Land/Canvas

12 months, 12 locations

an evolving verse

Inspired by the landscape, the way we interact with it, the conversations we have, and our curiosity to consider multiple viewpoints, this 2.5 square-metre canvas will appear once in each month, at geographical intervals following the hours of the clock.

The twelve sets of words are being conjured from the compost of our prior experiences in the area with the sprinkling of new knowledge, filtered in to us through body and mind. The words on the canvas will blend to form a dynamic poem that can be read linearly or as a circle, with several choices of a starting point. Each canvas phrase will also spur a set of new poems in each month.

This method of ‘Open Fell Poetry’ has its roots in Harriet’s 2012 poetic experiments which included creating a roaming poem with sheep as the vehicle (more here if you’re curious) and the addition of poetry to prize rosettes at the Matterdale and St John’s show (here). Together we developed the idea through The Long View in the ‘Fragmented Rainbow’, a collection of seven temporary installations involving trees and the wider landscape in the expression of poetry.

The process of this Canvas Poetry is an exciting one. We know where we are starting, we have yet to discover what will arise.

There’s a blog on the installation of this title canvas here.