"Wherever art goes regeneration follows. Art always gets there first" Tracey Emin

I am an official BT Storyteller for London 2012.

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Friday 23 September 2011

Familiar places through another's eyes

Storytelling at it's best here at

Ruth's Coastal Walk

Fellow BT Storyteller Ruth Livingstone undertakes an epic journey around the coast of the UK - on foot! How refreshing to read about familiar places through another's eyes.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Dig & Sow at the Community Archive Grand Launch

Here is my 'stand' at the Hadleigh & Thundersley Community Archive grand launch day on Saturday 17th September at Hadleigh Old Fire Station. Met some lovely people. I passed on the opportunity to dress in period costume though!!
some Fire Service archive equipment on show too...

Thursday 15 September 2011

We're Open - HOFS Open Studio weekend/Art Trail

National Portrait Gallery - Private Tour Road to 2012

I was delighted to meet the curator Anne Braybon, Commissions Manager for the Road to 2012 project at the National Portrait Gallery. Anne delighted myself and fellow BT Storytellers as she gave us a private tour of the photography exhibition.

Emma Hardy, whom I met at the weekend and Finlay Mackay's work is  hung separately but against the the strong colours of the gallery walls, the vibrancy of which was matched only by Anne's sartorial splendour. Contrasting in both style and technique, Hardy uses available 'ambient' light to capture the serene, relaxed and static poses of the men and women a who have shaped the London 2012 games, whereas Mackay's often artificially lit subjects are dynamic and captured 'in action'. Often larger format photographs, Mackay takes several shots at the location and later seamlessly combines the images into one large photograph. Hardy uses film and no manipulation of the image post processing.

I preferred the more subtle, quiet approach of the latter - more atmospheric but it was great to see the images in contrast with each other. A most enjoyable evening.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Dig and Sow Hadleigh, Essex. Let's get digging!


Hadleigh Dig & Sow flyer. Get involved - it's going to be amazing!!

Sign up here or contact me at sue_willis@btopenworld.com for more information.

It is most important that you complete the form as soon as possible so that information for the dig can be sent out to you.

Let's get digging!

Dig & Sow Ashwell, Hertfordshire 10/09/11 - Follow that!

http://youtu.be/7DSPFZJiX9M

The first On Landguard Point Dig and Sow event in the 'model' village of Ashwell, Hertfordshire. Looks amazing - hope we can emulate that!!

Sunday 11 September 2011

In search of Cunning Murrell

I joined the Hadleigh & Thundersley Community Archive group at Hadleigh Old Fire Station as they conducted auditions for the part of Hadleigh's "white witch" James "Cunning" Murrell ahead of the official Archive launch on Saturday 17th September, 2011. Colin Firth and Brad Pitt were apparently "busy" so in the absence of any competition Robert landed the part. Great fun..






Thursday 1 September 2011

London 2012 Cultural Olympiad coming to Hadleigh

I am delighted to be supporting the Pacitti Company with their Dig and Sow project in Hadleigh, Essex taking place on Saturday 8th October, 2011.

Pacitti are creating On Landgaurd Point (or OLP) - a range of region-wide participatory projects for the East of England as part of Artists Taking the Lead (Arts Council England) commissions at the heart of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. OLP is a project about HOME. It explores how we construct our diverse notions of home, what home means to each of us, and what it means to host others in our home.

On Landguard Point’s Dig and Sow invites members of the public to participate in a search for traces and even fragments of home, and to consider how much we really know about our own homes. With 205 one-metre square test-pit excavations planned to take place in six clustered locations across the region - one in each county of the East of England. Communities, families and budding archaeologists are encouraged to take part in this unique opportunity, under the supervision of one of the UK’s leading Archaeological teams. This is the perfect excuse to gather friends and loved ones together to undertake something truly adventurous!

Dig and Sow is coming to Hadleigh!!

The digs are free to take part in, they will take place in people’s own back gardens, and will take place over one day. OLP are looking to find 34 sites to excavate during Dig and Sow as the community of Hadleigh hosts Essex’s contribution to this mass archaeological excavation event as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Dr. Carenza Lewis (University of Cambridge and ‘Time Team’ presenter/contributor) and her team at Access Cambridge Archaeology will lead this programme of activity providing expertise and support to oversee the digs.

“Digging into the ground provides an umbilical link from the present to the past. Trade, migration and the many waves of settlers over the centuries are physically represented by finds from different places – we expect to find pottery which has been made and/or used by Britons, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Huguenot refugees, Dutch engineers. Other objects may range from Ipswich-made Saxon pottery to modern Danish Lego to eighteenth-century Chinese porcelain.”
Dr. Carenza Lewis (University of Cambridge and Channel 4’s ‘Time Team’).

Participation in this part of OLP requires participants to register an interest to be involved, so we can share information on how to make your dig; share what you should do if you discover something; and so that everyone can stay safe by following a set of best practice guidelines.

Timed to coincide with Hadleigh's inaugural Art Trail the Dig and Sow project will take place on one day with a planned celebratory gathering at the end of the day at the newly created arts and community hub at Hadleigh Old Fire Station (HOFS).

If you’re interested in taking part contact On Landguard Point’s or ask me for more details. And do please pass this on to anyone in Hadleigh you think may be interested in taking part.

Dig and Sow has a growing number of supporters. Please lend your support to this fantastic project. We are planning information sessions at the Fire Station and Morrison's (dates & times to be confirmed).

I really hope you will want to be involved and am looking forward to hearing from you.



OLP’s Terms and Conditions and more information regarding On Landguard Point events please visit www.onlandguardpoint.com