carving~our~way
notes on the end of a social art project and missing them already...
In March this year, daylight began to return and I started an Artist-in-Residence with Creative Recovery Inverclyde. Almost every Monday for six months, I drove over to the recovery hub in Greenock to be with the group, bringing tools, some half-formed ideas, buckets and mess. There was always this moment on the journey, when the view would break into water in front of me. Even though I came to expect it, I was never prepared for how it pulled me into a different way of being/feeling before each session.ย ย
I was able to work in a relaxed way with the group, thanks to the faith and encouragement of the team (Martita, Dana, Jack and Elina). Everyoneโs passion and belief in the importance of creativity on recovery journeys, and hard work to sustain it in Greenock was, and is, awe inspiring. I learnt so much from the group, they brought energy and life to the small embers Iโd offered as a starting point. Weโd sit together passing around ideas, stories, hopes, dreams, failures, biscuits, tools and weโd all enjoy being part of something. Iโve never learnt more about community, generosity and kindness for self and others than from my time spent experiencing the group being so attentive and supportive of one another.ย
On the last day that I drove to Greenock, in September, we celebrated all the projects that the group had been working on, including a beautiful show reel of films made over a number of years with artist Elina Bry and a touching performance created with theatre-maker Indra Wilson. It was a real honour to be a part of that day and for it to happen at The Wyllieum Museum, with that view across the Clyde that weโd sat in front of at so many points, as the light changed across the seasons.ย I drove away with a boot full of driftwood, a bag of popcorn, a bunch of beautiful flowers from the group and a lot of hope.
I will miss them a lot.
This is the text that we wrote together and that the group read out during the small performance at The Wyllieum, in September:
Today marks the end of our project โCarving Our Wayโ.ย
We have been working together since March, going from spring, to summer, to autumn.ย
High up in the hills above Greenock, we dug up clay from beside the streams along the paths of the natural trail at The Cut. This was a really special bonding day for the group as it gave us a chance to work together as a team to achieve more, helping each other along the way. We all overcame different challenges and felt very proud of each other.ย
No machines were used to filter the clay, we did that ourselves with sieves and buckets. This was fun and messy as we were in the moment, with dirty hands, feeling childlike. We left the clay to dry for a while and then used it to create these sculptures. When we started working with the clay that we had collected, none of us knew what we were about to create.ย
Whilst we were making the sculptures, we thought and talked about things we would like to bring more into our lives and things we would like to release back into the water.
The clay was a challenge to work with, it was fragile and broke easily. Instead of us all concentrating on an end result, it prompted us to have meaningful conversations about our lives and feelings. By the end of the sessions, we had found that our hands had made some beautiful sculptures that had been created with a natural flow.ย
This turned out to be a magical process for our group.ย
The whole project has been beautiful and therapeutic and most of all we have created connections with each other, all the elements and the landscape around Greenock.ย
Today, we are returning these sculptures to the River Clyde, where they will break down and become part of the landscape again.
Images by Sean Patrick Campbell.