kate raggett earthwork drawings

I will be running a series of four community drawings in partnership with Head4Arts at public parks over four counties during half term. These are free land art events at Pontypool, Bedwellty, Cyfarthfa and Morgan Jones Parks 10.30-3pm. For more information please visit www.head4arts.org.uk

The Art of Baking is a small exhibition of my recent commission of c. 40 wateroclour paintings to illustrate Olivia Goodwillie’s Recipe Book ’Something in the Tin, Biscuits, Cakes and Breads From 30 years at Lavistown’. The recipe book celebrates Olivia’s baking at Lavistown and includes delicious recipes of a range of breads to cakes and biscuits. Lavistown House in Kilkenny, Ireland is a Centre for Creative Living running courses from gardening and foraging to bread making and basket weaving and is also famous for its making of high quality artisan food including cheeses and sausages. (For more information please visit: www.lavistownhouse.ie).

The paintings and book will be on display and for sale for a limited time from 8-29th September at the Cabin of Curiosities in Abergavenny. Olivia Goodwillie will be available at the Cabin for a book signing organised by Broadleaf Books (for more information visit www.broadleafbookshop.co.uk) on Saturday 20th September 12-3.30pm during the Abergavenny Food Festival.

In association with Head 4 Arts and Tai Calon Housing Charity, I am excited to be participating in the Arts and Mind Project as Artist in Residence at Ashvale over the summer. Working with local residents we are building a vision for a new community garden, exploring the nearby landscape for inspiration and using foraged natural materials from the existing site to express our ideas.

Working with a community group in Garndiffaith nr Pontypool who were designing a sensory garden for their Community Hall, we spent a day working together with older residents creating artworks from foraged materials from the garden to create temporary installations. We were lucky with the weather and managed to create two fabulous pieces, a meandering pathway of almost 40 individual footprints into the sensory garden and also a small scale mandala.

This large-scale community drawing took place over the Out of Nature Sculpture exhibition’s opening weekend 12-13th October 2013. The exhibition was in support of the Cartshed a social enterprise to encourage people to engage with nature.

The 50ft drawing was outlined using sheeps wool and completed by c. 250 visitors during the opening weekend using surplus fruits and vegetables (including pumpkins, marrows and gourds, chard stalks, potatoes, apples, cabbage leaves, runner beans and sweetcorn), seeds (conkers, sweet chestnuts, cobnuts and acorns) and woodland produce (wood shavings and discs) harvested from the gardens and estate. The drawing emerged in response to the rhythm of the land and materials and celebrates the beauty of nature and enjoyment of working together in creative play.

This was a Big Draw Community project and invited the members of Longtown community and surrounding areas to participate in the making of this large-scale land art drawing. c.100 participants from local schools and the community contributed to the drawing over the 3 day event, bringing foraged natural materials from their gardens to add in.

The shape of the drawing was drawn freehand using locally sourced white and black sheeps wool without any prior planning of the design and it grew each day in response to the land and materials. The final drawing was a beautiful array of colours and textures and measured c.75ft in diameter. Materials used included foraged leaves, petals, berries, rosehips, apples, pears,conkers, acorns and sweet chestnut pods. The aerial photograph was taken from a helicopter the day after the event finished on the 14th October. The drawing can still be viewed at Monnow Valley Arts Centre until it decays – for best results view as soon as possible!