Artists make the invisible visible and tangible

I went to a seminar last night about artists working with transient, new or developing communities. At one point there was conversation about artists as 'double agents - or maybe they are even angels who see the invisible and help make it possible!' There is a reference somewhere to this, which I want to explore further in relation to the Education Annexe work.

Certainly working on the beach I felt as though I was making the invisible tangible, I knew it should be there, just that it hadn't arrived.

I have been taking my bike to Salthouse every time I visit, and coracle. They just needed to be there, and make ideas easier to express. It all made sense to the coast guards who were patrolling the area!
Photograph by Tim Frost

Light direction

In placing the work and focusing on the problems and issues of construction and making I lost sight of my original aim of this piece.
The placing of this work on Salthouse beach is about relationships between the human and non-human, the natural and the spiritual.

The beach at Salthouse is a quasi-natural shingle bank. The profile is changing and will become very different as the sea is allowed to come inland. The pathway where the work is placed will be underwater, the lantern would have to be a lit buoy. Which relates to what some have suggested the chapel, or charnal house, and church were used for in the past. If you line up two or more lights they can guide sailors safely in to a difficult harbour, the metaphor for lost souls and Christianity or church.

The transient nature of this land is disturbing human and non-human. Some will not have places to move to, some will have no warning of the changes. This is Slow Making in practice.
If your community is affected, if you are interested in opportunity to express experiences of the changes you have seen or heard or have solutions and ideas to share please get in touch. You may be able to provide a guiding light.
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