The Light Walks Shop Installation

The final event for our Light Walks For Dark Days project took place in the Bee Inspired Studio in the Mews, Kettering and was a great success. We were able to share our walks and interventions with the community and had a marvellous time reviewing our year. Carole and Jo have both written their thoughts about the project on their personal blogs which can be read here Reflection, contemplation, light and dark and here Light Thoughts

Light Walkers preparing Glow Balls 

for the Shop Installation Opening

Michael describing some of the things we did during our walks

John showing guests images from the walks

As Finedon featured in two of our walks  and one began in the church yard, we were delighted when the Reverend Richard Coles,  Vicar of Or Lady the Virgin Finedon, kindly agreed to add his voice and thoughts on the importance of walking to our Light Walks Film. 

Watching the Light Walks for Dark Days Film

Having a mini indoor picnic during the opening

Pea shoots in December

our hopes for future growth, walks and creative adventures.

Light Creations for a Dark Day

Our last walk for the series Light Walks for Dark Days lived up to its name. A grey, misty and damp day with little contrast or colour.

This did not deter our Light Walkers however, seeing the greyness as a perfect opportunity to play with lights and flourescence - how could we introduce colour and light into the perfect backdrop of a foggy October day?

Armed with glow-sticks we set off to find dark spaces around the lake at Sywell Country Park.

There were many small gems to spot in the mist on the way.

It was great to have us all walking in a group together again, although sadly for the last time for this series of walks.

Autumn brought its colours to interrupt the greyness of the day.

Nipping into a gap in the hedge, we sneaked off the path and into the woodland. A beautiful hawthorn tree stood, its trunk in the dark and a low canopy spreading. We set to work to dress the dark space with flourescence.

Our sculptural light creations glowed quietly amongst the dark tangle of branches, appearing like floating aliens against the green.

We tried out our creations in other dark space, a natural fence in the hedgerow:

and an installation in the bird hide, the sun illuminating the colours as it caught them through the viewing slit.

It was nearly 4 o'clock when we finished circumnavigating the lake, and darker still. All the way round we had been searching for a perfect place of dark water, but had not found it. Carolyn was particularly determined to find the right place for our final installation of the day, and as we made our way back to the car park we suddenly found it! The Sheepwash running along the side of the car park took the water under trees where it was decidedly dark and made the perfect place for our final installation, floating lanterns.



Serenely bobbing along, they rode the current gently and gathered together at the root of a tree before we set them free again. Flames flared and died, turning from orange to blue.

We watched them for some time, then retrieved them from the water with bamboo canes, and left, leaving no trace but keeping our memories.

Our exhibition of the project will open on Thursday 20th December and run until 6th January at Market Street Mews, Kettering. Watch this blog for more details - we hope to see you there!

Seeds, Scoping, Making Plans

Whist out scoping their May Light Walk Carole and Jo found this bridge spanning the A6 near Rushden / Higham Ferrers. Whilst standing on the bridge they decided the intervention for the next walk should involve weaving something through the bars. Ribbon? Fabric? 

When they reached the other side and looked back at the bridge the V shaped bars seemed to suggest bunting. There was only a few days between the scoping walk and the actual walk and they knew that they would need permission to attempt their intervention in such a public space. Jo undertook the creation of a marvellous visual of what they intended to make and scoured Leicester market for something suitably red, white and blue to weave into the bars.

Carole tracked down the right people to talk to about getting permission, it was touch and go, would the powers that be say yes, would the group say yes, would the forms get signed in time? Thankfully Yes was the resounding end to the week. Both artists are very excited about their Jubilee inspired activity and rumour has it that Carolyn is busy creating a fabulous picnic to take out on the walk.

Beyond the bridge, the intrepid explorers crossed into fields, where the sun danced on buttercups and lit the grass a delicious translucent green.

Around a complicated three-directional kissing gate...

and into a further field, the flourescent yellow of rapeseed glowing in the distance. The sky became an incredible heavy blue-grey, further brightening the yellows and greens around into an almost surreal effect, they felt as though they were stepping into a painting.

And then...

they could see the heavy clouds approaching, and before they could zip up their jackets a violent hail storm was upon them! Throwing its little bullets in their faces, they had to crouch by a hedge for cover.

As they were trying to shelter from the hail Carole's phone rang, it was Alastair from the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, concerned that Beanfield Artists' (Miles & Dacombe) Local Giving Page had received no donations and was missing out on the NCF match giving opportunity. Carole said that both she and Jo had been Tweeting, emailing, contacting supporters and were hoping to hear about some definite donations shortly - again the news at the end of the match funding period was good and they have raised some funds to put towards the Art of Growing project they are planning at The Green Patch in Kettering later in the year. A big thank you  to all who donated - although the match funding has ended it is still possible to donate by clicking the Local Giving icon on the homepage of this blog or by following this link.

