living within limits – an affirmation

Posted: January 26, 2019 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: activ8, the ash tree | Tags: ecopsychology, poetry, Prayer | Leave a comment

(Thanks to Mat for a good conversation about politics, age and forward thinking)

while the universe may be perceived as infinite,

as our imagination does allow,

this world (upon which our existence depends) is not.

there is life

and there is death.

beginnings and ends.

throughout our history, especially in certain cultural geographies,

there has been a gradual shift towards arrogance as our understanding has increased.

with our own permission, in the names of progress, evolution and survival,

we have plundered, transferred and transformed the dynamic integrity of earth.

yet for us, as humans, omnipotence is not a possibility.

and while we may have broken it

and know how and why

we are not capable of mending it

beyond abstaining from activities and attitudes

that may perpetuate such demise and hopefully promote a self-sustaining recovery of sorts.

the universe is quite simply too vast, too diverse for us to knowingly manipulate or predict.

although we may want more,

whether that is peace or possessions or power,

there is little more to be had.

there is already more than enough.

we are simply regurgitating past revelations in a different guise,

re-appropriating wisdom again for our own selfish ends.

to be grateful

to be thankful

to appreciate what there is and what we have

to strive for less

to recognize our own limitations

and to live within them

while not profitable or fashionable

may provide and define a feasible space for creativity, for resourcefulness, for compassion and for joy…

but then, who am I to say?

trellisick trees; cot valley, cornwall © p ward 2018

levant mine, cornwall © p ward 2018

ode to winter

Posted: January 25, 2019 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: the ash tree | Tags: Cornwall, poetry, Prayer | Leave a comment

Penwith 2019

In darkness, I think of you

And in my thoughts

I cover you with flowers,

A multitude of colours, shapes and scents,

And remove them one by one

To reveal you anew

In beauty and in wonder.

May your world be full of light and joy,

Inspiration, warmth and love

porthmeor farm, penwith © p ward 2019

peregrine; zennor church; godolphin house, cornwall © p ward 2018

Painting with Earth – Cornwall: new home, new works

Posted: November 30, 2018 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: eARTh | Tags: Arte Povera, Arts, arts research, Cornwall, earth pigments, eco art, ecopsychology, Environmental art, Feeling, indigenous culture, painting, Pigment, poetry, Visual arts | Leave a comment

November 2018

despite the wind

despite the weather

despite the winter

despite the sense of vulnerability

this raw and new found exposure

despite the twisting and turmoil of our times

despite love

and loss

despite it all

this earth still shines

Before I embark on a new phase of experimentation, combining different binders with the Cornish pigments, I would like to share a few paintings that I have made in my new home – a caravan on a dairy farm in the coastal hills of west Penwith, Cornwall.

West Penwith, Cornwall – Morvah, Sennen Cove, Cot Valley and Chun Quoit © p ward 2018

Here, I am surrounded by the historic land markings of the ancient peoples who populated this extremity of the British Isles. Stone walls, reportedly demarcating some of the oldest working field networks in the world, built 5000 years ago. Iron age hill forts, burial mounds, settlements and wells set in the denuded coastal wasteland of heath and moor. It is at times bleak. After the rain and wind that lashes fresh from the vast Atlantic ocean, the colours of autumn shine. The constantly changing hues of the blue and grey and turquoise sea. Rainbows sitting in our laps. The sky heavy and clear and dark and brooding. Salt water permeating. The animals are exposed by their hunt for food, by the lack of cover afforded by the stripped land. It is a place of spirit and history and life, right now.

Penwith dream forms (Botallack black on paper); fogou (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

mineral, vegetable; mist (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

dance on the shore (Cornish earth pigments on canvas) © p ward 2018

virtually vertical; community (Cornish earth pigments on wood); earth bound (Cornish earth pigments on canvas) © p ward 2018

pigment drift (Cornish earth pigments on slate) © p ward 2018

I am slowly learning to listen to the language of the colours here. The earth pigments, their qualities, their sources are unfamiliar. New to me. They are similar in colour to those of North Devon, that I have been using for a long time but very different in other ways. Their formation. Their nature. They have not been part of my own story, until now. The marks and stories they suggest are gradually revealing themselves. Their relationships unfolding. Their dynamic. And despite my attempts at integrity to their provenance and the spirit of this place in which I find myself, it is the freedom of my children’s paintings and drawings that are inspiring me…

noah, agnes, noah, agnes (pastel and paint on paper) 2018

two heads (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

eventual remediation (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

looking for love (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

Cornish Folk Tale I (Cornish earth pigments on wood) © p ward 2018

Professionally, I am working on an Arts Council National Lottery Project Fund proposal in association with Geevor Tin Mine to research the creative and educational potential of the pigments. Through recent projects and contact with the staff at the Mine I have started to appreciate and become really excited by the rich historical, geological, chemical and social provenance that the colours carry. After the far-reaching and ongoing success that Painting with Earth – North Devon has brought, let’s hope I will get some real financial support to enable the continuation of this rich seam of work ;-).

burnt CARN

Posted: August 31, 2018 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: A BUNDLE OF STICKS, the ash tree | Tags: arts research, Cornwall, Cornwall Area of Outstanding Beauty, Ecology, ecopsychology, Environmental art, Feeling, poetry | Leave a comment

Pendeen, Cornwall 190818

a howling man dressed in black set fire to the hill (carn) behind Pendeen…

burnt CARN, Pendeen, Cornwall 190818 I-III © p ward 2018

burnt CARN, Pendeen, Cornwall 190818 IV-IX © p ward 2018

burnt CARN, Pendeen, Cornwall 190818 X © p ward 2018

burnt CARN, Pendeen, Cornwall 190818 XI © p ward 2018

it has been a while since I have felt watched,

since I have felt the company of an-other.

