Sketchbooks are intrinsic to Christopher Johns’ practice. Frequently handmade by Christopher, each book is an artwork in itself. These are obsessively filled with images that record specific moments in time and place. Whether precisely measuring and reproducing objects or quickly sketching things of interest, this compulsive need to document life is a meditative process that does not often result in a final piece but creates an archive of memories.
Alyson Hallett (friend and Caravanserai ‘writer-in-residence’ August 2009) & Professor Catherine Leyshon-Brace (my PhD supervisor) were succesful in securing a Leverhulme award for Alyson to be poet-in residence within the Geography dept at Univ Exeter Tremough campus.
Cannot Unsun – a poem written for Kate
Alyson’s post began in September and today she is holding her first ‘Geopoetic Lunch’ with students and staff from the Geography and English-with-creative-writing departments, “an opportunity to talk about the exciting territories of poetry and geography and the ways in which they connect and diverge”.
The main aim of the lunch is to create a friendly environment where our concerns and passions about creativity and landscape can be explored in an informal, inspiring and nourishing way.
Todays lunch showcases work by the CLIF project (CLIF ran a pilot research stall at a Caravnaserai event in 2009 and also discussed various ideas with Mac about creative writing in response to people experiencing climate change locally).
Unfortunately we couldn’t be there today to catch up with the developments of the CLIF project but we’ve donated some chutney for the table, a nourishing product of immersive landscape practice – gardening
The garden is central to Caravanserai – it’s where we began working with Pete & Debs at Treloan and continues to be a collective learning process and source of surprise and nourishment.
We began cultivating the plot in Middle Close (the project field) in 2008, building pens to house the pigs that dug the ground for us. During the same period we sourced a suitable caravan for a residency space (the project van).
Since then Caravanserai has hosted artists, writers, musicians, storytellers, foragers, geographers, academics and students through various residencies, work placements, field visits and project events.
The garden sustains this hospitality, its produce graces the tables of resident guests and visitors, providing food and flowers for the honesty stall and events such as our annual local food banquet ‘feast'(2009 & 2010) and fireside gatherings.
Currently we’re preparing the ground for new growth..
After seeing the portrait Ken had done of the 2 Chris’s, Debs sought out Ken to see if he’d paint a surprize pic of her & Pete for their anniversary at the weekend. Ken had a good chuckle as Pete had come to him with same request..how nice is that?
‘There is something about painting a portrait. It requires concentration for long periods on the details of a person’s face, whether in life or in a photograph. Every fold and tonal change has to be identified and represented. If you are the one portrayed It is unlikely that anyone has scrutinised you with such care before, other than perhaps your mother when you were born. I don’t know if the face is the window on the soul but it is certainly a window on emotions. Moment to moment changes in our feelings show up there even before we become conscious of them, and what has happened to us in the past becomes etched there forever. I worked in mental health for many years and in that job you become atuned to such changes. So painting portraits is an intimate process and having a portrait painted can be unsettling.
When I paint a portrait I am really only interested in the face and my most detailed careful works has been of people I care greatly about. But I also like doing rapidly executed and at times large portraits, the sort of thing that might have been on an advertising hoarding in the 1950s, and incorporating text. That kind of illustrative work, the sort of thing I have started at Treloan, demands a lighter touch and is more fun. I like the idea of documenting local characters and events on old bits of ply. When you get fed up of it why not use it to mend the shed or light the fire!‘ Ken Barrett
The site is dotted with exuberant portraits by our current artist in residence, Ken Barratt
no worries! in the project van
Ken’s moved into the project van and is busy painting the 2 Chris’s – to be installed in ‘Richies Wash-Up'(see Kens blog here)
he’s also creating a walk in ‘I-SPY’ book on the walls of the loos …
My work uses paint and other media as a way of provoking conversation and participation. I like playing with the boundaries between things, perforating them if possible. Recent projects have mixed memory and nostalgia and the Treloan work is a kind of ‘guerrilla’ nostalgia piece, descending on a public place and filling it with high grade nostalgic material (at least for people aged 50 and above, whose Mum and Dad bought them I-Spy books).
Ken Barrett
& of course Debs wasn’t gonna miss a trick!
Ella & Amy have got some funding to carry on with Energy Cafe, fantastic news.. this project is inspirational, the events and activities it’s generated say so much for collective action, shared experience, and enthusiasm.
When they came to visit us last May they were indecisive as to where to go with it next, on return they found a place for the trailer to rest awhile, I love this pic of it ‘sleeping’ amongst the Camomile…
They needed to rest too having worked intensively in all weathers through autumn & winter till spring – then having to stop short of a full seasonal year because the art contract ended and the site was no longer possible. Click on the image to read their story.. and & their concern to ‘keep the dream’ of a ‘commons’ project.
When we saw Amy in September at Bos Arts she gave us a packet of Energy Cafe spinach seeds which I’ve planted today in celebration of the Spring Equinox that brought their good news..and promise of new growth ahead
on winning the ‘Unlocking Cornish Potential Award for Creative Enterprise Cornwall Best Postgraduate Placement‘.
The placement exceeded all of my expectations … I built a fedge, introduced willow coppicing as a living skill back into the Portscatho community, and provided opportunities to strengthen connections between the owners of the campsite and the local community … Through this project I have discovered a way to further my artistic practice through working in, and for, communities. Learning and passing on knowledge that is in danger of dying out. This to me was the real enjoyment of the placement. To teach these lost or dying skills to people and watch them flower and re-live in a community that can value them.
For a fully detailed account of Gregs’ Caravanserai residency activities at Treloan check out his blog
for a full illustrated account of Greg’s first ever arduous, devoted and very successful attempt at making charcoal check here
Visit Portscatho writer Cat Holman’s thoughtful blog here> ‘write under canvas’ for a personal and detailed account of her residency and working processes. During her short time in residence she accomplished loads…as well as developing new pieces of writing she instigated participatory interventions such as blank canvas – a washing line and also encouraged people to write ‘postcards to Treloan‘ by leaving cards and post boxes at certain areas of the campsite.
I wanted writing to have a visual presence around the campsite during my residency, and to create an activity that any visitor to the campsite could join in with, regardless of how much time they had available. I loved the creative connotations of the word canvas, and the links it made between the rows of tents in the campsite and the sails on the boats visible on the sea’s horizon beyond.
Cat also ran a workshop where Debs was inspired to write her poem “Words” read at the Fireside Session on Wednesday July 15th. At the same event Cat recited a lovely short poem she’d written in Spanish, called ‘Caravanserai’ – on her blog she talks about how it emerged and its meaning.
Amongst the writings that Cat developed during her stay is the story of the fortune teller and the vicar that was inspired by the word ‘dukkerer’ in ‘Beneath the Blue Sky‘ a book in the project van about Romany life by Dominic Reeve… “thinking about fortunes and the paths we take in life..these two characters appeared, who are both dissatisfied with life but too steeped in family tradition to change.”
Greg wanted to work with willow he’d been wondering if any locals knew how to weave willow crab pots. As it happened we discovered that Jude & Tony, neighbours of Treloan had a coppice that was in need of regeneration and were happy for him to work there. Over to Greg for the rest of the story…
apple tree cleared of ivy
caravanserai (2008-2016) 