Inspirational Ladies

Now, we are going to ask other people what isolated is. A treasure map at re:place symposium - curating the rural will show us other people's notions of isolated.

The lady in red.  On searching for an appropriate outfit to wear for the symposium, we discovered a Victorian lady in racing apparel.  How cool is she? We talked a lot about what type of cycling gear to wear and how to cut a dash on the roads with our museum, and current cycling gear just won't cut the mustard, darling.  But the lady in red, well... she is the bees' knees.  That's the look we have been searching for...  watch out for us lads.

Le tour de la locale

8:45 Sunday morning and we are off on a tour of south Derbyshire because this is the bit we know least about.Down the motorway, past Long Eaton, we struggled to get away from busy roads and built up areas.  We were a bit unsure of what we were looking for; physically isolated, hamlets without churches, but then we tought places can be culturally isolated too.  Melbourne, Ticknal and Swadlincote all have arts and crafts but not necessarily contemporary art.  Church Greasley didn't stand out as a place rich in culture despite not being physically isolated.  Maybe both catergories are important.

Heading west we passed through Linton with its junior chess club, Rosliston which we didn't really see much of, Coton in the Elms which had no-one in sight and perhaps liked to feel isolated, then onto Edingale.  Edingale was a best kept village and had a sign post for Joe's cave.  We asked a local washing his car what that was all about and he just told us that a man called Joe had lived there 20 years ago but there was no cave, just a bungalow.  His wife knew the story better because she had lived there all her life.

This story strikes as a piece of cultural history that could easily get lost and the sort of thing that we might be looking to find, capture or hold onto in our museum.  The man washing his car said it was a very isolated place in winter, but during the summer lots of cyclists pass through.  We originally thought about gatherings of people but maybe just encountering individuals with our museum is just as important.

On to Croxall, Kings Bromley with its rare exotic plants.  Is this Derbyshire or Staffordshire? We got confused with the borders and we need to get a better map if we are to know where we are and avoid major roads. Morray, Yoxall, Hadley End, with no village signs how do we know which it is?  Does it matter which it is, no church, therefore must be hamlets with no signs.

Hoar cross and its hall very pretty, and its nursery, then we came to a pub with walkers and cyclists it but not sure where it was.  We turned left and came to Newborough End, a Hamlet with farms but again no people.  Then into inspiring Newborugh, with its school and amazing hexagonal church steeple, and well dressings too, another pub the Red Lion and lots of cars and people. 

Onto Marchington with its Hall, old Alms houses, St.peter's school and lots of interesting old buildings.  Through Uttoxeter, over the A50 and up towards Rocester, are we in Derbyshire? What an amazing mill building transformed into a JCB Academy school- that would be interesting to go to, but blow its not in Derbyshire.  We go through the Derbyshire sign that confirms where we are, onto Marston montgomery with its art festival.  Cubley with the chapel and Alkmonton with its church.  At Longford there is a WI club, a lovely CofE Primary School and we think a thriving Live and Local venue- If they can films and theatre does that count as contemporary art?  This was a physically isolated place with lots of culture going on.  We saw a cycle 68 sign, a bit too prescriptive for our adventure.

So, how far can we go by bike in a day?  We could cycle 20 miles out and 20 back, stopping at various places on the way.  We could go by train to the south and and then ride back.  How would we get two bikes and trailer and artefacts on the train?  Is that pheasable?  Could anyone else support us?  Could we stay over? In B&B, or perhaps with people we know? Camping would mean more stuff to carry. Would we do it over a week and move around the boarders of the county?  What would it be like to ride on tandem?  that would look more spectacular, newsworthy and make us work in partnership- true collaboration!

What about the trailer?  Nina is going to lend us a trailor that she has used for art projects.  Sally L is going to collect it in a couple of weeks.  It's just a base, without a seat, a chassis on which we can build the museum.  Paul suggested aluminium as being lightweight rather than bamboo, but that is not within our skills and we like the idea of using every materials that people will recognise.  Aluminium is manufactured whereas it will be obvious that we will have made it when the materials are simple.  It is still important to make it a beautiful and well crafted object.

