We Were Nominated!

Maureen Walvin and Carole Miles were proud to attend the Northamptonshire Community Foundation Annual Awards which took place at The Royal Theatre in Northampton. Back To Books was nominated for an "outstanding contribution to the community" in the Sports, Culture and Heritage. The project nominated was New Vistas, Wider Horizons which took place at the Cube last October. We didn't win but we feel like winners having been placed in the same company as so many inspirational organisations and community projects. It was a wonderful evening and many thanks to the amazing team at Northamptonshire Community Foundation who continue to make wonderful things possible within the community!

Drawing from the Cube by Dale Page

Work in Progress - New Vistas Hanging Columns Installation

The printed cotton strips made last week are in the process of being transformed. They are being sewn into 

16 cotton columns made from 9 cotton strips, midnight Thursday and Carole is still sewing! Fabric needs fireproofing, side seams need sewing, hoops need attaching.

Hanging on Monday, Project Private view next Wednesday, 5.30 in the Chamber Foyer at the Cube.

No pressure then!

Changing Horizons - Family Drawing Day - Oct 25th

Each drawing event at the Cube has come with a different set of weather conditions, there have been greyish days and days punctuated by the most brilliant light, there have been cloudscapes and wind whipped, rain damp streets, there has been the scurry of feet and the rustle of leaves. The landscape is fairly flat and on a grey day it's hard to pick out landmarks. It has been interesting to see how people respond to the views on offer, some  feel "where is the drama, where is the spectacle, this is just boring", but those who know the area have no difficulty in picking out just what is special to them.

This little girl started drawing lines because Carole had asked people to make one line drawing of the view from a window. The space seemed so vast, simple lines seemed the best response, once she noticed the pebble and sedum growing out on the roof she began to relax and enjoy herself.

Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something everyday, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you the world of good. - Cennini 

What is drawing? It is working oneself through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. - Vincent van Gogh, "The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to His Brother"

Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic.- Keith Haring

Becky enjoyed drawing in the Cube on Saturday so much that she came back again with a friend

 

Drawing is . . . not an exercise of particular dexterity, but above all a means of expressing intimate feelings and moods.- Henri Matisse

The essence of drawing is the line exploring space - Andy Goldsworthy

From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs, but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing.' - Hokusai, The Drawings of Hokosai

One of the things we felt would be really important about the Family Drawing Days would be to encourage the parents who came with their children to stay and draw with them - there were plenty of sofas set back from the drawing tables and it would have been mighty tempting to settle down, sit back and chat adult to adult.

When these two family groups arrived the mothers were going to do just that, but Carole asked them to sit with their children, even if they felt that they had no ability to draw. Carole said that sitting and creating together would be something that they could all enjoy and would remember as a really happy time in the future. 

Initially the Mums were unconvinced, but who can resist the allure of taking time for yourself and a box of gorgeous new pencils - Carole encouraged them to forget the scary white paper, to forget the critical teacher of the past and remember the childhood joy of making your mark. 

Good drawing takes a lifetime practise, as Hokusai states in the quote above, but you can't improve if you don't plunge in and make a start! At the end of the session everyone felt that they had had the best time and the Mum's were glad they had joined in rather than sat back.

Andrew Rushton, who was helping to document the events of they day is also a well known face at The Ferrers Specialist Arts College, was taken by surprise when some former students appeared in the Cube. He's caught them here at the top of the Cube's spiral staircase.

To draw, you must close your eyes and sing. (Pablo Picasso)

Before you are able to draw, you have to learn to see, and you learn to see by drawing. (Mick Maslen)

I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing. (Vincent van Gogh)

I have learned that what I have not drawn I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.- Frederick Franck, " The Zen of Seeing"

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, 'You mean they forget?' (Howard Ikemoto)

I know I draw without taking my pen off the page. I just keep going, and that my drawings I think of them as scribbles. I don't think they mean anything to anybody except to me, and then at the end of the day, the end of the project, they wheel out these little drawings and they're damn close to what the finished building is and it's the drawing... (Frank Gehry)

