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.

New works for 2014

Coleridge Way February 2014
 'and the rain came hammering down'

We are still early in 2014 and The Coleridge Way works are getting underway once more. Firstly Christopher Jelley will be working on the QR code poetry project with three new first schools -  Timberscombe & Crowcombe, Stogumber and Stogursey. The pupils will be out in March experiencing the Coleridge way and writing poetry influenced by their environment just as Wordsworth and Coleridge did 200 years ago. These will be turned into QR codes (square barcodes) and then laser etched onto slate to be installed along the Coleridge Way. This continues the work started in phase one last year by Christopher, with the fruits of the 2013 poetry excursions now being visible along certain sections of the trail. The future work to take place in March, will hopefully complete the picture.

So if you see a QR code, laser etched onto stone on one of the finger posts along the trail, scan it with your smart phone and you will reveal the poetry written by a local child who was influenced by the Somerset landscape.

New poetry pieces are to be installed ready for early summer 2014.

On The Coleridge Way, 'Holloway Track' above Monksilver.
During the great floods of 2014!

More Story Boxes.

After last year's great success, the story boxes will be revisited again this year. The concept is very simple -  find a box read the story so far, add a little text (or drawing) but no more, and then leave for the next walker. Here are some SoundCloud clips of last year's multi authored tales, each audio was written by at least five different authors but they flow together as one.

The locations of the new story boxes are yet to be decided, but we will keep you posted on all developments, though placements will be from June until September this year so keep your eyes peeled.

There are often details about this work on the Storywalks twitter feed including images of the tales so you can follow digitally if you are unable to get out onto the trail.

On the trail of the Coleridge Way
where water falls in to chocolate streams.

The final piece of Coleridge Way magic comes in the guise of the Fly Catcher Project which has been talked about in previous posts. Coleridge used to call his notebooks and journals Fly Catchers as he felt his ideas were like little flies that seemed to flit away if he did not catch them down immediately. For the Fly Catcher Project Christopher Jelley has worked with the British Library to capture extracts from Coleridge's journals which were penned during his time at Nether Stowey. Christopher has geo-located these into environments which relate to the journal extracts and then made them visible only in location, forcing users to travel to view, and so experience the very places which ignited Romantic poetry.

This exciting project is now complete and below are the web links which enable you to open an innovative web-app in your mobile browser, as the files are location sensitive you will then have to travel to the three locations to view, but don't forget to open the links first.

The first is on the castle mound at Nether Stowey and includes an interesting poem written by William Wordsworth for Coleridge's son Hartley, but actually penned by Coleridge himself. The elements reveal as you circle the mound with the final piece on the summit.

http://coleridge.storywalks.info/STC-Stowey

The second at Watchet West Quay, to reveal  after download, walk along the west harbour wall to reveal each element in turn. These are extracts of four pages from the infamous 'Gutch Book'.

http://coleridge.storywalks.info/STC-Watchet

The third is Kubla Khan, geo-located at Porlock Weir, travel over the metal bridge to reveal the first segment. This version of the poem varies from the first publication and these slight differences are noted at the end.

http://coleridge.storywalks.info/STC-Porlock

Just to clarify, you will need to open the URL above before you travel to the locations as there is very little mobile reception in West Somerset. The award winning web-app will initially cache the files on first click, so amazingly they will work without any data or mobile connection at all once opened.

Each file has instructions, directions and text support embedded.

I know it's wet and windy out now, some will enjoy venturing out in these elements but when the weather is warmer do go and see the work in the landscape that inspired it.

Plans are Afoot!

This year has been a great one for new works and new directions with the Coleridge Way, and as we head towards the darker months, it's a time of reflection and planning the way forward for 2014.

So what's in store? Well some of it is tightly under wraps, and will be rolled out and celebrated in due course, (so no spoilers here, sorry) other parts like the QR code poetry and the story boxes which were such a success are to be built upon, made stronger and more diverse. 

Along the trail of the Coleridge Way

The story box project went really well, we had a great deal of input from a diverse range of walkers, some just added a drawing, others just their name, but lots of people picked up the gauntlet of adding to the tale and then leaving for the next.

Here are a few sound cloud links from text written by multiple authors, it's really interesting how the thread runs through them all, and when a single voice reads them out they begin to flow and meld as one.

The new story boxes are due to go live in June again 2014, (with funding approval in January, fingers crossed) which will be fantastic. The boxes will again be started ready for your discovery and input, last year we had Jackie Morris, (Author Illustrator) and Taffy Thomas (the first UK Storyteller Laureate) There will again be opportunities for established authors to be involved - so please do get in touch it would be great to hear from you.

Here is a little film made in June 2013 about the story boxes, as they were being installed along the Coleridge Way trail.

There will also be more of the QR code poetry as we hope to engage with another three schools in Coleridge Country, and re install these back along the trail. Also a sample of the QR code poetry is being published in an anthology of Exmoor poetry which will be available in time for Christmas.

