IN PURSUIT OF SPRING- Black Swan Arts, April and May 2021

“In March 1913, as the storm clouds of the Great War gathered, Edward Thomas set out from the suburbs of South London and travelled on his bicycle through Surrey, Hampshire and Wiltshire towards the Somerset coast. He was a thirty-five-year-old writer at the time, a husband and father, a lover of poetry and places, who took to the road to meet the arrival of spring.”

 

Exhibition outline

Taking its title from the book by Edward Thomas, this exhibition at Black Swan Arts in Frome traces the route of Thomas’ journey, by bicycle, from London to Somerset as he set out to find springtime in March 1913. Responding to various themes in the book, such as hope, change and renewal, Somerset Art Works members are invited to provide artwork to illustrate the Somerset leg of Thomas’ journey. With quotes from the book provided by the publisher, Little Toller, and a map of his journey, the exhibition will recreate his route westwards through Somerset, eventually terminating on Cothelstone Hill in the Quantocks on 28th March.

 

Callout to Somerset Art Works Members

Artists are invited to provide one piece of work no larger than 70 x 70cm (framed) for exhibition at Black Swan Arts in April and May. The work should be inspired by the themes of the book or places along the route. Artists are encouraged to obtain a copy of the book from Little Toller (physical and ebooks available) to engage with the project or look at the information below to find out more about Thomas and his journey through Somerset. Some of the themes and locations that Thomas travels through are listed further below, as well as some quotes from the book, to provide inspiration.

Artists are also welcome to provide appropriate merchandise, such as cards and prints, for the Black Swan Shop. We suggest up to three prints and four card designs, up to six of each.

Application is open exclusively to Somerset Art Works Members and costs £10 to enter.

All appropriate art forms are welcome, including digital. Older work is acceptable but we would encourage new work where possible.

All submitted work will feature in Black Swan Art’s specially-curated online gallery and online shop. Both organisations see this as an opportunity to develop an online showcase for artists at this challenging time. Black Swan Arts and Somerset Art Works reserve the right to not hang work if space available dictates otherwise, artists will be informed of this decision. The selection will be capped at 60 entries. The physical exhibition will be held in accordance with the government’s latest COVID-19 guidance and may be subject to last-minute changes, but both organisations commit to create an exhibition of the work and to document this, should a full lockdown still be in place at the end of March.

Somerset Art Works and Black Swan Arts also commit to run a workshop and accompanying artist film programme (limited to five films) during the exhibition, details to be announced later in February.

 

How to apply

Please send the following information to [email protected] by the deadline of 7th March:

Your name, email, phone number and address

A 50 word statement about why you have created the work and how you have responded to the theme

A high-res, good quality image of the artwork (2MB ideal) with title, size, medium and price.  Sales commission on artwork is 40%.

Details of merchandise: cards – no more than 4 designs, 6 of each. Prints – no more than 3 designs, 2 of each. Other merchandise- please check. Price to include commission of 30%

Submission application is £10 per artist. Please make a payment to Somerset Art Works either by Cheque or BACS. Please indicate your preference in your email so we can invoice you accordingly

We will then be in touch by 15th March latest to confirm your inclusion and next steps for delivery of work

 

Curation

The exhibition will be curated as a trail through the Black Swan building, tracing the route of Thomas’ journey from East to West; this layout will also facilitate social distancing in the building as visitors follow the route. Visuals will include a map of the route and accompanying quotes from the book, creating a blend of art, literature and place. The book contains photos taken by Thomas along the route in 1913, so the exhibition will provide a contemporary interpretation, re-imagining Thomas’ account.

 

Dates

7th March: Application deadline

15th March: Confirmation of inclusion and details ready for curation

23rd March: Delivery of artworks to SAW Langport between 10am- 1pm or to Black Swan Arts

24th–26th March: Set up and curation

27th March: Exhibition launch- details to be confirmed but we anticipate an online launch

8th May: Exhibition ends

10th May: Takedown and collection at BSA

11th May: Collection from SAW Langport

 

To facilitate the delivery of work, SAW will arrange an additional drop-off point for members at the SAW office in Langport on 23rd March. Take-down would be on Monday 10th May with artists to collect work from Black Swan Arts on Monday and Tuesday, and Langport on Tuesday from 10am- 1pm.

 

Promotion and Sales

The exhibition will be promoted by Somerset Art Works, Black Swan Arts and Little Toller Books across their social media channels, websites and via press releases. Little Toller was started in 1974 with a singular purpose, to revive forgotten and classic books about nature and rural life in the British Isles. The success of Little Toller’s Nature Classics has enabled it to grow into an independent publisher, attuned to writers and artists who seek inventive ways to reconnect us with the natural world and to celebrate the places we live in.

