FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Jan 27 - 29th 2012 DEATH: Southbank Centre's Festival for the Living
Sue Gill and John Fox lead a public workshop
DESIGN Your Own DEAD GOOD FUNERAL at 11.45am on Sunday 29th January
in St.Paul's Pavilion, Level 6, Royal Festival Hall
Places are limited and the workshop lasts 1hr 30 mins. Ticket office: 0844 847 9910
A workshop to dispel common myths, to demonstrate the nuts and bolts
of planning a funeral, to inspire and give you confidence. We will guide you
through a process to creatively consider your own funeral wishes and to arrive
at an imaginative framework for a personal ceremony that is truthful and distinctive,
yet still legal and dignified.
Something helpful to take home, to discuss with friends and family,
and when the time comes, to use it.
RECENT PROJECTS
Exhibition FRAGMENTS from the WEATHER STATION
Punch Oystercatcher 1 Ballroom in the Sky Ladder Ark
FRAGMENTS from the WEATHER STATION exhibition
in the stately home of BRANTWOOD on the east shore
of Coniston Water in the Lake District - home of John Ruskin
Saturday 10th September - Sunday 16th October open every day 11am - 5.30pm
WEATHER STATION is John Fox and Sue Gill's 3 year project at the Beach House.
An artist/ scientist collaboration looking at what is on and under their doorstep and trying to reconcile the paradoxes of the local and the global through paintings and etchings, poetry, music, short films of microscopic sea life, photographic documentation of plants, beetles, birds, stories, artist books, recipes, flotsam and jetsam - where the material meets the spiritual .....
PROGRAMME OF EVENING EVENTS - THURSDAYS at 7pm:
September 29th ON THE EDGE OF A HEAVING TIDE performances of a Suite of Songs from LONGLINE, a poetic evocation of Morecambe Bay, with composers Tim Fleming and Pete Moser, lyrics by John Fox, plus guest musicians and singers.
October 6th OCCASIONAL REMEDIES a treasure chest of images and poetic diaries from their forthcoming book about their life in a wooden house on stilts on the edge of Morecambe Bay, presented by Sue Gill and John Fox.
October 13th BREAKING NEW GROUND Scientists, botanists and wildlife conservationists have been key collaborators. Whilst they interpret the world in different ways, this evening will explore where is the common ground. Following presentations from Professor Peter Matthiessen - ecotoxicologist and John Fox - artist, Howard Hull - director of Brantwood will illuminate the links with the work of John Ruskin.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
'Fox oils amazing' J.Martin Guelph Ontario Canada
......' charming and inspirational'. Hilary and Jon Joule, educators
'After 10 years of visits to Brantwood, I cannot quite believe the lowering of the tone with the present artwork'. Anne Robinson Cumbria
model of the Beach House made by Duncan Copley for the exhibition
VISITOR INTRODUCTION
The characteristic most often remarked-upon about John Ruskin is the sheer variety of his interests. Visitors to John Fox’s exhibition will readily observe the same phenomenon: an artist whose reach spreads in all directions, connecting social, spiritual and scientific dimensions – or as Ruskin would have it, ‘poetry, prophecy and religion – all in one’.
In the 1960’s John Fox and his partner Sue Gill embarked on an experiment in a new form of socio-political expression. Drawing on the ancient arts of travelling players, itinerant poets, troubadours and the like, they pioneered a dramatic new language of community arts, edgy and celebratory in the same breath. With Welfare State International, as their company in Ulverston was called, John and Sue’s engineers of the imagination achieved international recognition. Now in his seventies, John is discovering a whole new creative territory after an already long and distinguished career in the arts.
John’s art, like his career, very much pursues its own path, with no interest in relating to any given trends in style or approach. You will find everything from paintings and prints to film and poetry; sculpture and model-making to microscopy and specimens. John is also an instinctively collaborative artist, as many of the works in this show and their associated events, attest.
But what is the Weather Station? Literally, it is John and Sue’s eco-house, built on stilts on the shores of Morecambe Bay. From here, in the creative crucible of his studio, John records the ‘climate’ of the world, measured in everything from the heaviness or lightness of his heart, to the delicate balance of life among the critters in the sands of the bay. The Weather Station is more than the sum of its parts; it is at once a diagnostic tool for gauging the health of the world and a sort of metaphor for the state of mankind.
