Treasuring Derbyshire's Trees

 

Treasuring Trees

celebrating Derbyshire’s trees

Exhibition at Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

19th February – 8th June 2022

As the world changes, our trees are under threat. With the effects of rising temperatures, forest clearance and diseases like Ash Dieback, we are losing trees all the time. In this year when, to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, there are plans to plant 1 million trees, three Derbyshire artists invite people to look at trees more deeply. We hope this reflection will foster personal wellbeing and involve people in biodiversity and climate change projects.

“With this exhibition, ‘Treasuring Trees’, we aim to encourage conversations about trees, to build a deeper understanding of the relationships between trees, landscapes and ourselves. We’d like people to celebrate Derbyshire’s trees”.

"Spirit of the Hawthorns", Valerie Dalling

From tree-crowned Lows and Tors, to ravine woodlands, to nature reclaimed quarries, to green spaces in towns, trees grow into our lives across the centuries. As artists, Sarah, Valerie and I have drawn inspiration from history, landscapes and communities about their local trees. Their work creates a reminder of the presence of those trees in our lives and a warning of what we might lose.



The three artists have worked individually, together and with the community to create this celebration of Derbyshire’s trees.

Sarah EA Parkin is a watercolour painter depicting Derbyshire Dales landscapes with trees and highlighting areas on the point of change.

Gordon MacLellan is a poet, storyteller and puppeteer. Drawing together personal work and community projects, Gordon’s work reflects emotional responses to Ash Dieback and the changing woodland landscape.

Valerie Dalling is a Peak District photographer who has looked at birch trees in the National Park. Focusing on community health and wellbeing, her leisurely reflective approach aims to encourage a deeper appreciation of the landscape.

(links are to our instagram pages - other handles are below)

Puppets taking shape on a Toadtable

My work
Creeping Toad is adding puppets and poems to the proceedings, with a selection ranging from 4metre tall tree people to small oak-root goblins and birch boggarts. From community poems with the tall trees to pages from the Birch Boggart Spellbook there will be all sorts of Toad-work to (hopefully) entertain or offend

Community wall
During our preparation for Treasuring Trees, all three artists reached out to the community in different ways. This work has resulted in a community wall of paintings, poems, photographs and prints from people reaching from Leek to Sheffield, from Derby to Buxton. We're not going to start displaying those images here but here is an apple aperitif from Mary at Borderland Voices

Collective work
As well as our own work and the community participation, the three of us visited the fabulous ancient hawthorns at Hay Cop in the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve. There is one section of the exhibition that has grown from those visits, all three of us responding in our own ways to these venerable trees

EVENTS AND VISITING THE EXHIBITION

Treasuring Trees is at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery,

Terrace Rd, Buxton, SK17 6DA

Tel: 01629 533540

Dates; 19th February - 8th June 2022

Meet the artists event 26th March,  2 – 4pm at the Museum

Keep an eye on our social media:

Instagram

• @seaparkin_artist & @celebratingDerbyshireTrees
• @valerieDalling & @peakTrees
• @creepingtoad

Facebook

• @SarahEAParkin-DerbyshireLandscapePaintings
• @ValerieDallingPhotography
• @creepingtoad

Twitter

• @TreasuringTrees & @seaparkin
• @valerieDalling & @peakTrees
• @creepingToad

Images in this post

• exhibition composites c/o Sarah Parkin
• "Spirit of the Hawthorns" c/o Valerie Dalling
• puppets, hawthorns and postcards: c/o Gordon Maclellan
• Apple by Mary c/o Richard Egan

many thanks to Buxton Museum and Art Gallery for their hospitality and endless patience with us!




Creeping Toad postcards will be on sale

Shining Wonders, free event, 5th February

Shining Wonders from the Museum

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery

February 5th 2022

At this quiet time in the museum, we’re rummaging through the stores and bringing out some of the Wonders that visitors do not usually meet. There may be stones, and bones, brooches and badges, belt buckles and coach clasps. Glittering minerals and shining stones will add to our dragon’s hoard of findings. Can you tell the difference between the real treasures and the pretend ones?

You cannot take our treasures home with you but come and create your own treasures by touching, seeing, drawing, making, decorating or just remembering.

Join me for a creative adventure into a world of shining wonders.

Looking at our provision for people with additional needs, this is a quiet event aimed at families with autistic members or other specific needs.

This is a quiet event aimed at families with autistic members or other specific needs. Your family will enjoy more time together with Gordon in a quieter room and with freedom to walk around the Gallery.

Places are limited and need booking at this eventbrite link

We are already planning a second event in March. This hasn't been published yet but maybe put 12th March in your diary! The event will be posted on the Museum (@BuxtonMuseumandArtGallery) and Creeping Toad (@CreepingToad) facebook pages and on twitter: @BuxtonMuseum and @CreepingToad

Any questions, email buxton.museum@derbyshire.gov.uk or call 01629 533540

LATE NEWS: 5TH FEBRUARY IS SOLD OUT: KEEP AN EYE ON THE PAGE AS PEOPLE OFTEN CANCEL!

