ART-SITE: CREATING WORK WITH THE LANDSCAPE | Saturday 19 March, 11am-2pm
A half-day symposium discussing the way in which artists utilize the landscape for the creation of work. Art-site: Creating work with the landscape will consider the history of land art and environmentally-responsive practices since they first emerged in the late 1960s and how contemporary artists are deriving their work from the landscape today. The symposium will look at the evolution of this process and how contemporary artists are responding through new methodologies to the historical depictions of the landscape in art. Discussions will reflect on the land art movement and how the emergence of Sculpture Parks encouraged a new way of both producing and presenting work in the landscape. Conversations will also consider how artists have utilised this area of practice to extend and increase the impact and scope their work has outside of the physical limitations a gallery or building imposes. Keynote speakers include David Shiel (AONB Senior Countryside Officer, North Wales), Diana Hamilton (The Hamilton Project) and David Ogle. FREE. Booking required via Eventbrite.

Bury Council has commissioned Hilary Jack to create Emergency Meadow, the latest addition to the Irwell Sculpture Trail. The work is sited at Kirklees Valley, an area with an industrial past, with particular connections to the paper industry of Bury.

Hilary Jack works across media in research based projects which often involve the collection, repair and regeneration of found objects in site referencial projects, public interventions and installations.  Hilary has shown across the UK and Internationally. Recent exhibitions and commissions include Empty Nest and Empty Nest Archive for the annual programme at Compton Verney, Warwickshire and Flights of Fancy The Tatton Park Biennial 2012 and Packwood Follies at Packwood House, 2014 and InsideOut House, Barnaby Festival 2014, Macclesfield.

Emergency Meadow is a wild flower meadow grown in the manner of a “green roof” on a fabricated giant sized Victorian industrial handcart reminiscent of those used to wheel industrial materials into Northern mills.

Emergency Meadow references England’s pre industrial rural heritage and the farms and grazing pastures which once populated rural England before the industrial revolution changed the Northern landscape and the global economy forever.

Emergency Meadow is sown solely with white flowers, their colour referencing the thriving paper industry which once stood close by at Olives Paper Mill. The artwork will evolve throughout the seasons from snowdrops, white crocus, and spring bulbs, through to white meadow flowers such as ox eye daisy, and cow parsley, to seed pods and harvest.

It is envisaged that Emergency Meadow will become a point of interest for artists, gardeners, botanists, conservationists, entomologists, and other local interest groups. 

In Spring 2016 local groups and communities from Bury and the Kirklees Valley will be invited to take part in an event to celebrate the work, in the form of a Paper Chase. Watch this space for dates and for more information on how to become involved with The Friends of Emergency Meadow.

Exhibition at Salford Museum & Art Gallery
On until 19 May, the exhibition is a celebration of the trail and gives you the opportunity to learn more about the amazing sculptures along it and the community projects that have been going on in the Salford cluster.

It showcases photographs, audio stories, films, geocaches, tree canvases, performances and creative writing: all inspired by the trail and its sculptures.

www.salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/culture/salford-museum-and-art-gallery/exhibitions

Temporary Arts Programme
Highlighted in the exhibition are the four Temporary Arts Commissions for Salford based artists and arts organisations. The programme explored the theme of 'Journeys, Narratives and Land Marking', the title of this exhibition.

DIY Theatre, Ordsall Community Arts, Start in Salford and Jo Clements and Brian Percival from Salford University created new art projects, performances, films and exhibitions which; the title of the exhibition.

The excitement began with Ordsall Community Arts creating the mythical collection of the imaginary Salford Bird Man. Local people took part in bird-spotting tours and drawing workshops with local Ornithologist James Walsh a part of the national Big Draw campaign. The project has now been announced as the winner of the National Drawing Inspirational Awards.

See the video here:

From January, Start in Salford, will be running photography and writing activities around Salford, including at St Phillip's C of E. School on the Islington Estate to create a host of tree-socks to be installed on the trail. Start in Salford is a community arts and wellbeing charity, based in our fully equipped arts studio and workshop complex at the heart of Salford. For more info check out their website: www.startinsalford.org.uk/

Secret Spaces, Hidden Places see artists Jo Clements and Brian Percival have filmed peoples' favourite spots and secret hideaways along the river and created a trail around Kersal Dale where visitors discovered artworks created by students from The University of Salford and groups in Salford and flowers with QR codes which directed people on the tour to films made by people in Salford and Jo's blog.

secretspacessecretplaces.tumblr.com/

DIY Theatre Company, based at the Angel Centre, wrote a play inspired by Andrew Mckeown's sculpture 'Seed', which sits in St. Phillips Square and is part of the trail. During late February and March this outstanding company will perform at venues in the Chapel Street area.

www.diytheatre.org.uk/sycamore-project/

Community Conversations
As part of the consultation for the redevelopment of the trail we also ran Community Conversation events in May 2011. Nick Harrison ran photography workshops photographing the artworks from a different angle. We took a walk on the wild side with Ordsall Writers Group, performance poet Terry Caffrey and our very own Healthy Lifestyles Officer Carol Edwards to read poems and write new work too.

More than 300 people were involved in all these activities and these have reached a much higher audience via social media.

Art Geo-Caches
Through a Greater Manchester digital arts project called All About Us, anyone can visit the trail and hunt for hidden camouflaged treasure boxes in Ordsall and Clifton Country Park.

These boxes are packed full of artwork, films and goodies made by young people from
Kidzwidreamz at Salford Lads Club and Salford-based Artist Michael Barnes Wynters.

www.allaboutus2012.co.uk/2011/12/geocaching-at-the-irwell-sculpture-trail-video/

These artful additions to the trail are proving to be a real talking point amongst geo-cachers. There have been over 300 visits to the trail in 12 months. David Lowther painted live at the exhibition opening on to one of the boxes. David has had an artists studio at Cow Lane for the last few years and will also be exhibition at Start next year. His bird box is available to see until the end of April when it will be hidden along the trail.

The Arts Development Team are inviting artists in Salford to send in designs by 2nd April and then we will add 6 more boxes to the trail at the end of April. We hope this will inspire even more people people to visit the trail this Spring.

www.facebook.com/events/144696762363989/