On the way back to Kettering Carole and Jo decided to see if anything had started growing in Finedon, on the site of their last Guerilla Gardening adventure with the Light Walks group. Jo had no trouble at all climbing over the wall whilst the less than agile Carole stumbled into some nettles disturbing the rabbit kitten sheltering under the assorted greenery.

The recent rain and the slightly warmer days had caused a lot of growth 

but they managed to find traces of their seed bombs,

some of which had started to sprout.

It had been an amazing day, with all sorts of weather, dramatic light and the promise of new growth. Plans were afoot for the next walk, coming soon in the next post - would the bridge bunting installation be a success?

Walking by Water

We started our first walk of the year, and the first in a set of eight new walks for our project Light Walks for Dark Days.

We set out in Kettering on a crisp, frosty day.  The bright sunlight seemed to heighten the colours in the bare trees, vibrant red and green twigs in a sapphire blue sky.

Frost edged leaves and blades of grass like tiny diamonds.

It was hard to imagine that the patch of rough grass near the bridge had once been the site of a Mill and that the field we were walking across had once been a dumping ground for waste materials from the local Boot and Shoe factories. This green space is a well used, well loved space, children play here and throughout the day there are many meetings of groups of regular dog walkers of all ages. To the left hand side of the field there are old apple and plum trees which still produce fruit to this day.

We headed across the common towards the water's edge, and stopped on the footbridge for a while. Carole caught sight of a large trout darting in amongst the water plants and told the group that this was a popular spot for young anglers and exuberant dogs who love to career down the banks after sticks or squeaky toys!

Looking over the bridge, fast running shallow water and luminous green flowing weeds.  We started thinking about the speed of the water, where it goes.  "How are rivers made?" somebody asked.  We talked about the power of water to carve its way through earth and rock, rivulets joining with other rivulets to create torrential rivers, all down to gravity and the search for the lowest point.

Walking on down the path along the water's edge, a horse plodded across its frozen field to greet us.

A field stretching up the hill beside us, its dead stalks contouring the slopes in rhythmic lines. During the planning walk in December Carole and Jo found clusters of fungi nestled in between the ground level branches of an inviting tree.

On the day of our walk Carolyn found the same tree equally inviting and couldn't resist clambering where the fungi had clustered just a month before. This is the wonderful thing about walking, the route may stay constant but time and seasons bring a host of tiny changes which create subtle alterations.

We found a single boot, sturdy, quite new, mysteriously abandoned at the side of the path and we all wondered why it was that there were often single boots / shoes / trainers left to fend for themselves.

John was reminded of the song Jake the Peg, and created a new leg for the boot, 

 

which then temporarily became a walking stick

Willow trees growing wild by the water, loving the moisture! Their yellow whips of new growth got us thinking about weaving willows and how nature always regrows after death.

A line of frost clung to the water's edge.

Pete recognised the pip pips of Great Tits and we spotted a pair of them flitting repeatedly from one tree to another.   Jo mentioned she had spotted coots nesting on the river on a previous visit.  And so, attuned to watching for further wildlife, we continued on, ears pricked and eyes searching for any movement.

Further down, we spotted a great grey heron on the other side of the water, standing still as a statue.  It reminded John of other great birds and when he saw an Albatross at a nearby reserve.

Further down, the water's rush slowed until perfectly still, creating perfect mirror images.

As we picnicked, a cheeky red robin hopped up really close to us, checking out any crumbs on offer.  Quick, mad rush to get out the camera in time to snap him - but no!  

Each time the camera was lined up and ready to click, he would flit away again!  Teasing us, he reappeared several times, just flying off again as we were about the capture him ... until ... finally!  Jo got this -

and Carole got this - we were quite sure he was starting to pose for us!

 After lunch Jo showed everyone how to make paper boats

we had wondered about using seed paper but thought it wouldn't be very watertight

we chose a simple orange paper which would break apart in due course.

The paper folding was great fun, luckily the sun was just warm enough to keep our fingers supple and it wasn't long until we had created a whole flotilla.

We left our secluded picnic spot and walked further along the path, heading towards Warkton, as Carole knew where there was an ideal spot to launch the boats from.  She assured us that it was just a short stretch away, with a shingly outcrop and quite fast flowing water. The first attempts caught a reverse current and came back to us, so we made sure the boats were thrown out to the furthest bank where the current carried them swiftly forwards. The boats were a Light Thoughts intervention, carrying our hopes and wishes with them.

The return walk covered a variety of paces, some were watching the time, having meetings to get to by 3pm, others were still caught up in the spirit of exploration, finding new things to see on the way back, but we finally got back to our starting point, rosy cheeked and with fairly muddy feet. It was a very good way to start the week.

A rich day of colours, sounds, birds and water, many memories stored away of a good day.