It has taken me awhile to find time to edit the conversations I have been recording. But I have finally finished editing and putting online the first in my new series of creative conversations!
I start this new series by talking to Hannah Sofaer and Paul Crabtree at Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust (PQST). They have established a great centre on Portland, a place for discovery & learning that brings together people from different backgrounds through the exchange of skills & knowledge.
Before you hear Hannah & Paul speaking I introduce this new series. It last for approx 7min and you can skip this part and jump straight to hearing Paul and Hannah. I just felt it was important to establish why I had started these conversations. You won’t hear me so much on the shows following this.
Hannah & Paul give us an idea of the trust and its early days from Tout Quarry Sculpture Park to renovating the Drill Hall. According to wikipedia there is estimated to be over 70 different sculptures within the quarry. Hannah mentions some of the artists like Phillip King, Antony Gormley, Richard Wilson, Shelagh Wakely, Keir Smith, along with lesser known artists.
PQST are a fascinating organisation with strong links to the communities that live around them. They have working relationships with scientists, with artists and within the education sector.
They talk about how they have developed, about how the have researched the spaces made from quarrying the landscape and what might happen to these spaces afterwards. & how the Drill hall is an amazing resource that will provide them an opportunity to showcase not just artist work but also those from scientists, geologists and from the local community.
To listen to this show and read more about Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust
http://creativedialog.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/creative-conversations-with-portland-sculpture-and-quarry-trust/
Preparing for a new series of my Creative Conversations. A follow up on my podcasts I put out last year, where I undertook a number of recorded conversations with local artists and arts organisations on their views on how the Olympics and the cultural Olympiad might affect their practice.
I have some great conversations recorded and ready for me to edit together. My aim is to put out a weekly, 30min show. Some of the conversations have been recorded over the summer of 2012, recorded in Weymouth and Portland during the Olympics and Paralympics. Some of the conversations I have had since the Olympics have left town. My aim is to put out 10 shows and I hope you come back weekly to listen to the shows being streamed from this site, or that you subscribe to my podcast.
The conversations I have lined up so far;
– Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust;
– Mark Dunhill
– Paul Soulellis
– PopupDorset
– Artwey
– ExLab
– Rikki Sorbie
– Jim Cooke
– DIVA contemporary
(they won’t necessary be played in this order)
Before talking to them I start the show by trying to explain myself a bit; talking about where these shows started from, of how last year I was interested in the coming Olympics to the town and about the large sum of money that would be around to pay for the cultural Olympiad. I was intrigued to hear how local artists might see this; how might it effect their practice; what legacy did they envisage it might leave.
I was surprised at how many other people found these shows at all interesting, as I’d primarily made them for myself and didn’t think many people would want to listen to thirty minutes of artists talking about themselves, but people did! I found them immensely rewarding to do and personally forged many new connections, and was always glad to hear that other people did as well.
I’d always intended to go back and do these shows again, to try and talk to the people and organisations I recorded shows with previously, along with having new conversations with some of my new contacts. This I have now, finally, getting around to doing!
Watch this space to hear the shows – http://creativedialog.wordpress.com
After my conversations with local artists and with arts officers and a couple of arts organisations, I am again looking at following up with a new series of my Creative Conversations.
The Olympics have left town now and everything settles back to normal in Weymouth & Portland. With visual arts again left to Bridport Arts Centre and a scattering of cafe galleries in the area.
It is now a year since I did my initial interviews and I’m thinking it is about time for me to get back out on the road and do another collection. I will be looking at re-interviewing the original interviewees, see if they are still around and still practicing as an artist. I will also be hunting out any new artistic ventures. There was a lot going on in the area over the Olympic and Paralympic period and I will be chasing up on a few of those leads.
If you live in West Dorset and would like join me for a recorded conversation, or know of someone or organisation I should be talking to, please get in touch.
See this post for the previous Creative Conversations I had.
http://creativedialog.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/cre…
just posted a new episode of creative conversations, with Martyn Mullender, a founding member of Portland Rocks.
http://creativedialog.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/cre…
Portland Rocks is a fantastic project for young people of Portland, funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music, starting in late 2008. Unfortunately this funding has now run out and they are busy trying to secure further funding to further develop this successful project. Martyn tells us about some of the initiatives that they are currently exploring.
He talks about how it has developed since starting at Underhill School. Describing the weekly workshops that Portland Rocks runs, offering DJing skills; playing ‘junk’ instruments; and tuition in rock and pop instruments, singing and song-writing.
It was great hearing how mentoring pays such a critical role within the project, with Tom Hopkins mentoring Martyn with project management; Martyn mentoring the music tutors to deliver Arts Awards, with the tutors mentoring young people to enable them to lead sessions and young people mentoring other younger people. This all spells a recipe for success in my eyes and helps you understand why this project has been such a great success story.
For more about my conversation with Martyn go to; http://creativedialog.wordpress.com
If you know of a person or an organisation involved with the cultural sector in Dorset. that I should be talking to please let me know and I will see if they’d like to join me in a conversation.
This week I’m having a break from my conversations to bring you a recording I made last year of the sound installation ‘Impossible Architexture’. This works was made by young people from Portland Rocks aided by local artists ivon oates and David Rogers, as part of a b-side encounter. It was a great installation in the The Brackenbury Centre, on Portland.
http://creativedialog.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/cre…
My audio recording follows my personal walk through of the spaces inside Brackenbury Centre. It gives you a taste of this installation, but in no way matches the experience of being in the space and hearing the installation live.
