Poetry in motion

Next month Christopher Jelley will be installing the next batch of Coleridge Way QR Code Poetry along the original 36 mile section of the trail. Last year this type of poetry was installed in several places including Nether Stowey, Webbers Post and Dunster's Conygar Tower.  The codes were laser etched onto slate and installed mainly in larger tablet sized form, with the exception being Watery Lane which is at the foot of the Coleridge Way trail. Here he installed small badge sized tiles (pictured) and it was thought that works in 2014 should continue in this style as far along the trail as was feasible.

QR Code poem nestling on a finger post, scan if you want to read!

Last year's poetry connected with three local schools with pupils aged between 7 and 11, and this year we have managed to up that to five schools, producing nearly 100 poems. This work (see other posts) was basically a response to the Somerset landscape, much of it along the Coleridge Way, answering the questions, what do you see, hear, feel, etc.

These poems were then whittled down to 80 or so and are at the etchers as I write, hopefully producing enough poetry tiles to cover a good section of the 36 miles of gates and sign posts from Nether Stowey to Porlock. Christopher say's 'I am really proud to be placing the words of the little authors back into the landscape which inspired them. The workshops with the schools are always full of surprises, one child wrote 'My hand is turning into a mermaids hand' magic,'

The canopy above the Cist at Dunster Woods near Roadwater
along the Coleridge Way trail.

So how do we read the poetry?

Very simply you'll need to install an app in your smart phone, but don't worry, as there are lots of free ones available.

QR Codes are often termed square bar codes, we have been familiar with regular strip shaped bar codes for over a generation now, these are the ones on the backs of books or packs of sausages. They are just strings of numbers which the scanner reads, but with a square QR code they can include letters, numbers and other characters too.

Today you'll see them everywhere, on the backs of vans, newspaper adds or promotional links. Most often these point to web sites which the scanner then feeds you conveniently through to. But that is a level of sophistication which we don't need here, out on the Moors there is little if any reception, so linking to a website would simply not work. But if we use QR codes in their simplest form, to reveal plain text, then we can encode short stanza's of poetry inside. Your smart phone decodes through its lens and you can read the hidden words without internet reception, it's all done in the handset.

The Cist clearing at Dunster Woods near Roadwater
along the Coleridge Way trail.

So before you embark (and leave wifi and data zones behind) install a scanning app in your smart phone, there are lots to choose from as QR codes have been around for about 20 years. Choose a free one which will do everything you will need and possibly a lot more. Install it and give it a go scanning anything that you see, my photograph of the finger post above works, and newspapers are often full of them.

So here are two examples of the pupils poetry, both were written by Stogursey Primary school children, they are inspired by their walk at Hodders Combe which was a favourite haunt of Coleridge and the Wordsworths.

1

as I walked through the lush green Hodders Combe

I heard the birds tweeting

morning greetings

as I wondered through the sunny Hodders Combe

I saw a fence protecting people from fallen trees

in the morning breeze

the beautiful sun was beaming like a star

as I walked through the calm Hodders Combe

I got to the enchanted river

I saw the freezing cold water fighting it's way

over the gleaming fallen tree log

2

it was a lovely summers day

birds were singing happily

a chainsaw was stretching like an animal

birds were whisking

I saw an extremely fluffy sheep

and webs that looked like stars

I smelt the minty moss

and elf ears in the trees

there were pretty leaves everywhere

then I got pricked

QR Code Poetry along the Coleridge Way

The school motif.

Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash were working with Timberscombe and Cutcombe schools this week on a Coleridge Way poetry project. Last year they worked with three other local schools creating poetry which was re installed along the trail in the form of QR codes. (Square bar codes)

Word harvesting

The first part of the day is called word harvesting, the pupils, all aged under nine, were asked to write down everything they could hear, feel, see, touch etc. They journeyed to a major Oak tree a little way from the village, which is represented on the school logo. Last year's poetry was all about snow, ice, numb feet and aching limbs. On Monday they expected the words to be more about flooding, water, rain and wind, but amazingly the sun shone and they had rather an excellent day.

