In June 2014 the Earthed Residency took place in Ashton Meadows and at the Create Centre in Bristol, as part of Bristol’s Big Green Week.
Ashton Meadows [the green site opposite the Create centre] acted as a kind of green sketchbook and laboratory, exploring the connections between stories, the land and land art and cultivating in all of us a connection to the deep rooted well-being and enjoyment found in our relationship to the earth.
Local communities and the general public were invited to work alongside land artist Mick Petts and writer David Lane as well as natural historians, geologists, archeologists, historians and many others to unearth history, stories, memories and knowledge lying buried in the green site.
Each of the five days took a focus from which to gain inspiration following this through into creative workshops and activities. We explored the layers of the site starting from the bedrock up.
This rich top soil of discovery was documented to form the bedrock of an evolving public exhibition in the Create Centre gallery space, sitting alongside broader explorations of how stories have been told across time and culture to explain the mysteries of earth’s naturally occurring formations and phenomena, and conversely how man has shaped the earth to tell new stories since.
All of the above were material informing immersive land art and creative writing workshops, gathering a multitude of ideas and inspirations for the green site-specific story cycle to be released into green spaces in Bristol in 2015, and to develop designs for the temporary land art installations born from it.
As part of this process the creative team aims to begin conversations, exploring possibilities for site options with the council, relevant local communities and other stakeholders for a permanent piece of land art as a legacy aspect of the project,aiming to create a long term inspiring green space that has sprung from the collective imaginations of all those who have taken part, playing a vital role in transforming people’s relationships to green spaces in the city.
Earthed Weekender 