Making animation of the canal walk.
PhD Archive
Welcome to the Phd Blog
Keeping the blog was an important thread in weaving the research, the drawing practice and community facilitation. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was awarded by the University of Wales Trinity St. David in 2018.
Abstract
The research considers why aesthetics, the subjective ways in which we
experience and value places, and nature’s agency are not readily included in
decision-making processes. This action research adopts a hopeful, participatory
and auto-ethnographic inquiry into the potential for developing and applying a
relational and environmental walking-art practice to overcome this disconnect; an
approach which attempts to reconnect art and life, cultural and natural systems.
Metaphor is used as a method to reflect upon an emergent art practice. The
research considers Felix Guattari’s ideas of transversality, developing an ethicoaesthetic paradigm as a critical framework, taking into account the work of relevant
practitioners and specifically Grant Kester’s arguments concerning reciprocal
creative labour. The framework is developed through a weaving metaphor and
applied to three community-led land-use change case studies; a canal restoration
project, caring for a community woodland and Landscape Character Assessment.
The weaving metaphor becomes both a process and an art work capable of
revealing and helping to incorporate subjectivity into traditionally objective
decision-making processes. As well as facilitating community-wide dialogue, the
research has, in some cases, lead to action being taken alongside nature’s
agency.
The research evaluates the transformation of the art practice and its impact, which
suggests the positive agency of art as a practical aesthetic in a social and
environmental context.
The thesis can be read here:
https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1311/13/Keating%20R%20Landscape%20final.pdf#:~:text=As%20a%20part%20of%20post,with%20people%20in%20the%20Stroud
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Folly Wood
Development of Draft Plan – “Looking After Folly Wood”. This has included a template at the end to enable people/groups to take responsibility and make decisions rather than being dependent on a central or otherwise controlling agency. Although my intention at Folly Wood was to explore the relationship between aesthetic appreciation and biodiversity in the woodland, I have been reading various texts on citizenship and participation in the context of sustainability and am also interested in the role of art in providing “the space” for discussion and engagement.
Attachments
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“Inner and Outer Space”, Yoga and Drawing Walk
Developing programme for Yoga Walk with Amanda Sultan-Black and making flier. The idea being to use walking, drawing and yoga to develop the relationship between the inner landscape and the outer landscape. To use both drawing and yoga as ways of developing an engaged appreciation of place and developing thoughts about “disinterest” as a positive approach to aesthetic appreciation.
Attachments
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The Weave
20th and 21st – making animation of Weave Symposium and canal walk. Aspects to include are: weaving, inside/outside, feeling and knowing. Overriding imagery is walking as engagement with place, line as both a route and representation of heart beat, light as both evidence of presence and nature/ photosynthesis. Light and line as an allegory for nature and human nature, internal and external landscape.
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Folly Wood and WtL Woodland Pilgrimage Exhibition
Folly Wood Solstice gathering and WtL Woodland Pilgrimage exhibition.
Aware that numbers of participants were a bit low. Taking stock of whether our process is as enabling as we intended.People produced own tree rubbings in response to those exhibited by WtL.
Good discussion about woodland management principles.
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Folly Wood and WtL Woodland Pilgrimage
17th and 18th – preparing for exhibition and gathering in the woods.
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The Weave. Folly Wood
12, 13, 14, 15th June.
Development of WEAVE Advisory Group, Briefing for Academy of Urbanism, Papers Canal Forum.
New map for Folly Wood gathering and making work for woodland pilgrimage exhibition in the woods. Making and circulating invitation.
Attachments
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The Weave
Meeting with Max Comfort and Val Kirby to develop the scope of the WEAVE. Discussions about the preparation of a brief for The Academy of Urbanism regards their Place Partnering, preparation of a Green Infrastructure Analysis, ongoing community engagement and fund-raising.