So what of the stone image higher up the page? Well this is a secret of the Coleridge Way, for those who walk it discover hidden gems and surprises along it's path. Some are marked on maps, others are more esoteric, a carved well head, a tree root which looks like a monks hood. The story boxes and the QR code poetry engage with these personal histories, these individual imaginative elements, or as Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said.

A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.

So let us trust to the imagination.

Frances Harrison's Dark Starry Skies

Frances Harrison's exhibition at All Saints Church Dulverton was a culmination of a broad spectrum of work under the blanket title of Dark Starry Skies. Works displayed encompassed film, print, and a story telling cafe, along side flower displays from the Church wardens, and even a dress sequinned with constellations. Members of the local community had also produced tapestries depicting their personal take on what dark starry skies meant to them.

Starry Flower Displays

The church itself is a hard act to follow in respect to grandeur and shear space to fill, but the work nestled in well amongst the arches and pillars. The film on show was made in conjunction with the Engine Room of Bridgwater, and Ignite Somerset, and celebrates the textures and feel of Exmoor's combes and rivers. The screen sat in the pulpit echoing the magical words of Kubla Khan, linking in Coleridge with the Exmoor Dark Skies Reserve.

Throughout the church quotes and text were printed on large banners, hanging from the stone pillars adding visual depth and rhythm to the exhibition, hosting quotes from Coleridge and Galileo along side the more contemporary words of Brian Cox.

Starry dress reflected in an acrylic print which are stills from the film.

Poetry on the pillars

The week came to a peak with France's illustrated talk on 'The Sublime and the Beautiful' which married art, literature and landscape alongside romanticism and its influences of the time before and after Coleridge. Over the week the venue had over a hundred visitors a day, which included local school children who came along to listen to stories about starry skies.

Christabel Released

Last night Binham Grange was host to Ralph Hoyte's Epic 'Christabel Released', the evening was part of the Gallery4Art exhibition which built upon last year's successful show of new art works by south west artists. Binham Grange is in a stunning location, nestled between Blue Anchor bay and Old Cleeve, it's fabulous gardens and medieval rooms, sensitively brought back to life by the current owners, were the perfect backdrop for this Gothic epic - the Alabaster door frames being something to behold in their own right. 

The performance began outside in the evening sun, then parts two and three continued inside, firstly in the grand dining hall, and then finally with coffee seated on soft sofas in the more snug sitting room.

Ralph explained how he had originally fought with the idea of finishing Coleridge's unfinished 'medieval' tale of demonic possession but whilst as artist in residence with the Quantock Hills AONB he was more and more immersed in the famous poet's world and simply had to go where he was creatively being led. So as the evening sun set we sipped wine as Ralph began his and Coleridge's epic with the added challenge of spotting the join!

Ralph's reading was three hours in total, which is quite some task to stay focused and fresh throughout, but he made it seem effortless. Moving the audience and allowing us time to eat our picnics between the different locations made the evening move swiftly and also enabled us to see more of this fine Jacobean house.

When the evening drew to a close there was a relaxed discussion about Ralph's work, the other poets and writers that had influenced his ending of Christabel and whether he would be taking on other great unfinished pieces - to which he replied that he was ready to find his own 'modern' poet's voice once more. 

Ralph is also currently working on his GPS app that will  re introduce the voices of the Romantic poets back into the Somerset landscape in which they lived and roamed; this is planned for release next year and you may read more about this project in an earlier post here.

If you were unable to attend this event and are curious to what fate awaits Ralph's Cristabel - will she do an 'Ophelia' and what becomes of the snake like, bi-sexual Geraldine, then you may purchase the poem for your Kindle and read it at your leisure - do visit Ralph's website for further details.

Romantic events on Exmoor

Here are three dates for your calendar to drink in the Coleridge Culture. Firstly Ralph Hoyte, who has been working on his Coleridge Conversations App, will be reading his poem Christabel Released at Binham Grange during their annual Gallery4art exhibition. This is how they describe this year's summer exhibition -

Imagine art as a box of chocolates, some highly coloured and decorated, some plain and elegant, some are your favourites, others provoke new experiences and sensations. For the contemporary Summer Exhibition at Binham Grange this year Gallery4Art will present a spacious barn full of art to engage and intrigue the visitor. Each artist will have space to tell a story, to add a fresh dimension to the exhibition where they can display new work and old favourites for people to enjoy. There will be a range of work to suit all budgets from small prints to wall size artworks, delicate ceramics to large animal sculptures. 

Ralph Hoyte in Watchet testing his audio ghost

Tickets are priced at £8/£6, bring a picnic or order from the Binham restaurant. Ralph's epic poem will be performed by him on the evening of 28th August, the art and artists will also be open for you to view and meet during the evening. If you are unable to attend on the night snippets of Ralph's sound installation ‘Romantic Litscape’ will be accessible throughout the exhibition duration.

