Acrylic yarn and mixed media
Allotment Gallery, Greenbelt Festival, Kettering
28 August 2016
I was at the Greenbelt Festival over the August bank holiday. As part of a fantastic weekend, I gave a Pecha Kucha talk about my art work, and “Particulart: Up in the Air” popped up in the Allotment Gallery.
There was visual art dotted around the site at Boughton House near Kettering, including three venues in shed down by the lake: the Garden, Allotment, and Potager Galleries. The Allotment Gallery hosted a series of installations from different artists over the weekend. Particulart took the 12-4pm slot on the Sunday.
I had a series of great conversations across the ages and genders, from small children attracted by the inflatable globe and hanging molecules that could be swung, to young people interested in data and/or science; from knitters gaining new ideas for how they can use their craft in activism, to a mechanical engineer thinking about communicating data and information, and a psychotherapist pondering the benefits to mental health of knitting and making generally.
Half way through, I was approached by a woman from Radio 4 who asked me whether I would record some of the Daily Service for Wednesday, part of a special week of programmes from Greenbelt. So my voice can be heard reading some prayers halfway through “A Different Type of Power: The Power of Art”.
The mechanical engineer provided one of my favourite quotes: “When I read the board outside, I had no idea just how amazingly cool this was!” My other favourite quote was a throw-away line from a couple of women as they went on to their next thing: “I love Greenbelt!” Presumably because Greenbelt is the sort of space where they can happen upon stuff like bonkers installations involving knitting, chemistry, contemplation, and gentle protest. I too love Greenbelt!
Here are some photos of the shed, with thanks to Sue Holden. There is more information about the issues and the actions you can take on the Particulart website.