We hope we'll meet you at one of these events. 

We haven't labelled photos: you can decide which are Museum wonders - and which are Creeping Toad treasures!

 

old cards and new scenes: an activity for rainy January days

 

 Old cards and new scenes
a festive activity for a rainy winter season

Having a bit of a fidget?

Nothing to do?

Bored?

And it’s raining again?

I first posted this activity last year but thought it would merit repeating. It's that weekend. Holidays are sort of over, decorations piled up in corners waiting for boxes, January uncertainty is rising. And then there is that pile of greeting cards. Here in Buxton in Derbyshire (UK), it is raining (again). Not really a weekend for wandering in our woods or being intimidated by the ducks who are over-confident about plundering snacks from visitors pockets in the Pavilion Gardens. So, pause. Find some cards and make your own wintry scenes for some January decoration and bring the winter woodland and some wild scenes home for January

Why not dig out some old greetings cards from the bundle at the bottom of the cupboard, or stealthily purloin one of last year’s Christmas cards, or the birthday cards you don’t quite want to throw out, or use a cereal packet (good card for making and folding, just maybe not as exciting in images as cards)

Make a little winter a scene to hang on a tree, a branch, a hook on the wall, to stand on a shelf, or make a box to put that extra special present  (or maybe just the key that makes it go) in

We call these storyboxes as they almost always seem to end up encouraging little stories…

• of Santa’s Present Dog who runs away with gifts and tries to eat them,
• of the owl who had hiccups
• of the hare who could run faster than even the wind and ended up running across the sky and was lost in the stars

Instead of reading the guide below, you might prefer to watch a short film....

You will need: 

a card or two

sharp scissors

a ruler, pencils or pens

glue (PVA is good here) and glue spreader

stapler or paper clips

bradawl (or something for making holes – a pair of compasses would work) 

a small lump of modelling clay

thin string

1. Cut the card in half along the fold – keep the “plain” half, you will need it later

2. Using the picture half of the card, on the reverse, draw a margin maybe 2 cm from each edge of the card

3. Where the lines cross at the corners, carefully cut along one of those lines to the point where the lines meet (we cut the scribbled lines)

Before you fold the box into shape, 

• you could make two holes in the top side of the box for some string (easier when everything is still flat). Sit the spot where you want to make a hole on the modelling clay and pierce with the bradawl or compasses point
• If you might want a branch reaching across the top part of the box (or maybe a flying reindeer) use a craft knife to make a careful slit where you would like a branch to go

 

4. This card usually folds quite sharply, so now (use the ruler for a straight edge if you want to) fold up along each of those lines and where you have cut in, fold the short bit to make a corner

5. Before glueing it all together, decide: if you are making a scene, keep the picture on the inside of the box. If you are making a box: you might want the picture inside or on the outside (you could always line the inside with some spare wrapping paper, or make a bigger box to become a lid.). Reverse the folding if you want to change the position of the picture

6. Making sure the sides of your box are sharply upright, glue the corner tabs onto the next side. A staple will hold it all in place. If the outside is too plain, you could colour it in or add some coloured tape. Or sprinkle it with glitter!

Glitter: plastic glitter is one of the ongoing irritations and challenges of an environmentally responsible life. There is however biodegradable glitter available (and other glitters are sold as edible) ...go hunting for some

7. While the glue dries, prepare the scene to go in the box. Using the other piece of card (from stage 1 above), you could make a little tab to fix a figure to (we used some “embellishments” bought cheaply in a local craft shop), or you could draw your own character. Fix by glueing the tabs into the main scene. Again a staple might help. You might want to colour the tab so it fits into the background of the scenes. Some extra glitter might help again.

A branch can be pushed into place through the slit you made in #3 above and a tab glued into place on the outside of the box

Think about what is going into your scene: could the pieces and the picture become a story?

8. Thread a piece of glittery string or ribbon through the holes, knot it and hang your scene.

Experiment with papers, colours, tapes, sequins. 

Try different places to hang them: from your ears? on your fingers (and create a fabulous dance around them)? a snowman’s nose?

Send us a picture and

we’ll post a gallery of scenes!

Walking to St Winefride's

 

on the path to Holywell

Walking to St Winefride's

a pilgrimage for Sekwanele

In December 2021, my lovely friend Jane Burt walked from Oswestry to St Winefride’s Well at Holywell in Flint. Her pilgrimage set out to raise awareness of and funds for the Sekwanele project in South Africa.

 

walking a river-road

Jane described her pilgrimage:

I wish to raise funds for a group of brave women in South Africa who are saying ‘enough is enough’ (Sekwanele) to gender based violence and are taking a stand. They are not waiting to be rescued or for the world to change. They have decided that together they will defend themselves, earn their own money, grow their own food and be powerful. They are asking for a community room to meet, train, share and learn with each other. 

I am South African now based in the UK and a survivor of gender-based violence like so many other women. Therefore, instead of spending Xmas with my family I will be walking the St Winefride pilgrimage trail  in solidarity with all women who are survivors of gender-based violence to raise money for this amazing group of women who have said, "enough is enough".  

