we've started installing #belperarttrail

yes indeed i met charlotte this afternoon and spent a very pleasant time installing her work.

during the process we were congratulated for taking the initiative of organising the trail and i humbly said thank you on behalf of us all.

in the carefully cropped image we see charlotte and part of her work.  to find out where her work is situated and why it's her favourite download the guide to the trail available at

www.corridor-arts.org.uk/abcd/belperarttrail

meet the artist event 7th july #belperarttrail

from 1pm on the 7th, artist tim shore will be available to meet and chat with about his work as installed in the basement of strutt's north mill.

more information about shore's work and all the other work in the trail is now available to download at

www.corridor-arts.org.uk/abcd/belperarttrail


tim will be available until 3pm.

belper news and the bbc #belperarttrail

there is soo much exciting stuff to write about today i'm a bit too excited to know where to start.









so as the song goes, time to start at the very beginning and in true big bang style will so swerve the opportunity to talk about the collection of gas that exploded and millions of years later we find ourselves with running water, electricity and a means of publicating words to a world wide web...


when we launched the call out back in october we had very little idea of what works would be submitted. we certainly didn't expect a work that would so well resonate with strutt's north mill.  we also couldn't forsee the evolution of staff at the mill so it is really pleasing that we've managed to once again include the basement of the north mill in the art trail.

so keeping with our sub-theme of discovering while on the trail, we're please to announce that on sunday 7th july we have a special event at 1pm till 3pm at strutt's north mill where artist tim shore will be available to chat with about his work installed in the basement of the mill.

this story is featured in the belper news

and is listed as something to do on the bbc website things to do. 

news ! #belperartrail

we're really happy that as a result of a discussion at the most recent peer to peer meeting, we'll be having a participatory activity on the belper art trail stall at the belper food festival on sunday 14th july.

it's fabulously a last minute arrangement so i post more details near the time. what i can say is that it's an activity that is connected to the idea of journey.

in other news the trail starts in 14 days time with the installation process spanning 9 days.

on wednesday look out for a story in the belper news about a special preview event happening at strutt's north mill.

this coming weekend is the open garden weekend and there will be information about the trail at each of the venues. we're hoping for fine weather for this most excellent annual gardening event.








also on wednesday of this week we'll be launching the trail map and guide on the main corridor arts website. 

with the guide you'll be able to start your own journey ..... 

#belperarttrail going green

with 21 days to go to #belperarttrail i thought i'd share some thoughts following a visit to one of the venues for this years art trail.

the memorial gardens in king street will be one of two green spaces that feature in the trail this year.

i visited the gardens on friday to take some pictures and spend a little time reflecting after the last food festival committee before the big event on the 14th july.

i've been into the gardens countless times but haven't really looked at what's in there.  

while i mused the images that i'd taken a gentleman came up to me and asked "have you got it?"  we struck up a conversation. we chatted about what i was doing and about the trail and about the town of belper.  i learnt that he grew up in belper and he can remember "the clinic" that stood where the lighthouse charity shop now stands. i recalled how i'd seen an artist's impression of a civic building proposed for that spot in the mid 60's in an illustrated history of belper in the town's library.

i learnt from him about the bluebell pub that stood on the market place during the war. it had a cellar that got used for an air raid shelter. today the building is used as a framers.

his wife joined us and pointed out that there are lettuces growing in one of the flower beds.  it got me talking about todmorden in yorkshire.  i wondered if it was a community gardening project.

we looked around and found many other varieties of edible plants

i really enjoyed talking with the couple and i think we would have continued to chat for sometime were it not for the fact that it was lunchtime and the couple had a date at geogres for lunch. i wished them well and said my goodbyes.

the whole experience was one of pleasure and enjoyment and i thank them for chatting to me.

#belperarttrail about strategy for audience development.

what we'd like for the audience is an experience of walking through belper from venue to venue and for that to be enjoyable from point of view of viewing interesting and diverse art works with time between them to discuss the work and the built environment.

and there's the wonderful art paradox.  for all our work and effort we can only hope and wait that as many interested parties get to see and experience the trail.

as we've progressed to the trail being live the notion of discovery has appeared. we hope that this in turns develops some excitement in the prospect of that walk through belper.





to reflect the notion of discovery, on our facebook profile page we're revealing a cover image that can be used to promote the trail.  thanks to debbie at artsderbyshire for inspiring the idea.

another part of the teasing strategy about the trail is revealing the venues and the artists and leaving the connections between them to be found in the guide and in the venues themselves. 

to gauge a realistic visitor figure we will use the download figures from the guide and map as one of the strands of data gathering for trail visitor numbers. in reality there may never be any way of knowing really how many people saw part of the trail. another paradox of mounting an exhibition in this way.

at a personal level this strategy is exciting..... and i feel the risk also. risk?  i'm pushing this strategy in the group and there is potential for it to backfire on me and the group.  there's a little bit of pressure that again paradoxically could go either way.  it's becoming a fine line between information overload and information drought.  there's only one way to find out what it really turns out to be and that's to make a strategy and see the it through.

i for one am looking forward to the trail being live and finding out what people think about it.

i've remembered a recent conversation with the drop inn.  they're going to be working digitally and i got myself in a pickle with thinking that involved an electrical supply.  it is in fact digital prints and as they said "80% digital, 20% surprise".

personally i'm becoming interested in surprise...  discovery. in my own practice that's what i want to research next.  on reflection i think that my own practice is impacting on the trail.  with so many people involved i hope that the intention of discovery.... and favourite... and discussion... are present for the audience, in their own ....

journey of favourites

in a field

there are times when the best thing to do is just kick off the shoes and feel the grass beneath one's feet.


obviously i'm now sat on rock in the middle of a field paused while walking to make a very quick blog post about being in a field and feeling the grass. it's a bit prickly but despite the tickling sensation it feels lovely.


i'm off with the fairies to explore the yonder this evening as it's been a very busy week and there's only so much one can do before it's time to kick back and relax for a few days.


there is a peer to peer tomorrow so my wanderings today will be only as far as i get with a eye on getting back.  



as i take in the evening smells, sights and sounds i do feel like there's something i've forgotten to do...


did i turn the oven off ........ ........   .............

venue list published

we're please to announce the venue list for the 2013 belper art trail.

buttons and bows preparing the ribbon on june 1st.

#belperarttrail artists and venues announcement friday

yes this friday we'll be able to announce the artsits and venues that will the components of the journey of favourites.










one thing that has really emerged in this final phase of putting the trail together is a sense of discovery. we see that the trail offers an opportunity to meander through belper, discover a work, meander some more, discover another, meander.... and generally take some time to be out and about in belper.

the guide will be published later this month.