STOTFOLD COMMUNITY HALL PUBLIC ART PROJECT - ARTIST Tom Pearman

THE AMAZING COLLECTION OF MICHEAL EVERITT

Artist, Tom Pearman — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:09:58 +0000

A visit was made to the home of MICHEAL EVERITT to discover what an amazing collection of stotfold artefacts he has collected over the years. Below are some photos that starts to touch upon his collection…more details to follow. Thank you Micheal for your contributions and hospitality, it really is greatly appreciated.

knit and knatter

Artist, Tom Pearman — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 11:30:14 +0000

Thank for the input from eight members of Stotfold’s, Knit and Knatter. With Bedfordshire’s tradition of lace-making we thought it a good idea to discuss the project with the local community group. We discussed knitting patterns and how the aesthetic of these ‘diagramatical patterns were perhaps similar to that of ‘typewriter art…..more information to follow…

Here’s a very brief outline of the local tradition of lace-making:

Bedfordshire lace is a style of bobbin lace originating from Bedfordshire in the 19th century, and made in the English Midlands lacemaking area. It was worked as a continuous width on a bolster pillow. It is a guipure style of lace.

History of lacemaking in Bedfordshire.

In the early years of the 16th century Catherine of Aragon was imprisoned in Ampthill, Bedfordshire for a short time whilst divorce proceedings were being taken against her by Henry VIII. Local tradition says that she taught the villagers lacemaking.

From the 16th century there are frequent references to the working of ‘bone lace’ being taught to the children of poor people in workhouses in order that they might earn something towards the cost of their keep.[1]

Lace-makers from Flanders settled in Bedfordshire as early as the 16th-century. By the mid-18th-century Newport Pagnell was a centre of Bedfordshire lace production.[2]

The highpoint of lacemaking was from the late 17th century through the 18th century. However, the invention of the bobbinet machine in nearby Nottingham meant that machine-made lace could be made far cheaper. The patterns of the hand-made lace changed to simpler styles to compete, and this became the modern Bedfordshire lace.

feedback

Artist, Tom Pearman — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 11:43:33 +0000

As the collaborative creative sessions take place gathering feedback is extremely important to how the project develops and is finally realised. As well as gathering feedback through conversation during the sessions, informal forms were kindly filled in by the participants. I’ve broken down the separate questions and entered the answers below them.

Some forms were filled in to represent a group of participants.

page in development

Further creative session with Mollie Jennings and Sheila

Artist, Tom Pearman — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 11:16:17 +0000

Mollie Jennings who has been wonderful in her enthusiasm and her contributions to the project, both creatively and providing some really interesting local stotfold history. Thanks you to yourself and your friend Sheila who participated in collaborative exercise with artist Emily Tracy. There’s a wealth information that came about…here’s a snipit of the session…Like the other sessions I’ll be exploring how all this great content can be presented in the final artworks. Once again, thank you, keep on typing!

signatures

Artist, Tom Pearman — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 10:28:27 +0000

As part of the collaborative process we have also been gathering signatures form the people that have taken part. It’s hoped that they will appear somewhere in the final artworks.

CREATIVE SESSION WITH SALVATION ARMY AND WOMENS INSTITUTE, STOTFOLD

Artist, Tom Pearman — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 10:12:42 +0000

We’d like to say thank you to everyone that contributed their time and energy into taking part in a creative session exploring memories and local history of the Stotfold area. These memories and time lines related to the respective institutions of the attendees. Using a grid format to enter details, this visual format presented a variety of facts and memories similar in a way to that of a family tree. It’s hoped that some kind of similar format for the final artworks will be introduced so that written information can be presented in a visually pleasing fashion.

I’m looking forward to having a good look through what was created in the session and using the supplied info to develop the artworks. More news to follow….

Here are some examples of what was produced together with some photographs of the people who kindly took part.

to mill or not to mill

Artist, Tom Pearman — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 11:23:47 +0000

I had great time checking out the workings of Stotfold Mill, and look forward to reading their publication, “They’ll Never Do It!”…

More news to follow.

Creative and collaborative sessions making progress with more planned for 2016

Artist, Tom Pearman — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 10:45:20 +0000

Creative session with Stotfold Mill

Artist, Tom Pearman — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 10:33:01 +0000

More news to follow…

Creative session at Stotfold Bowls club

Artist, Tom Pearman — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 10:31:39 +0000

On the 7^th December the project went to see Stotfold Bowls Club to chat with some of its members who kindly offered their time and knowledge of the clubs history and the rules of play for bowls. With the help of artist Emily Tracy, the members looked at presenting some of the club’s heritage through the art form known as Typewriter art. Club spokesperson, Mollie Jennings, also offered some great documents relating to the club’s history.

Emily and myself would like to say a big thank you to everyone that offered their time and contributed their knowledge and creative efforts to the project. It is genuinely appreciated.

The session made this great piece of typewriter art using a circular shape to contain the names of the club members and another piece relating to the ‘tools of the trade’.

More news to follow, as I plan to investigate some of the great photos and documentation that came from the session. I’ll update this page soon….AND I think Mollie Jennings is going to contribute more of her time to helping the project, which is really appreciated, more news to follow with this too.