011-05-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

Homeless people in Manchester are writing themselves into the public eye, creating ‘customised’ tourist postcards of Manchester, in collaboration with arts organisation arthur+martha. The postcards are currently exhibited in Bury Transport Museum and can also be viewed at BBC Online website. Poems from the project will be shown on the BBC Big Screen in Manchester city centre and tweeted by advertising company LOVE.

a map of you postcards carry tiny stories, little snatches of homeless people's lives. In the white space between the buildings, the stories appear, some stencilled, some handwritten, some self-explanatory, funny, dour, elusive. The cards are designed to bring attention to a group in society who are often overlooked, but have much to offer.

L, a homeless person in Bury, said: 'People who suffer have knowledge.' The skin of these writers is thin; through it they feel the world intensely and report with great vividness.

The arthur+martha experimental arts organization works with people who are often pushed to the margins of society - older people in hospital, excluded school pupils, children with special needs and many others. The Bury Text Festival pioneers unusual and radical use of language - in this case, helping homeless people find opportunities for self-expression. International poets Geof Huth (USA) Steve Gaisson and Derek Beaulieu (both from Canada) are involved in the project, leading sessions as guest artists and helping to edit work.

a map of you has been supported by Arts Council England, Bury MBC and The Lowry - and is working in partnership with The Big Issue in the North, The Red Door Housing Concern Centre, Brighter Futures at Bury Adult Learning Service, The Booth Centre and LOVE Creative.

Notes

A slideshow featuring a map of you is at BBC online: http://www.bbc.co.uk

A BBC Radio Manchester feature can be listened to at http://www.arthur-and-martha.co.uk/ The a map of you postcards are exhibited as part of the Bury Text Festival at Bury Transport Museum until 26 May 2011.

To read more about the project please visit http://arthur-and-martha.blogspot.com

To view more of the postcards, visit http://www.flickr.com/

For more information and to obtain free copies of limited edition concertina postcard packs of a map of you- contact project organiser Philip Davenport on 07951 233953 / philipjohndavenport@hotmail.com