Christopher Jelley - Frances Harrison - Ralhp Hoyte

During Somerset Art Week in Dulverton Frances Harrision has an Illustrated Talk -  'the Sublime and the Beautiful' which is about art, literature, Romanticism and it's influences. The event is to be held at Dulverton All Saints Church, on September 27th starting at 7pm, with tickets £5 purchased from SAW or on the door. Wine and refreshments will be available. Frances is also Venue 24 for Somerset Art Week, so have a look here for more details.

And finally also in Dulverton at Somerset Art Week's Venue 23 is Christopher Jelley's Coleridge works, much of which has been blogged about here so do enjoy reading previous posts to get a feel for the work that will be on show - Number Seven will be hosting this event.

Christopher's Storywalk in Dulverton
asks you to make clock faces as part of the story line
and leave them for other walkers to find.

'Behind the gaol door, in the room beyond, Christopher Jelley will have a curious mix of work that defies simple classification'

Amidst these projects will be his Coleridge Way QR Code Poetry Slates, many of which now installed along the Coleridge Way, and also the story boxes which have been out along the trail throughout the summer. Other pieces of his including the site specific Storywalk 'The Watching Way' which starts in the town and finishes out in the hills somewhere! The exhibition is a mix of high and low tech, with an interactive twist so do pop along and step behind the gaol door...

I am sure I will be reporting on these events, so if you don't get a chance to attend then check back here later on.

. . relish the rain and sun in equal measure

     In a shady valley not far from here, where the river slides over cool rocks beneath muscular Oaks, the Last Queen visited once. A small courtage followed and everyone barefoot (by decree) till the edge of Paisey Pool. There she stepped lightly into the cool waters and even the birds were hush as she dipped beneath the water, her train billowing in the flow. But when she emerged but a heart beat later age had been purged from her limbs and her body was lithe and supple.

     She turned to the company and addressed the barefoot lords who waited.

'These are the new rules of my reign' and the scribe began to take notes.

'Firstly . . .

     We shall walk barefoot always, mirrors will be banished - our lovers, children and friends will reflect our beauty in all our transformations. 

We will dine on nothing but the finest, freshest fruits and berries. 

Celebrate each season, relish the rain and sun in equal measure. 

Have no need for clocks or time pieces other than the sun and the moon.

     We shall . .

Fragment from story book box at Webbers Post

Continuation of the story above.

Yesterday I ventured out to the Jubilee Hut at Webbers Post with a little intrepidation, the last time I visited I removed a book which was full and replaced it with this one. It was only about two weeks ago, but the journal in question had become a visitor book, not a story book.

The concept of the story box is simple, find the box read the tale so far, add a drawing or paragraph but no more then leave for the next walker. So when it devolves into a guest book I feel a little saddened and hoped this one would not fall foul the same. I wrestled with putting a note inside saying 'This is not a visitor book, story only please' but I rile at that, my mind set is one of enablement, not of impediments. But once someone breaks the thread of a tale it drifts naturally into the visitor book mode. So with all that said, just before I set out I did print some thin book marks to tuck in the active pages to negate the drift.

Also last week I received an email from Katie Bourne who stumbled across this story box with her two year old and loved the project, she also mentioned 'the visitor book syndrome' and I knew she was looking at the newly installed journal which added to my anxiety. She went on to link to a Braunton project which she had managed a while back, similar to my storywalks work with GPS location triggered content, but Katie admits herself that some of the tech is already a little dated, but still worth checking out.

So yesterday I walked through the sun dappled trees at Webbers Post on the way to the Jubilee Hut which is where this box is installed. It is a stunning location, the crunch of pine needles, glimpses of deer (got close enough to pet two!) give me any excuse to go breath in the Exmoor tonic.

Illustration of Dunkery Beacon from this story box location

So I nervously approached the box, pleased it had not disappeared totally, (I am expecting to lose one or two over the summer). But the box looked perfect, with a good scuff on the lid (good, box in use), I opened it and found it well used in a relatively short period, but more to the point it was well used in the intended manner. Yes there are a few additions which wander off into the guest book cul-de-sac, but the meat is of tale, and more than I could have hoped.

Story Box on the bench next to the QR poetry project
at the Jubilee Hut, Webbers Post.

I added a little tale to the tale to gather some of the threads, took lots of pictures of the pages and then left the box once again to the wilds and whims of strangers. But when I checked my photo's at home last night, they were dreadful, so later that evening I drove out again with Davina (Walking Book Club), and not only did we see more deer, but a stunning sunset, and in that short time another visitor had added to the tale.

Brilliant.

So thanks to all those who have contributed, for me it recharges my faith in the creativity of strangers, the willingness to engage with the wilds of Exmoor, and add a little cumulative magic to the whole, just for the fun of it. 

I know that in years to come I will meet people who will remember stumbling across the story boxes, anonymously adding their mark or just enjoy seeing the of story grow there in.