How soon can we be on the road?  Well, what do we need to do?  As well as the trailor and bike we need to talk to the man about objects cast in paper mache.  We need labels, hinges (could be made from belts and buckles).  What would we wear?  As well as helmets we could have printed t-shirts to explain our project as we go along? Our artefacts and their stories.  Sally recently encoutered Auto-ethnography, what does this mean?  Could we talk to Kate Pahl?

What is the impact of this project?
To leave behind a memory of the experience.
For people to think about their own stories.
For people to have better understanding of contemporary art practice.
For us all to have enjoyed the experience.
To highlight the value of slow movement- having time to appreciate and savour what we encounter.

That sounds good!

Making Plans

What is RURAL?

Rural is defined as settlements with fewer than 10,000 people.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/communities

We think it's a small place, a village, with a community space, village hall, chapel, school, post office, mobile shops.  It might be the distance from cultural opportunities, in the middle of nowhere, not passing through, off major roads, where others don’t go, few buses, occasional shops, a pub, mobile library service.

Who Can we ask?

Tourist offices

Council archives

Local Arts Officers

Planning officers

Rural artists

Accessibilty partnerships

Local Studies Library- Derby

Matlock Archive

Library Services-What is the route of the mobile library service?

Churches

Local interest groups- Women's Institute, BRAG

Who might sponsor us?

Letters to Bike Shops- Edinburgh, Wiggle, JE James, outdoor shops

Bike Manufacturers- Derby Mercian

Cycling weekly- letter and blog

Vegan cycling

SUStrans- Bike Belles

British Cycling

Olympic committee

Fitness Magazines

Environmental support/charities

Arts Officers

What shall we do next?

Find a bike...

Getting on the road

We looked at bikes, been offered a trailer, been making lists of who to contact, places to go. And we were in the Ripley and Heanor News on Saturday April 2. Found a website that lists local festivals too. Need to check that out.

Ethics

It took 3 days to put our point across about the ethics of this project but we think the final article in Derby Telegraph overall was very helpful to us. It certainly raised our profile.

Last Sunday we looked at bikes for Sally L in Chesterfield. Hmm, lots of money to get something suitable. we need to look further.

Yesterday we went to the Homebuilding Exhibition at NEC. On the way we made a list of lists to make... people to contact (such as arts officers, schools, interest groups, pubs), how to identify isolated places (local authority planners, area geographers, Tourist Information officers), planning schedule (get bike and trailer, increase fitness, make artefacts, make museum box for trailer), devise marketing strategy (contact media, arts networks). 

The box needs to be very light so we discussed the possibility of cardboard. Lo and behold, at the exhibition we found a company that makes recycled decorating equipment- paint trays, brushes, rollers. Made from paper, card and bamboo, it's very lightweight so may be just the job. We must follow that up. This also raised the issue of the ethics of the project. We want to make it eco-friendly, supportive of green issues and small businesses. Maybe we can develop a relationship with a small bike shop. Perhaps they could sponsor us and we could get them publicity- a mention in the local press, an article in specialist cycling magazines. 

'We're up and running' cried Sally!

It's all about a museum we are going to create.  We've had this idea for 6 months now and we think we ought to get on and do it before we read about it happening somewhere else.  It started on a journey to Bournemouth, on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  To make the journey more exciting we began devising the stories behind obscure and quirky place names.  The more we did it the more fun we had.  We developed it by setting rules that we could only create meanings for places we had not heard of before.  The more unsual the better.  We thought it would be fun if others did the same thing on their journeys and join in with the game- twittering places they have spotted.  Having made a note of each of these places and passing Oxford famous for its museums,  we thought, hmmm, we have started to make a museum, a wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosity...

During our time in Bournemouth working with young people at Kings High School, we experimented with creating artefacts and photographs that might not be as authentic as they first seemed. Here is one of the young people's ideas:

Flexi-brush

This is a flexible brush from the 1800’s which was used to clean plumbing and drain pipes.

Today we have decided to take the museum on tour.  To create a range of mobile containers.  There will be objects, diagrams, maps, remnants of scientific experiments, scraps, traces and residues of imagined histories.  Will people be intrigued? Will people be encouraged to contribute their own imaginations?  How will this evolve?

http://www.2sally4th.co.uk/