You can follow Jane’s pilgrimage on her blog, here. In the days that followed, up to the end of the crowdfunder period, some of Jane’s friends, colleagues and collaborators have been contributing a piece each day to add different perspectives to the vision of the Sekwanele work and Jane’s pilgrimage

Crowdfunder page: Winefride4women

To-day is my turn

St Winefride

Jane’s Sekwanele walk, #winefride4women , reminded us all, connected us all, to the continuing fight for the most simple, the most basic, of freedoms that we are still struggling with today. When Jane chose to walk to St Winefride’s Well in Flint, she linked the work of Sekwanele to the legacy of strong women, of holy women, fighting similar battles through too many centuries. She also brought in water in a way that wouldn’t have happened if she had walked to a monument or a church or somewhere else more human. Here in the UK, we are a wet sort of land. We have streams, and springs, and rivers, lochs, lakes and pools everywhere. And we have Holy Wells, those places where the rising water was known to be special: reliable, perhaps, or warmer, or stronger or stranger than the other springs around. We don’t know how long our Holy Wells have been venerated. Thousands for years at least and when we visit them – when Jane swam in the pool at St Winefride’s - we become part of that ancient, living tradition

Dedications change and original names have largely been lost. Where I live, in Buxton in Derbyshire in the hills of England’s Peak District, 1800 years ago our town was Aquae Arnemetiae: the Waters of Arnemetia, the Goddess of the Grove (her original name before the Romans came was probably Arnemecta). When Christianity was adopted here, Arnemecta became St Anne, the Mother of Mary, and St Anne’s Well here in the middle of town still runs, is still visited, is still decorated every year in the regional Well Dressings.

St Winefride's Well, Holywell

this isn't St Anne's but is my favourite
little drip-well in Buxton

Buxton is a town of springs: channelled, controlled, governed, and hidden for the most part, or so people like to think, but our rivers well out of limestone hills, and continue to carve beautiful caves through those hills. Our rivers still appear, sink and surge up again as they choose. Our control is superficial. The water still runs. Holy Wells remind us of the power of water: to bring life, to renew life, to maintain life, to capture our imaginations, to bring us healing in bodies and also to heal spirits, to connect us with the flowing patterns of the world. Wells remind us of movement greater than us that still touch us as individuals, remind us that when we take a drink of the water from a well we become part of the water running through the hills. 

My contribution to Jane’s work is a poem and a recording celebrating the continuing power of that water and the way it touches our lives.

You can listen to the poem and meet one of our local streams, here:

Or read the words for yourself, below

This poem was written for Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in 2020 as part of its BM125 project celebrating the Museum's 125 years of telling the story of the Peak District



AS LONG AS WATERS RUN

By Gordon MacLellan



Long skirts rustling on cobbles

A hat tipping, a cane tapping,

The bath-chair creaking,

A wheel squeaks.


Cross my palm with silver, lady,

Cross my palm with copper,

Cross my heart with happiness

And I’ll share this water with you.



The world sighed into warmth,

Old memories waking grass and flowers,

Remembering trees.

The hills relaxed long shoulders as the weight lifted.

And She woke as the ice melted,

As the water

Seeped, dripped, dribbled,

Nibbled itself a hollow,

A bedchamber for a fairytale,

In the darkness under the hills.



Born old, She sits on a limestone shore,

Watching waves that beat no more,

Watching rocks

Drip teeth,

Growing fangs in ancient gums.

Peacock ripples of Blue John

Shifting into the folds and pleats of her gown.



Cross my palm with silver, sir,

Cross my palm with copper,

I’ll dip a cup and offer you

Your good and growing health.



A haggard old woman

In a poke-bonnet cap,

Dipping water in a tin cup.

A chalice,

A Samian bowl,

A Bronze cauldron,

A birch bark beaker, curled, folded, pinned,

Cupped hands,

Will all receive the blessing.



Stone spirit,

Water spirit,

Goddess of the caves,

Healer to the Living,

Midwife to the Dead,

Receiving them back into the life-giving darkness.

Holy hills, and

A holy well.

A Celtic grove,

A Roman temple,

A saint’s bath for

The Mother of the Mother of God.



And then,

Old Martha offers water,

A penny a jug.

Cross my palm with silver, lady,

Cross my palm with copper,

Cross my path with happiness

And I’ll share this water with you.



And now,

Sitting on the Slopes

As the snowdrops ring in the spring

A life in bags around Her on the bench,

Gap-tooth smiling at strangers,

Welcoming anyone, everyone,

To the waters of Her well.



I take no money now, miss,

I take no alms nor offerings,

But waters flow as they have always flowed

And blessings run as the water runs

And the Wells bring hope from the dark of the hill.

Photographs

c/o Jane Caroline Burt: frontispiece, Jane, St Winefride, Holy Well

c/o G MacLellan: Poole's Cavern well

Film: made by Aidan Rhode (Tw: @AidanRhode, Ig: @aidan.rhode)