Navigational Tools

We had a lovely turnout for this inspiring event hosted by Old Law Beacons Jo Dacombe, Kate Dyer and Carole Miles who had staged remote walking interventions in Northumberland during Walking North, part of our A4A Marking Our Tracks, Further afield project.

Carle's whippet Charlie was on hand to greet the guests

Jo spent preparation time climbing ladders to create a lovely backdrop with digital silk hangings from the Miles & Dacombe Light Walks For Dark Days installation

The venue was the very lovely Cranford Village Hall which was set out informally so that people could mix, mingle, enjoy the food and watch the presentations on Pilgrimage 

 

and Timed Interventions, Chillingham Cattle, 

Lindisfarne and Brinkburn Priory. 

Kate during the Hareshaw Linn Timed Remote Intervention

Jo and Carole transmitting instructions for another Remote walk 

The evening was an opportunity for some of the Remote Walkers to see what the Walk Facilitators had recorded during the 4 days of Walking North. They were also able to share their experiences of walking under remote directions and responding via social media. Everyone felt that the evening definitely inspired them to walk further and to look at the landscape through different eyes.

After a break for refreshments guests were invited to answer the following questions

What has inspired you today?

What would you like to see happen next?

What would you like an artist to bring to a walk?

How will you walk differently?

The questions inspired lively discussion and we look forward with interest to see just what the artists response to our feedback will be!

Before we left we noticed a hamper of foraged jams for sale, all proceeds will go to future Old Law Beacon / Beanfield Artists projects.

Many thanks to Kate for the wonderful soup, Carolyn Bantin for her delicious scones and to Amy Dee for being on hand to help with the preparations. Thank you to all who came and most of all, thank you to Jo, Kate and Carole for such a rich and varied evening, we loved taking the walks recalled, virtual and actual, with you. You can see other photos from the evening here. We wonder just where will our boots take us next?

Up-cycling Old China in Bedford

As part of our Remake Remodel strand children in Bedford worked with artist Carole Miles on an up-cycling project inspired by a Circus dinner service designed by Dame Laura Knight for Art Deco ceramics designer Clarice Cliff. The children really enjoyed taking plain, tired crockery and injecting new life into it with their designs and ceramic pens.

You can see more of their fabulous deigns here

Navigational Tools: Ways of Walking Differently Event

“Three artists walked north, and became Old Law Beacons.”

Back to Books would love you to join artists Jo Dacombe, Kate Dyer and Carole Miles for an informal gathering to consider ways we walk in the world and how to walk like an artist.

Inspired by the artists’ recent adventure exploring Northumberland, the evening is an opportunity for artists, walkers and life’s navigators to discuss ideas about -

the experience of a walk,

       interventions and sense of place,

              connecting and navigating,

                     the tangible and the virtual,

                            and to ask Why do we walk? 

                                and How can we walk differently?

The evening will include refreshments and our home baked nibbles; bring food to share! 

Free, but please book a ticket here so we know how many guests to expect. 

7-9pm, Thursday 5^th December, 

Cranford St Andrew Village Hall , 

Grafton Road, Cranford Kettering NN14 4JE

Event commissioned by Back to Books and funded by Awards For All as part of our current project "Marking Our Tracks"

New Town Pioneers

For your delight, dear people of Corby, Northamptonshire, the East Midlands and all points of the compass , the one and only Barb Jungr, a Head of Snakes,the effervescent Gareth Fuller , a mighty choir of Seedlings and Saplings all bursting to sing for you! 

If you'd like to blaze a trail with The New Town Pioneers this Saturday at The Core At Corby Cube is the place to be.

Tickets on sale now! £10.50 or £8.50 concessions

My Old China - Up-cycling in Litchborough

We spent a lovely morning 

in Litchborough Village Hall 

giving some unloved old china a new lease of life.

You can see more of our remaking and remodelling here

Can You Help Us During Grow Your Tenner Match Fund 2013?

 

A little bird told us that Grow Your Tenner is getting closer! Beginning on October 15^th, the Match Fund will keep matching donations until £500,000 has been given away!

Back To Books has a page on Localgiving.com and is eligible to take advantage of this promotion.

Ann Leonard, Margot Norris and Maureen Walvin with our Royal Oak from our Jubilee Tree Planting

From small acorns great oaks grow and so we are trying to rally all our supporters, as well as past, present and future participants to ask them to help us. Each donation of up to but not more than £10 will be matched from the Grow Your Tenner fund.

A donation of £10  can be worth up to £22.50:

£10 donation

+£2.50 Gift Aid

+£10 Match funding

Total = £22.50

The £500,000 will be split into two pots of £250,000. £250,000 will match £10 donations as above while the second £250,000 will be used to match new Direct Debits. The first six monthly payments of up to £10 will be matched.

We have lots of exciting plans for future projects and a small donation could help us make these ideas a reality. You can find our Local Giving page here. If you click the Projects tab on our page you can see an outline of some of the plans for future projects. With your help our plans will have wings!

It's All About the Grout!

In a shady corner outside Caroles' Studio (shed) there have been signs of tea drinking, butterfly watching and grouting!

This is the part we look forward to but in spite of gloves there is a certain artist who always gets plenty on herself and her clothes, hence the attractive overall!

Starting to clean away the excess grout

to gently reveal the image beneath

We thought it was nice to include parts of the surroundings to show scale and where most of the work has taken place. What photographs can't really capture is the play of light on the tiles, some of which have a lustre which changes colour as you move round.

So here are Puddle Jumping 

and Signal Box completed!

Many thanks to Andrew Rushton for the photographs and to Lucy Anderson so being such a star. 

11 panels done one to go! 

Return Shednologists!

Margot Norris nipping and tucking

Sonja Wilson deep in concentration

One of the best aspects of this project has been to see the excitement, pleasure, satisfaction and relaxation it has brought to all the participants. There have been so many interesting conversations, much shared laughter and a real sense of community both in the shed and out in the community venues we have visited. For the most part we have been lucky with the weather, even when it has been overcast or wet, people have come to take part. We really appreciate all the extra hours our Artist / Project Coordinator Carole Miles has put into the project to make it such a success! She also brews a mean cup of tea!

Summer / Autumn Panel Complete

The panel begun with the group in Litchborough is now complete!

Frost Completed!

Carole spent the weekend completing the frost panel

Saturday

Sunday

Thursday

Puddle Jumping - Filling in the Figures

Carole spent Monday and Tuesday working 

on the figures in the Puddle Jumping panel