What we do
Our Dark Hearts
Look Up
The North Pennines is the darkest mainland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (only the Scilly Isles are darker) and is one of the darkest places in England. We are interested in arts activity that supports communities to build a curiosity with the night skies and stargazing, but more importantly increase their sense of connection between life lived in the Fellfoot Forward area and the wider universe.
Our Dark Hearts
The Curious School wanted to explore what living beneath our dark skies was like in the Fellfoot Forward area, both now and in the past. Through a cross-disciplinary arts project they supported pupils from Langwathby C of E school and residents from Fellfoot Forward communities to deepen our understanding of the beauty and timelessness of our night skies here, through time, and through experience. They were also interested in how our companion animals, and horses in particular, behave in the dark.
What was the sensory experience of navigating in the darkness without light? How would it have been experienced by the Border Reivers before electricity? How do horses behave with us in the dark?
With Otter class at Langwathby School, they found out about our darker Border Reivers history. Children were surprised to find that some of them could have been descendants of the Reivers and that their old barns may have seen some action in the past. They made a relief sculpture of a Reiver raid, learning about our night-time fauna (and how some are now extinct in this country), making gouache resist paintings, writing comics re-telling Border Reivers stories from old ballads, and they even had a go at sword-fighting.
An exploratory programme of workshops and night walks with adults produced a variety of creative experiments, including making planispheres, night sky interpretation diorama boxes, silk painting, and contributing to a poetry film. A high point was a Fell pony night walk, by kind permission of Libby Robinson of the Fell Pony Heritage Trust. The group walked up the fells in the dark to spend time with some feral fell ponies. The outcomes are included in the poetry film – watch below.
There was a lot of material, and much enthusiasm from participants. If you would like to be inspired some more – here are some links:
The Curious School are based just outside Penrith and are two artists, Alex-Jakob Whitworth and Gavin Pollock.
Alex has over thirty years experience in the visual arts working with all ages in the community across arts, healthcare and education settings. She has lived and worked in the Fellside villages and Eden Valley since 2002.Her art practice is embedded around living amongst the fells; the natural world, local heritage, and horses are great passions. She is also a poet and musician.
Gavin is an illustrator and comic artist, and has over 25 years experience teaching in Japanese, and British schools. He studied comics at the London Cartoon Centre, which evolved into the Cartoon Museum, where he teaches regularly. He also does workshops for them at various comics festivals and conventions around the country.
You may also like...
Did you know…
