Universal

So, my excuse this time for not posting for two weeks is...Universal. This week we began our summer project up at The Heathlands, two weeks of arts and madness involving various community groups, volunteers and artists . Last year we did a production of Midsummer Night's Dream which was fantastic but incredibly exhausting. Our theme this time is 'space' in all its many forms (inside, outside, imaginary, outer and so on) and the title, as mentioned above, is Universal. This year we're doing things a little differently and instead of one big performance the two weeks will culminate in a two day community arts festival on 12th and 13th August. There will be all sorts of performance and visual arts and food.

You can see some of the things we've been getting up to on The Heathlands Project Facebook page, which you can find here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Heathlands-Project/137242449671346 or just search facebook for The Heathlands Project, Carlisle.

I've been working with the participants to create costumes and also I've been running creative textiles. We've come up with some really exciting ideas and I will hopefully blog about them as the week goes on. In our creative textiles group we have several different projects going on. One involves weaving fabric into the Harris fencing up around site (those big metal grill fences you see around building sites.) We've had fun chucking dye around and if the weather is kind to us we will start actually weaving next week.

Another project involves plastic bags, more specifically knitting and crocheting plastic bags, melting them and then joining them together. I hope to make a cylindrical shape that you can step into from all the pieces of plastic-lace we're making. This piece is about negative space, as the plastic creates beautiful lacy patterns when melted, and also about how we perceive the space around us.

A drawing I've done of 'The Lace Space' to show how I envisage the piece looking when finished. You will be able to step inside and look through the lace at the space around you.

Detail of 'The Lace Space' drawing

We're also making pom-pom galaxies, crazy space creatures and various bits of art using textiles. It's all good fun and ideas are being sparked all over the place. Or should that be space... 

Anyway, pictures to follow and if you're in the area on the 12th or 13th please come and check out what we've been up to. We'll be open to the public between 11-3 each day.