Playful mapping of Dudley’s cultural ecosystem
Using foraged autumn greens and browns as media to stimulate sharing on flows and niches in Dudley’s cultural ecosystem.
A mini photo journal and jottings from conversations at the Cultural Collaborator’s Autumn Gathering, by CoLab Dudley team member Lorna Prescott.
When we began introducing Dudley Creates: a 100 year cultural strategy for Dudley Borough we knew that autumn would be a time of year to introduce particular rituals of reflection in the annual cycle of action and learning. Autumn is a time to reflect on the work we’ve done, the adventures we’ve had and relationships that have formed, deepened or shifted in other ways.
The CoLab Dudley team have been offered an amazing opportunity by Onion Collective (fellow Emerging Futures Pathfinders) to use a digital mapping tool, Understory, to reveal and explore connections that bind together the people, projects and groups we work with. A mapping session is being planned later in the autumn, which created an opportunity to experiment at our Cultural Collaborators Autumn Gathering. I was keen to take a look at our cultural ecosystem in some way, and respond to the question we ask about it in Dudley Creates: What if… we followed nature’s lead?
While pondering potential activities I remembered something Sam Rye had shared a while back. I soon found it, a post about a workshop he facilitated using organic materials to shift mindsets. This became the inspiration for my activity design. I set off to collect organic materials from the ground of the Leasowes, a beautiful nature reserve in the south east of Dudley borough.
In advance of the Cultural Collaborators gathering, Time Rebels helped me to arrange my finds and I laid out spaces with activity instructions and the Roles and Vital Signs tools from our Dudley Creates Navigation Guide. My intention was to take part and observe the following:
How people respond to the invitation
How people respond to the materials, what they are drawn to, how they use touch
What people get stuck on
What people ask and say as they create
Foraged organic materials from the Leasowes in Dudley
Prompts and space to create
Time Rebel Helen was the first to take up the invitation to follow nature’s lead and create with the organic materials. Soon there were five of us sitting together reflecting, creating and sharing stories. Connections and invitations flowed; when Jan learned that Natalie and Donna work for Black Country Touring she shared that she worked with them at the very beginning. Black Country Touring are celebrating their 25th birthday this autumn, so Natalie extended an invitation to Jan.
Helen Garbett’s reflections on places we can or do create, inspired by conker cases
Helen reflected on not being sure which of the materials to choose to work with, and settling on conker cases. She started off by drawing their shadows on paper. She prompted a conversation about one of our vital signs; art in non-art places. She asked where are these spaces? We talked about places that aren’t galleries; such as green spaces and high streets. We contemplated whether the frequency or volume of art in non-arts spaces transforms them into arts spaces.
Jan Norton’s reflections on layers of stories we hold, inspired by part of a tree
Jan chose a small piece of slowly rotting wood as her starting point. She was thinking about layers in wood, and in people, and that everything starts with stories we share. She talked about Stitchers in Time, a small group of women she has been convening since 2021, the friendships and care which have developed while stitching together to create collaborative pieces.
Natalie Kidman’s person prompting conversations about art in green spaces
Natalie had picked up an unusual piece of bark which was like a pipe, and separated at two points. This became arms, so she created a person. The browning of the conker cases turned this into a person with lung problems, which prompted a long conversation about an ongoing appetite for cultural activities in outdoor and green spaces since the pandemic, and what had grown through that demand (and neccessity in 2021–22).
Developing a deeper place based practice is one of the lessons which emerged in the research for Dudley Creates (see pp28–31 of Dudley Creates: lessons in place based social practice programming and the emergence of an ecological approach).
Natalie told us about a production called Head Gardener, and invited us to upcoming Where We Grow performances in community gardens.
Where We Grow celebrates community gardens and the local people who work, volunteer and spend precious time in them. Four short performances have grown from these spaces and people, made with local artists and incorporating poetry, music, visual vernacular and spoken word. The performances will be scattered throughout each garden and will take place multiple times each day, so you can wander and enjoy each one at leisure as you explore these beautiful spaces.
~ Black Country Touring
Donna Clarkson’s evolving layers inspired by natural forms
Donna created a visual of evolving layers and growth, and shared the story of her journey with Black Country Touring, from helping out her Dad, to doing work experience with the team, becoming an apprentice and now being a full time team member. Her role involves bringing theatre and dance to community venues across the Black Country.
Lorna’s birds eye view
I was drawn to the smell of the conifer sprays that I’d found cut from a hedge, and bark, seeds and red rowan berries (the latter were from my garden). I found myself reflecting on what seems to get a very visible profile in Dudley’s cultural ecosystem; such as heritage buildings that local people love, which are sitting empty, slowly decaying like wood on a forest floor. And that some of us looking towards the future, sowing seeds and acorns for future generations are doing so quietly, these acts don’t draw people round in the same way. Sharing this also prompted conversation about how it can be hard to have conversations with local institutions about their plans for culture, for us on the outside they can feel a bit like a prickly beech seed casing.
I loved the conversations that this activity led to, and that we were happily thinking and creating as we chatted. I didn’t ask as much about the experience as I’d planned to, nor did I record observations as the activity unfolded. In the moment it felt more appropriate to simply be part of it. Using the organic materials definitely stimulated our creativity in different ways, and we used our senses of touch and smell in ways that I don’t think we would have if presented only with everyday materials like paper and pens. I learned that you don’t need volumes of materials… what looks a little on a woodland floor is actually a lot on a table!
I’m curious to see how these conversations might weave into future mapping and exploration of our cultural ecosystem, and how the time spent together might spark future connections or collaborations. Maybe we’ll have to wait until next autumn, or the one after, to see fruits from these seeds.