WHAT A SHIFT

'That was a very thought-provoking shift we did for MOPP (Ministry of Place Production). Do you know Sal, we had in-depth conversations with lots of children and adults.'

'Yes, Sal, this man was looking at images of urban landscapes and called them compositions. But he couldn't tell me what it was all about.'

'Perhaps that is what landscapes are – compositions created by the activity of living things.'

'We were certainly able to create our own abstract landscapes from the residues left behind in Wirksworth. It's all evidence of human activity, the weather and seasonal growth.' 

'These children helped us construct one.'

'And so did these.'

'Do you think that people realise that some landscapes are toxic?'

'Depends if they think about it.'

'So does a knowledge of art makes any difference?'

'Depends what you know Sal.'

MOPP

'Are you ready then Sal?'

'Yes, Sal.'

'Got everything we need for our excursion?'

'Excursion Sal? This is very serious work. We have a lot of responsibility. The Ministry of Place Production will be checking up to see we undertake this with the utmost care. Place Production is not to be taken lightly.'

Yes, Sal. That is certainly very true.'

'Have you brought the camera for the evidence?'

The Sweet Sisters have arrived

What a funday out at Chesterfield Community Arts Festival. From top to toe in the pink. And what is your favourite sweet madam? sir? bon-bons? liquorice allsorts? black jacks? Not a super-wrapped chocolate bar in sight. 

'Can't believe I'm 24, got kids and I'm dressing up'.

And where will this outrageous spectacle pop up next?

What a Transformation!

Time to bring some colour to our mobile adventures.  A red sack, silver baubles and some tinsel have done the trick, getting us into the festive spirit and ready for the Rutland Christmas fancy dress ride.  Out have come the museum boxes, in have gone padding and 24 comedy crackers- you'll have to wait till next time before we tell you what's in the crackers.

On such a beautiful day, we also checked on the Geocache.  It was there, in one piece and not yet found so we need to add another clue to aid those in search of.  Here is a sneak preview of the cache.

It was a lovely walk that brought more fun ideas to our heads.  e.g. grandfather clock, broken time but we are not going to tell you anything about that till next time either.  It's a time of secrets and half truths, cos it's Christmas! 

It's been a time of walks and not cycles this past week and on Friday we did a very early morning (it was still dark) search for a Geocache in Burbage. 

Having left the SATNAV on, it ran out of battery and we were not able to find the cache. It made us realise the importance of giving enough clues without revealing too much. The snow and wind battered us but we enjoyed it, especially the lemon drizzle and chocolate cakes, marmalade wraps and hot drinks.  It was Sally N's birthday treat. 

In the bleak mid-winter...

...we ventured out into the sleet and darkness to deposit our first geocache.  We could have picked a better day but at least we were unobserved, or so we thought till a cyclist on his way home appeared.

We managed to work out the GPS and hope that we have the co-ordinates right.  We will just have to wait for someone to find it or complain that they can't.  Or, the bomb squad are alerted to a little yellow box not discretely hid on a fence post.  The thing is we have never actually seen a geocache so we don't know what it should be like.  We have just made it up as we have gone along.  No doubt serious geocachers will put us right.  Are we bothered?  No.

Not sure if we can yet call this fun, but we did make it difficult for ourselves, picking the worse night of the year so far.  We are going to find a Geocache on Friday at dawn, weather permitting.  Least then we will know if what we are doing is about right and will be able to see what we are doing.

We hid it so well, bet you can't find it!

Stop and take stock

'Ang on', 'Stop and take stock' We are bowling along with endless ideas but getting a bit bogged down. when making takes too long to do we loose our spontaneity, freshness, and fun.  We enjoyed up-cycling the clothes to sell on a market stall to fund our projects but it presented us with a nightmare of logistics to solve.  It seemed to be a distraction from what we really wanted to be doing.


Back to the museum.  We had an idea of transforming the trailer  from being a museum into different scenarios.  

1. The Cart Tarts- watch out for us cycling around or even setting up for a tea break.  We will share a cuppa with ya and the chance to let off steam about some social issue that is burning.
2. Making a gift- in a consumer world controlled by capitalism.We are giving you the chance to step outside of all of that and just MAKE something to GIVE to someone else without any expectations of any money in return.  Watch out for us on December 18th around the Peak District.
3. Pen & Cil- the cleaning ladies go walkabout- collecting debris we find and transforming it into abstract landscapes.

But we still haven't completed the museum yet. More thoughts on the projects ongoing:

The Geocache is ready to go.
The static museums are under way- collecting artifacts and characters.
Talks- and we are ready to go and talk to anybody about the project.  If you are interested then you can contact us on: 

07974 785624

Almost forgot the e-card!

"Are we there yet?" " 'Ardly."

"Where have you been today?" he said. "Round about, up and down and through and through" we said, "Collecting men" we said. Well, photographs of local characters for the fantasy museum. We found Ibsley the dancer, Red Lynch Woodfalls the lumber jack, Elcot the twitcher, John Erith the smuggler and his acomplice who has yet to be named, and Ardley with his bag of freshly collected bluets. Next time we need to collect some women too. It felt like Mr Ben's changing room coming to life. They were all intrigued and we made them smile. What good sports. It dispelled Sally L's notion that everybody had been looking grumpy earlier. 

This is bringing fantasy back into the museum- our original concept. Funny how people like telling the truth in their stories. Some of those have already been in the local newspapers; we are scanning them all, ready for the Geocaching and The Book. There are many strands to this project, wish we could make it sustainable.

Oswald Ibsley - The Dancer whose family disowned him because he wouldn't stop dancing

Redlynch Woodfalls- The Lumberjack who forgot to shout 'Timber'

The Twitcher- Clench Warton Always at the first sighting of a bird. Had a second sense about being in the right place at the right time.

John Earith & associate- The Smugglers

 

Ardley- The Man whose reply to the question 'Are we at Bicester yet?' was 'Ardley'