Photographs by Carole Miles and Andrew Rushton

For more quotes  by artists on drawing follow this link and this one

New Vistas - Family Drawing Day - Gallery

Cushion The Landscape, Public Drawing Day, The Cube 10/10/11

Why "Cushion The Landscape" you might be tempted to ask, as you can see from the photo above, much has changed in the town centre and spaces are still in the process of being transformed. Change is tricky, sometimes uncomfortable or challenging, in most cases the changes have been welcome ones, young and old are justifiably proud of the renewal that is taking place. Corby was one of the original New Towns but many of its buildings were showing their age. You can see a great selection of old photographs of the town  in Francis Frith Collection and this website gives a snapshot of the town's history http://www.corby.me.uk/. For more wonderful archive photographs of Corby we'd like to recommend a trip to the Our Corby Website

Some of the drawing / making days have taken place in the Chamber Foyer in the Cube. It's a space where people come for meetings, to register births, get married. It is a public space, a business space, a large, open space with airy views at one end and double doors which will lead out onto the Roof Garden in the future. Because of it's many functions it also has a selection of seating, chunky, low sofas in turquoise and brown.

When we came to view the spaces we thought it would be interesting to create a set of artworks which were also cushions, that could be displayed and enjoyed by the visiting public. Once again we thought it would be good to add a touch of temporary softness to the environment, an intervention that would remind people of their homes, of conversations with friends or family, of warmth and comfort.

Sonia Hawes, a member of Back To Books who took part in the Invisible Threads project came across the county from Eydon to take part in New Vistas. She hadn't been to Corby for many years and was delighted with the space inside The Cube and all the developments taking place in the town. 

Sonia is no stranger to the pleasures of drawing and soon became engrossed by the patterns made by the cubes and rectangles evident on the older buildings above.

Sonia managed to find a piece of 1960's
Foale & Tuffin fabric to incorporate in
her textile piece.

Kate Dyer was intrigued by the patterns created

 by the new paving on the walkways above.

Whilst Meriel White took the new Swimming Pool 

as seen through the Cube's windows 

as the basis for her cushion front.



Jennifer Helliwell was also inspired

by the Swimming Pool and Ann's information about
the reason for the choice of paving leading from the pool.

Ros Stoddart opted for a minimal palette 

of black and greys, 

basing her design on 

a view from walkway 

up to the Roof Garden.

 

 Lisa Wilkinson was inspired by borders
and planting schemes seen from the windows

Ann Leonard took the canopy suspended above a section
of Willow Place Shopping Centre as her  

 inspiration and it wasn't long before she had made 

her choice of materials 

and had begun hand stitching

Maureen Walvin's family came from Scotland, Maureen grew up in Corby,  married a Corby lad and worked in the Reprographics Department of Tresham College until retirement, she also worked as a Part Time Youth Worker in Corby for many years. The picture above shows where The Willows Arts Centre had been and looks onto to the remains of the Corby Tresham College buildings. She wanted to make a piece which would serve as a reminder of a building which held so many memories for her.

Maureen and Lorraine discussing design ideas.

Fabric pinned and stitching underway.

Shula Hawes was captivated by the building below which was The Strathclyde Hotel c1960.

Here's a link to a film clip showing it as a hotel in 1980. The writer Jill McGowan used the Strathclyde Hotel (aka The Derbyshire Hotel) as a setting in her books A Perfect Match, A Shred of Evidence and Births, Deaths and Marriages. Today it is called Grosvenor House and formerly housed Council Offices.

Shula sewing her interpretation of Grosvenor House in the Core. Her completed cushion cover seen below cleverly incorporates vintage 60's / 70's floral fabric.

The Financial Times said that Corby's belief that the arts can help regenerate a town was demonstrated by the opening of the Core, the multi-use cultural centre housed within the Cube. We are so proud to have been given an opportunity to share these new spaces with the wider community through drawing and making.

Sarah Stringer

Was inspired by the Lamposts and the Glassball panels

Sewing in the Chamber Foyer may have made the space look a little strange and untidy for a while but we'd like to say a huge Thank You for giving us the space to host a hugely enjoyable and productive day!