Brantwood was Ruskin’s ‘weather station’, a creative laboratory through which he held up a mirror to society. From here he looked at nature afresh, recapturing our ancient mythic knowledge, wrestling with our growing scientific understanding. In works like Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century he uttered words of ringing prophecy about pollution, climate change and injustice. I am delighted to welcome John Fox to show his fragments of the same difficult journey. It is a journey that cannot be made with the benefits of foresight or hindsight alone, but must be made, in Ruskin’s wonderful word, with “heartsight”.
Howard Hull Director
A Rites of Passage Autumn School
GILLY ADAMS and SUE GILL of www.deadgoodguides.com
with Anna Ledgard
Saturday, November 12th – Tuesday, November 15th 2011
East Woodlands Village Hall, Frome, Somerset BA11 5LQ
Following the success of Field of Vision in Scotland in May this year, we have decided to offer a similar workshop in the West Country this autumn.
The intensive 4 day course will examine the Hows and Whys of ceremony and celebration in a practical and experiential way. We will investigate how both positive and negative life events can be distilled into myth and poetry and create meaningful rituals to contain them. Gilly Adams and Sue Gill will offer insights into the cognitively rich world of the secular celebrant, sharing their experience, offering theory, information, and – they hope – inspiration. Most importantly the course will be shaped to fulfill the needs and aspirations of participants so there will be plenty of opportunities to learn and practise many aspects of the craft of creating ceremony – both public and private - in a safe environment.
The venue in East Woodlands is on the edge of the Longleat Estate and has a very particular, rural character which will inform the nature of the course.
The venue is 10 minutes drive from Frome in the middle of nowhere and we could foresee difficulties in participants being able to access good and affordable food nearby, so we have taken the decision to ensure meals are available on site so the flow of the day is not interrupted. As food is integral to celebration and eating together is an important part of our process we have asked fellow artist/cook Anna to provide meals for us throughout the course. These will be Dorset sourced where possible and home cooked at the venue every day. The cost for this will be £40 to include 3 evening meals and 4 lunches. Our meals will take place within the 10 -9 working day. We hope everyone will wish to sign up for this. STOP PRESS: A few budget rooms available in Frome with friendly local households. Don't delay.
There are 12 places available, at a range of fees:
4 Earlybird places @ £295 paid up in full – all gone
Next 4 bookings @ £325 each - all gone
Remaining places @ £350
ONGOING - THE WEATHER STATION
The Weather Station at the Beach House is an on going installation, a cliff and beach garden
on the west shore of Morecambe Bay. With weather vanes, icons for an unknown faith and drypoints,
collographs and etchings it is designed to examine performance and perception in an ecological context.
Started in 2007 and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) from 2008 - 2011, this epic work in a teaspoon incorporates signage, printmaking, whirlygigs, pamphlets and occasional ceremonies, events and performances.
For feedback, diaries, essays, images see "Past Projects" and " A Pig's Ear of it" .
For films follow " Links" (on the Links page).
FRAGMENTS FROM THE WEATHER STATION will be the concluding exhibition running from
Sept / October 2011 in Brantwood Coniston. See below for more details.
Oyster catchers
the last wolf
The Geomythica crew build a den
Children's flotsam & jetsam museum under the Beach House
The artist Rebecca Chesney began work at the Beach House during May to create an archive of all the plants
within a 50 metre radius of the house. By July she had identified, collected and pressed 172 species. Her work on the green roof of the studio will contribute to ideas for the"Garden in the Sky" forthcoming children's book from Boardwalk Books.
close up studies of Rebecca Chesney
Each year we welcome vistors to The Beach House within the context of a Gift Relationship contract. In exchange for agreed periods of practical work from our visitors on "The Weather Station" , we offer refreshment and discussions and/or interviews on significant cultural issues.
HUNTING CRITTERS IN THE BAY
with Professor Peter Matthiessen, Chris Matthiessen, Richard Scott and Betty Green. The Fresh Water Biological Research Centre on Windermere provided great support and lent invaluble microscopes.
nereis closeup amphipods closeup
Critter photos by Chris Matthiessen
New Short Film just premiered
THE CRITTERS
a visual poem directed by JOHN FOX in collaboration with scientist Peter Matthiessen
Camera & Post Production: Peter Croskery
Sound Mix: Dan Fox, Sound Intervention
A short film to celebrate the billions of minute shrimps, worms and molluscs to be found
in the sediment of Morecambe Bay on the North West coast of England.