The Oak is approximately 600 years old, so it would have been 400 years old when Coleridge walked this way, something the children found really interesting. Timberscombe has had a school for 300 years and over that time it has been a regular walk for the pupils, exploring and understanding their unique countryside.

An acorn cup

When the word harvesting was complete and the pupils had mud swilling from every welly boot, it was time to head back to the class to then take these words and craft them into some poetry.

At the Major Oak Tree

The final pieces when finished will be laser etched into slate then re installed along the Coleridge Way trail, most likely on finger posts, continuing the work started last year.

Children joining hands around the trunk

If you see any of the QR codes along the trail then they are easily de-coded with a free scanning app (lots to choose from) and the best thing is that they require no data connection so they work in the most remote places on Exmoor.

Pupils at the tree

Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash will be working with two other schools during March, and will be installing this second phase of poetry along different stretches of the trail ready for the summer.

Calling all Romantics!

Ignite Somerset along with ARTlife had invited Somerset artist's working on projects associated with the Romantic poets to talk in front of a green screen at the Engine Room Bridgwater. The premise was simple, Richard Thomlinson (of Ignite Somerset pictured above with Lynn Mowat) had prepped the Engine Rooms studio with a floor to ceiling green screen, camera, microphone, lights etc and artist's were asked to book a slot and then talk about their projects straight to camera.

Amongst other artists attending were Alice Crane, pictured above amidst filming, she was talking and sewing at the same time, a task which was harder than expected - even after years of practice. Ralph Hoyte (geolocated sound-scapes, Satsymph - pictured below) and Frances Harrison (storyteller and visual artist also below) have major projects in respect to the Coleridge Way. In many ways Frances, Ralph and myself are the three corners of the current Coleridge Way projects and the meeting was for me an essential piece of networking. Touching base and choreographing (in the loosest sense) how our works fit together in a wider scheme.

Christopher Jelley, Frances Harrison, Ralph Hoyte
The Colridgeons!

At lunch time Richard screened three short films to the Artists present, one about each of The Colridgeons (I know, there is no such word) which we had made with Richard in the last few months. I always feel very self conscious about this kind of thing even in good company, but there was nothing to worry about, and it was brilliant to catch up with others, many of which are working in parallel towards the ever present yearly event of Somerset Art Week.

The Engine Room is a stunning facility and in this age of media where we are surrounded by screens at every turn, it makes the essential bridge between the artist and the technology, something which always seems to be shifting, never solid and simple like a canvas or a book. I have always tried to embrace the new but there is a point where you try to take stock and ask simple fundamental questions like, does this effort actually add to my creative practice, is it worth the hassle, toil and energy? What is the life span, who am I connecting to, will it be gone in a moment like twitter, or around for decades? and am I happy with that, is there another way?

Gordon Field

These are impossible questions to answer, and only in hindsight will we know truly the longevity of energies spent and where possible economies were to be had. In the mean time we have to embrace every opportunity on offer, give a little of our time and enjoy the simple things like chatting over coffee, and connecting to others who have climbed a different tree of craft to your own. Build connections, collaborations, try and be at the centre, and catch those opportunities right now whilst the camera's are running.

These works will be posted through the Ignite Somerset site.

Word Harvesting along the Coleridge Way

Mrs Mash with her harvested words from the children,
but written on the wooden board as the paper got so soggy in the rain.

I've been desperate to write about this day just before Easter, a day whose weather was so caustic that it felt endless, and all the stranger now sitting here with the sun shining! So just to re cap, I have worked with three First Schools in West Somerset, all are in the curtilage of the Coleridge Way. Nether Stowey at the head, Porlock at the tail, and Dunster, well a little off mid way, but the concept was simple, take a group out into the landscape and write words which reflect that experience in much the same manner as Coleridge and Wordsworth.

Watching the Exmoor foal disappear into the woods at the Jubilee Hut.

In some ways, the extreme weather, (and yes it was mad for all three separate days and schools!) was just the ticket, they needed something to write about and Cold, Icy, Fresh, Tingly, Breezy, are all in the mix.