Sales will be handled by Black Swan Arts and they can arrange delivery of artwork during the exhibition, unless artists decide otherwise. Payments will be calculated once the exhibition has closed and payments made to artists within one month of the exhibition ending.

 

How to find out more about the book

As the book will need to be read, and then responded to in a relatively short time, it is suggested that artists read the introduction by Alexandra Harris and focus on the last three chapters as Thomas journeys through Somerset. Artists can purchase a copy of the book from Little Toller or their local independent bookshop. The book also contains photos by Thomas- some of the locations are familiar but some are unknown, these could provide interesting suggestions for artists to respond to the book.

So as not to disadvantage other artists who do not live on or near Thomas’ route, we also invite artists to respond to the more general themes and passages in the Somerset chapters (7, 8 and 9). Over-riding themes include discovery, hopeand renewal, which feel especially important at this time, or please consider the following suggestions:

 

Themes

Travel

Sustainability

Winter/Spring

Adventure

Change

Climate

Loss

Place – known and unknown

Journals and diaries

Emergence

Growth

Weather

Nature, fauna and flora (particular trees are mentioned, rookeries, etc.)

Other poets and writers

Architecture

Observation

Conversation

The Other Man(Thomas uses the device of another cyclist – real or imagined – accompanying him at different points)

 

Places on the route

Bradford on Avon (Wilts)

Tellisford/Farleigh

Norton St Phillip

Radstock

Kilmersdon

Nettlebridge

Oakhill

Shepton Mallet

Croscombe

Dulcote

Wells

Glastonbury

Walton/Street

Ashcott/Shapwick

Polden Hills/Righton’s Grave

Bull Hill/Pendon Hill

Bawdrip

Knowle

River Parrett

Bridgwater

Nether Stowey

Crowcombe

Holford

Kilve

East and West Quantoxhead

Williton

West Bagborough

Cothelstone Hill

 

There are also two BBC Radio 4 programmes about the book, ‘In Pursuit of Spring’, in which Matthew Hollis tracks Thomas’ journey, as well as ‘In Pursuit of Edward Thomas’where Matthew Oates also follows his journey.

 

Some inspiring quotes from In Pursuit of Spring

 

154: Southward I saw the single bare hump of Cley Hill five miles away, near Warminster; northward, the broad wooded vale rising up to hills on the horizon. I went uphill, between two bright trickles of water. The steep roadside bank, strengthened by a stone wall, was well-grown with pennywort and cranesbill, overhung by goose grass and ivy, and bathed at its foot by grass and nettles.

157: This is a country of noble elms, spreading like oaks, above celandine banks.

161: The threshing machine boomed; its unchanging note mingled with a hiss at the addition of each sheaf. Otherwise the earth was the rooks’, heaven was the larks’.

168: In half a mile we were in Somerset, descending by a steep bank of celandines under beeches that rose up on our right towards the Frome. The river lay clear ahead of us, and to our left. A bushy hill, terraced horizontally, rose beyond it.

172: From this high land … we looked far on either side over valleys of mist. The hollow land on the right, which contained Radstock coalfield, many elm trees, and old overgrown mounds of coal refuse, was vague and drowsed in the summer-like mist: the white smoke of the collieries drifted slowly in horizontal bands athwart the mist. The voices of lambs rose up, the songs of larks descended, out of the mist. Rooks cawed from field to field.

193: As I was approaching the turnstile an old hawthorn within a few yards of it, against a south wall, drew my attention. For it was covered with young green leaves and with bright crimson berries almost as numerous. Going up to look more closely, I saw what was more wonderful – Blossom. Not one flower, nor one spray only, but several sprays. I had not till now seen even blackthorn flowers … It was Lady Day. I had found the Spring in that bush of green, white and crimson. So warm and bright was the sun, and so blue the sky, and so white the clouds, that not for a moment did the possibility of Winter returning cross my mind.

198: It was delicious easy riding, with no company but that of a linnet muttering sweetly in the new-green larches, and a blackbird or two hurrying and spluttering under the hedge.

218: The high beacons of Exmoor were hanging before me, scarfed and coifed by clouds of the sunset, and grand were these half-earthly and half-aerial delights, but lovelier was the gentle hill much nearer and a little to the left of my course. For the sun, sinking on the right side of it, blessed and honoured this hill above all other hills. Both its woods and pastures were burning subduedly with a mild orange fire, without being consumed. It was the marriage of heaven and earth.

219: The road was like a stream on which I floated in the shadows of trees and steep hillsides. The light was slowly departing, and still on some of the slopes the compact gorse bushes were like flocks of golden fleeces. Robins and blackbirds sang while bats were flitting about me. Day was not dead but sleeping, and few stars overhead asked silence.

Published on February 7, 2021 // artweeks