A two day course for young writers and artists aged 16- 25 held at Village Arts in Summer 1999. The weekend event involved twelve participants and four tutors. The group toured three sites within a five mile radius of Village Arts: Hancock Woods, Skinningrove Beach and the Spoil Heaps over Deep Dale. At each site the participants made sketches and written notes, developing ideas for poetry and visual art. On returning to Village Arts the work on Chris Drury and Andy Goldsworthy was studied and discussed, along with a selection of contemporary poetry that dealt with landscape and some Australian Aboriginal Dreaming tales. As individuals the participants identified the site which most appealed to them and worked in clay to produce containers for the qualities of their chosen place. The second day was spent working in small groups at their chosen site, collectively sculpting large containers for words from found materials. The words were scratched, arranged in stones, chalked and spoken. At the end of day 2 the groups reassembled and made a tour of the three sites to present their work and perform their writings, before returning to Village Arts for a meal. Wordforms 1 was funded by Village Arts and Middlesbrough Rotary Club.
Funding