the scent of burnt earth

forms distorted by fire

a thick sea mist blowing through the hilltop

silence…

with sadness (and in love)

Posted: November 13, 2017 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: the ash tree, Uncategorized | Tags: #GNAP France 2017, Arte Povera, Devon, Ecology, ecopsychology, Meditation, North Devon, poetry, Ritual | Leave a comment

at times of loss and grief

we may turn to Nature for solace,

to water, wind, fire and earth

to rocks, soil, fungi and trees

to insects, animals and birds

for guidance

for resilience

and strength

we may immerse ourselves

in the mundane, in the everyday

in routine and simplicity

not to avoid the pain

but to live with it

to feel it without distraction

we may assimilate our feelings and thoughts

through our work

through creative activity

through cathartic acts

through play

I sit in the flowing river

the cool water moves around my stationary working form

touching my legs, ankles and hips, hands and forearms,

I feel connected to life

once more

or through physical activity

where the rhythm of movement,

of muscles and breath and heart working in time,

lift us to an alternate state

to see our situation anew

in a different light

not with mind

but with body

and in fantasy and dreams

the world becomes larger

not illusionary but more real

past present future revealed

through our actions we may sense

the wonder of each passing moment

of being alive with our pain

of feeling at all

and with thanks

we can move forward

and in love

la grille d’entrée, Les Perrières, France © p ward 2017

les crânes et les plumes, Les maison troglo de Forges, France © p ward 2017

pic vert, les Perrières, France © p ward 2017

graffiti, Ackermann champagne vaults, France © p ward 2017

morning lake, Offwell Woods, Devon © p ward 2017

pollen path, Coombe Woods, London © p ward 2017

blocks, The Lizard, Cornwall © p ward 2017

blue butterfly, Hele, Devon © p ward 2017

mine shafts, Penwith, Cornwall © f owen/p ward 2017

Portland Place, Ilfracombe, Devon © p ward 2017

Croyde Bay, Devon © p ward 2017

terms of engagement

Posted: November 12, 2017 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: activ8, the ash tree | Tags: Arte Povera, arts research, collaboration, dialogical aesthetics, eco art, ecopsychology, Interdisciplinarity, poetry, Social change, social sculpture | Leave a comment

a conversation of sorts 121117

Q:

“What’s the difference between a social or educational project and an artwork?”

uncomfortable orchids, London © p ward 2017

A:

each may indeed have much in common and much to share.

it is the means and manner through which they communicate,

in which they engage, inform and sometimes transform that renders them effective or benign.*

an understanding of an audience, a demographic, an ecology

may encourage participation and transformation

reaching out and beyond those and that originally targeted.

the artist, teacher, social worker and ecologist intuit a means

to estimate, interpret, facilitate and hence empower (oneself and others)

literally, pictorially, intellectually, imaginatively, actively, physically, emotionally and most skillfully

the aesthetic that directs whatever intent motivated the craft,

that manipulates, interferes with and informs the intrinsic (or created) dynamic

towards a specific end or beginning or…

it is not necessary to determine how or when or what

those (or that) which experiences may take away

or if anything further does become

but it is in relationship that one may experience and affect movement

from one moment to the next

from one breath to another

so different too

that a tension reveals

swinging back and forth and around

we are all children in this world

vulnerable

unknowing

dancing under the stars

of this earth

that we share

(* yet how we may quantify such effectiveness is another matter.)

in Transit…

Posted: November 5, 2017 | Author: pw130524 | Filed under: activ8, Uncategorized | Tags: Arte Povera, Arts, arts research, eco art, ecopsychology, Environmental art, graffiti, North Devon Coast, poetry | Leave a comment

new works of a more temporary nature…

“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” Bertolt Brecht

what does one do when one is in transit, on the move, between stations, so to speak?

just how does one occupy oneself in a meaningful and creative manner when one’s foundations are all asunder, albeit temporarily?

it is a most unsettling situation indeed (quite literally), this moving about, this uprooting and replanting, this altering of, well, almost everything…

perceptions

perspectives

I am making ready for change

but unwilling to predict or control just how such changes may manifest.

they will more than likely simply emerge quite naturally,

not without a struggle perhaps,

but in an organic way.

in the meantime

there is the matter of packing away stuff,

clearing space for the new

both physically and emotionally,

and simply getting rid of that which no longer serves a purpose.

then there is of course the more mundane,

taking advantage of a lull or space to administer and catch up with paperwork and websites etc

and, of course, the constant reflection upon where one has been, where one is now and where one might like to go…

the studio, my place of creative refuge for two years is already dismantled

neatly stowed in a safe space, a strange sensation, a sense of detachment from my life vocation.

and yet all this has been done before.

and we adapt,

we make the most of what we have,

we continue to create, to cast our influence in the world

and the new situation inspires newness in all

it is rather exciting

this nomadic nuance

so here’s to new life

to new possibilities

to uncertain futures

isn’t it always this way after all…

après les Perrières (boots, sheep dung necklace, ibis feathers, clay model (courtesy Majid Ziaee*), tickets, red valerian sprig, stick and string) © p ward 2017

with many thanks to family and friends, new and old…

* http://www.majidziaee.com/index.php/en/

** Les Trois Galets de Marc Averly is a project by French artist Marc Averly (https://www.facebook.com/marc.averly) . He asks friends to photograph his hand formed wooden ‘galets’ in different places around the world and is compiling a fascinating and entertaining compendium of the images. Much of Marc’s work focuses on wood and trees, and he has a massive knowledge around the subject that he shares at interdisciplinary symposiums and workshops.

expressions of an intimate ecology

the contemporary environmental art practice of peter ward