A diary of an artist's residency in rural Northumberland: Sept 2005 - Sept 2006 (abridged).
November 2005
I am living in Tarset, a remote area of rural Northumberland, in the very north of England. I am on a year-long artist’s residency for VARC (Visual Arts in Rural Communities).
The six weeks I’ve been here have passed in a storm of swirling activity - getting my bearings; figuring out how to acquire what I need for daily life and work; long walks over the moors, getting lost – and gradually piecing together an inner map of this wild and beautiful landscape. Beyond all my activity, the bright autumn days move inexorably forward. Early morning mists give way to soft sunlight, moving across massive sandstone escarpments, turning heather and bracken to gold and copper. White clouds fly across the sky. There are sudden rainstorms and gusts of wind, as leaves begin to fall everywhere.
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I decide to make this piece, called 'Sol' quickly, before the weather worsens, to mark the autumn equinox. Quite a challenge, gathering the leaves over several days, and getting it made, knowing that at any moment a gust of wind would blow it all away. |
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January 2006
Gradually I have dropped into a different rhythm, a different awareness, as I experience the dominance of the landscape and allow the forces of nature to work upon me. I no longer wear my watch, but watch and feel the weather and the shifting light across the land. Driving along the winding single-track roads, I manage not to skid on icy puddles or take the hairpin bends too fast and end up in the ditch - and I am constantly alert for oncoming vehicles, or sheep and other animals leaping across the road without warning. Not that the sheep ‘leap’ exactly. I have found they tend to rush about in a fluster, and sometimes sit down in the road in front of you, whilst they consider which way they want to go.
Here, whenever one encounters someone out-of-doors, there is time for acknowledgment and connection – no hurried ‘good morning’, but a friendly chat, often followed by an invitation for a cup of tea. Somehow, everything seems to get accomplished without rush and stress. I have come to know many members of the community, both informally and formally, through socialising, holding art events, and through joining local interest groups.
The Tarset Archive Group (TAG) is a community-based project that“takes a holistic approach to researching and compiling a comprehensive digital archive for Tarset.” TAG’s activities include researching and recording local biodiversity, and the study of local geology, giving valuable insights not only into the natural environment, but into countless centuries of human activity in the land. In these times of rapid change, their website promises to grow into a valuable resource for the future, and may be a model for other small community groups to follow.
Out in the open landscape, on my first field walk with TAG back in November, we trudged across the fields, on a dry sunny day with a bitterly cold wind. The aim was to identify certain historical boundary markings from an aerial photo – in particular, a huge ancient curved ditch. A confusion of ditches, ridges, furrows, spoil heaps, old walls and mine workings, signs of Romano British settlements – and a cluster of rocks, one of which, rightly or wrongly, I was convinced carried a prehistoric cup and ring mark - eventually left me befuddled. This whole process of trying to find my way around amidst a mass of new information was all too familiar – only this time, I was looking more closely at the ground under my feet.
But to my surprise and pleasure, my ‘eye’ quickly adjusted, and I began to read the land as a record, a massive complex layering of human history.
Further afield, I visited Lordenshaws – a high place with spectacular views across to the Cheviots, and famous for its prehistoric rock art. These carved ‘cup and ring marks’ are spread throughout the region, with much speculation as to their origin and purpose, mostly related to sacred rituals, though some do say they could have been made by aliens. Others say ‘what does it matter’ - and it has been known for farmers, if finding a carved rock on their land, to hide the carving by turning it over. As for me, they stir something deep within… something known that I cannot quite remember. And there is something intimate and personal about these carvings (like handwriting) putting one directly in touch across the millennia with other human beings. I am fascinated by their mystery and their familiarity, and feel sure there must be many more, as yet undiscovered, examples in the Highgreen area where I live.
...continues on 'Rural Residency part 2'...
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'Highgreen 2006' is a 30 page book, measuring 7 x 7 inches, giving an account by Linda Gordon of her year spent as artist-in-residence in rural Northumberland.
Full-colour illustrations of her work and the surrounding landscape, together with background information and diary extracts, all add up to a lyrical and evocative picture of this magnificent part of the world.
To buy this book, either use Linda's Online Shop, or send a cheque, payable to Linda Gordon, for £9.95 (£8.50+ £1.45 p&p) to the following address: Wellington House, 54 Cross Street, Northam, Bideford, Devon, EX39 1BX, UK.
Non UK buyers use Paypal only please. (see the Online Shop).
You can preview the first 15 pages of this book on www.blurb.com/books/300227.