Premiered at the Making Time Symposium at LICA, Lancaster University on 12th March 2011
Recent Projects
2010
SEPT 6-17 Artists' residency towards a celebratory garden event at Ox Close Primary School in Spennymoor Co. Durham. Mysterious fire breathing ox kiln disgorges small clay oxen made by the children, musical steel ox, flags and listening post
stories for Festival of Words. Associate artists: Jon Bielstein, Kate Johnston, Martin Brockman, Dave Young, Wendy Meadley, Dan Fox, Naomi Edwards. Community Celebration 17 Sept. 1 - 3.30 and 6- 7.30 pm with fire, drums, lanterns and hog roast.
A Creative Partnerships project.
2011
Feb 28/ 1st March INDEPENDENT STREET ARTS NETWORK residency at Bore Place, Kent. Hands- on facilitation for their Cultural Leadership programme. Rose Fenton, Creative Consultant wrote:
"How can I begin to say thank you for your wonderfully inspirational, creative and generous contribution to our week at Bore Place. You established the tone and spirit of our time together so beautifully and set us off into the next days with our hearts singing. There is no question but the time we spent with you - creating our installations, baking bread, hearing about your work, sharing, laughing, talking together... - enabled the residency to be the success it seems to have been".
March 2nd ACTIVATE PERFORMING ARTS Masterclass: EYEWITNESS - stories for our time - at Dorchester Arts on devising processional work, linked to Dorset's Jurassic Coast Arts Strategy.
March 17th Leaving Ceremony for staff at Tullie House, Carlisle, the county's museum and art gallery,
facing redundancy and job losses.
March 30th ISAN gathering at Lanternhouse, Ulverston of producers from the outdoor arts sector when
Fox and Gill of Dead Good Guides will be orchestrating a wild walk and environmental workshop
along part of the Cumbria Coastal Way to a mystery destination.
" .... the day was inspiring in a very subtle, calming and serene way. As a group we are still talking
about it, a it has raised many professional and personal issues for us - how we want to try and live and work, work/life balance, and how we look creatively at the next phase of our careers ...... "
May 31st - June 4th RITES of PASSAGE SUMMER SCHOOL at Falkland Centre for Stewardship: 'FIELD OF VISION'
.... " I feel like my world has been opened up in many ways ..... This past week has not only given me more knowledge than I would have expected through shared wisdom and experiences but it has also given me the courage to act upon that knowledge where there is a need ..........how we can weave the many lessons of the week back into our day to day. A gift to have shared the experience ...... fuelled with a need to stay with the intuitive and determined to use the brains in my fingers more .... " Selection of the feedback from Bec, Helen, B, Anna ........
JUNE 21st HANDFASTING CEREMONY outdoor wedding ceremony on the Summer Solstice evening for two
conservationists at Hay Bridge Nature Reserve in Cumbria; the bride arrived on horseback.
Sept 10th FRAGMENTS FROM THE WEATHER STATION an exhibition lasting 5 weeks at Brantwood, Coniston
of 3 years research in collaboration with scientist, artists and secular celebrants. Paintings, etchings, short
films, enamels, whirlygigs, biodegradable funeral urns, documentary photography, poetry for occasions.
Closes 16th October. Three linked Thursday evening events at Brantwood - 29 Sept live music, 6 Oct poetry, 13 Oct art/science discussion - all at 7pm. £5 includes glass of wine. Booking recommended: 015394 41396
October 23rd CELEBRATORY ARTS WORKSHOP for the HOME in FROME GROUP to devise a community celebration.
Nov 12 - 15th FOUR DAY Rites of Passage AUTUMN SCHOOL at East Woodlands village hall, Frome, Somerset 12 places available at a range of fees from £295 earlybird to £350. See Past Projects page for information on our recent school in Scotland.
Nov 19th LUMIERE 2011 Durham: the UK's largest light festival. Artichoke brings John Fox to put his cat among the Tracy Emins, as a panel member for the platform discussion " But is it Art? "
Nov 24th SAGE GATESHEAD: John Fox gives a couple of lectures to students on the BA in Community Music course.
Dec 7th NATIONAL THEATRE WALES Sue Gill and John Fox lead a 1 day workshop "Making Ideas Concrete" for
newly appointed Freelance Facilitators for NTW's Assembly Programme.
Please contact us via our e mail: foxandgill@btinternet.com