Here's a little Glimpse of December on the Grange

See the full set here

A Festive Sharing

During our Back To Books Friends, Volunteers and Management Christmas gathering in The Mollie we were invited to participate in the Artspace Sculpture Network New Year Brunch 2015 an opportunity to connect with artists and studios locally, nationally and internationally. Artspace is run and curated by Susan Williams MRBS and is located on Stamford Rd which also falls within our project postcode area so it seems an ideal way of connecting the area between KBA and The Green Patch.

Artist and Project Coordinator Carole Miles 

Susan Williams

Friends from Beanfield Artists and Corby Community Arts, 

The Old Water Tower Brigstock, Gallery 202 and Artspace

Phiona Richards

Everyone brought food to share, explored The Green Patch, enjoyed exchanging news and ideas in The Mollie and left feeling excited about participating or visiting Susan's  Sculpture Network Brunch.

December Threads and Chatter at KBA

 Working with artist Phiona Richards young people 

and their parents from the KBA 

have been exploring threads and making conversation! 

we have been recycling cardboard, making patterns 

and winding threads to make decorations for the festive season, or any season!

 

After all our hard work we deserved a healthy snack!

As you can see we all had a fantastic time 

creating and recycling together!

You can see more images from this set here 

Hanging Out on the Line

Working with artist Carole Miles young people from the Avondale Grange Ward have been making screen prints for Christmas stockings and sacks at the Green Patch Community Allotments in Margaret Rd / Valley Walk, Kettering. We cut paper stencils and used textile inks and screen printing equipment to transfer our designs onto fabric that had once been covers for shelving units.

Prints drying in Carole's living room.

All prints were ironed at The Resource Centre, fronts were trimmed and backs were cut from a fabric sample book before being sewn together to create stockings or sacks. 

The stockings then became a temporary installation hung on a line attached to some trees growing just off Stamford Rd, very cose to a textile recycling bin and within our postcode area for the whole View From Here project. 

The installation gave us the opportunity to talk to passing members of the community and to tell them about the project. 

The children will take their stockings home just before Christmas to share with friends and family during the festive season.

This has been the start of The Binding Thread aspect of our project in which we will be using textiles to explore toughts, feelings, memories and ideas.  

This installation was an simple and effective way of altering the view, caused a few raised eyebrows and sparked some interest in our project. You can see more images here.

Threading and Chattering at The Green Patch

Artist Phiona Richards showed young people at the Green Patch how to transform a circle of cardboard into a magical decoration by drawing patterns and adding some yarn. In amongst all the making we had time to share stories about our day, have a healthy snack and a bit of a run around outside before it got to dark. 

Draw a circle, make your marks

wind your threads, create more patterns.

Pine cones were also threaded!

Beads made a sparkling addition.

Lucy found a holly branch to briefly hang the decorations from.

We just had time to take a few photos before parents arrived and decorations were whisked away home by their proud makers! You can see the full set of photos here.

Design for a Thank You Card

Carole Miles took the images printed a few weeks ago and made some trial designs for the mosaic panels. Although they proved to be to detailed for the mosaic project, Lucy felt that the images would make lovely designs for thank you cards! 

The View From ... KBA

Artist Phiona Richards supported by Carole Miles had their first Threads and Chatter session with a group of parents, grandparents and children at Kettering Buccleuch Academy in Weekly Glebe Road.

It was a lively, intergenerational session and we were made very welcome by KBA's Rob Walker and Jenny Wallace. Button tins were once a common feature in every household and older members of the group had fond memories of sorting through family button tins, finding treasures like mother of pearl shirt buttons, carved wooden buttons, large plastic or jet coat buttons and dainty facetted crystal buttons cut from clothing and saved for sewing or knitting projects. 

Phiona gave everyone a jewellery mat to prevent buttons escaping across the table and onto the floor, she also asked everyone which colour elastic they would like to use, turquoise, red, purple, green - oh the choices!

We soon discovered that buttons with four holes

were easier to thread than those with two holes!

Everyone helped each other

"It was great to see children, parents and grandparents learning and having fun together! " Rob Walker

We had a marvellous time and can't wait to visit the group again in December!

Getting To Know Our Project Postcode Areas

We thought that as the autumn has been so beautiful it would be a good time to walk the postcode areas of our View From Here project, meet some more people and record the shades and contrasts of the area whilst the November sun was shining on us.

Fancy footwork in Naseby Rd

Rich colours, caught and captured leaves.

A worn and tired entrance, what kind of garden might lie behind?

We stopped to chat to a young European man who was repairing his van as we were intrigued and delighted by his mosaic embellishments to the front of his house. It certainly brightens the street!

We called in to The Resource Centre in Grange Place for a catchup with some of our group. Shelagh and Rikk were delighted to discover that their prints had been used to publicise the project. Rikk also had some fantastic news, his garden had come First in Kettering Borough Council's Tenants and Leaseholders Garden Competition, his Wildlife Garden had been awarded Third place the previous year. We've seen the photos, the garden is a magical, multilayered space and we are hoping to be invited for a tour next year!

Shelagh told us that her View From Here prints were now on display in the Salvation Army Hall in Rushden - great work!

Outside the Co-Op we reconnected with Kate, who we often see at The Green Patch, who is a mine of local information and went off with a bundle of leaflets to distribute for us along with 8 pints of milk to deliver to various family members!

After that brief stop we continued our walk of exploration and discovered many contrasts, trees and beautiful gardens spied through gaps and pathways.

Bins and abandoned toys

A weathered sign proclaims - The Space For Sports & Arts

(must investigate further!)

Carved pumpkin lantern perched on a porch

Magnificent trees

Tired furniture awaiting collection

Part of The View From Here which will be changing very soon, grazing land has been bought and more new housing is planned, there may even be a new road running through the middle of the Green Patch. It is a sobering reminder that what we take for granted can easily be lost or changed.

But there is also evidence of peace, hope and new growth

 Poverty

 Starlings

Discarded domestic technology

Everything changes, this field is now a beloved green space close to Margaret Rd, many people, young and old play here, walk their dogs, meet and greet but it was once a dumping ground from leather offcuts and industrial byproducts from the once thriving local boot and shoe industry. The river that runs through it has fish and fishermen, places to paddle along with rusting pushbike parts, dumped shopping trollies, crumpled cans and other litter. Hard to imagine that there was once a Mill at the other end of the field. Walking either side of the river you can here the sound of traffic punctuated by bird song.

If you would like to see more of the sights we gathered you can find them here.