These images here are from Porlock First St Dubricus School, who braved the weather up Webbers Post (Beneath Dunkery Beacon) This path is great, and a regular destination for St Dubricus, but as I drove over that morning I thought it was surly going to be cancelled, the rain was deep, the hills shrouded in mist, puddles right across the road. But no, the head master Mr Blazey was adamant that it would all pan out fine, and then he added that this was the walk they did when the weather was too bad at Pinkery Pond up on the Moors! When it comes down to it, the school know the limitations of their pupils far better than I do which is rightly so, and I am so pleased that we could go, as the old adage goes, 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just poor clothing.'

We tried to keep the paper dry by writing inside bags, but it was no use.

So the van dropped off the first party who thought that there was not enough water in the air so did some puddle jumping, and proper splashing. With that out of their system we were straight into word harvesting, what do you hear, feel, smell, what can you taste on the rain? And the kids were even more prolific than the clouds, for they poured forth endless phrases for us to jot down, faster than we could write.

One of the sculptures along the Coleridge Way trail at Webbers Post

Well we did have paper to write on but that soon turned to pulp, but by chance the clip boards were wooden, and not wanting to halt the kids flow, we just started to write on them, which oddly enough got better in the wet rather than worse. It reminded me about the great space race of the 60's, (before my time I know) where the Americans spent a huge budget in developing a biro style pen which would work in zero gravity, but the Russians just used a pencil! Doesn't rain in space though! 

Wet!

So the day went well, the first session harvesting out in the wilds, the afternoon writing up and working on their phrases. Jenny had a good structure for this, building in metaphor and simile into the structure of their writing, taking the ordinary and making it more, building, improving.

A great session.

So many thanks Jenny (Mrs Mash) for leading all the sessions, and thank you to all three schools for letting us loose in the wilds of Exmoor with their precious pupils. The poetry is all complete and I am just spell checking and proof reading to make sure that it's perfect before I etch the poetry into slate for re installation along the Coleridge Way. But you'll have to read other blogs for those details as I think that's plenty for one blog.

The Fine Poets of Conygar Tower

When you say it was a cold day, do you mean, 30 mph winds, and snow in the air?! Well that's what they braved, the young poets of Dunster First, out there word harvesting despite the icy chill and risk of exposure. But rather than rant on about the weather and the sterling little champions pictured above, I think I will just post some of their poetry instead.

It was a great day, many thanks to all.

The trees are as squeaky as the squirrels

On my adventure to the evil black tower with a floating eye above to guard the great king below.

Who ever tries to see the king face to face must have their sons taken away, and their bodies burnt down to only one ash each.

I could hear grass waving below my feet and the small tall birds above in the air singing all around me. And when they stopped I scarced hearing the air whispering and then, just then, I stumbled across Conygar Tower

There was a rookery that belonged to a greenie, bluely, blackie Crow

 that squawked as you walked by,

it seemed like they were sitting next to you,

 when they were actually up in the sky.

The wind was like a werewolf, howl, howl it felt like frosted snow.

Whilst I charged through Conygar Woods,

I started to puff like a man carrying goods,

The stones clanked and the rough grass snapped

Whilst on the edge of the path that nettles sapped

Alex started charging round and round,

As though he was a bull with his tail bound,

Mrs Grey said 'stop running but he couldn't stop,

He tripped on a tree root and fell down . Plop!

Mr Jelley pointed out a gnarled old tree,

For it was near the path and we could all see,

It had gnarled old branches and with hardly any leaves,

and in our toes we all got the peeves.

We carried on till we reached the crumbling tower,

When all of a sudden we had a sparkling snow shower,

Anya tried to eat the shining snow,

the wind came over and my scarf was caught in the blow.

Some extracts from different pupils, others (like the last one) in their entirety. I have a whole heep of these from yesterday and who knows what gems lie inside. There are two more schools to do Porlock and Nether Stowey, and when their word harvesting is complete I will be turning them into QR codes, laser cutting them into slate and then putting back into the landscape from which they were inspired. But that's for a later blog.