Draw your Quantocks on a postcard
Artists Antony Lyons and Ralph Hoyte are asking members of the public to draw maps or directions to their favourite, treasured and special places anywhere in the Quantock Hills. The artists have designed special postcards, available throughout the local area in Tourist Information Centres, Schools and Libraries, which can then be returned to them by freepost. The maps can include words, place names and landmarks, and can be in any style or scale. These ‘secret’ maps will contribute to a project called ‘Quantock Dreaming – secret mappings, mapping secrets in the Quantock Hills’. An exhibition of the full project will take place in the Summer of 2008.
To request a supply of the postcards for yourself, your family, school, or community group, please call 01278 733642.
Quantock Dreaming forms part of an arts project developed out of the Quantock Hills 50th Anniversary celebrations and funded by Arts Council England. Antony and Ralph will produce a body of work based on map and mapping techniques that will incorporate text, poetry and sound recordings and will include a video and multi-media web-hosted material. They began work in 2007, and are working in parallel with a second arts project by ‘4 Reel Films’. They will walk and experience the Quantock landscape and at the same time engage with people both locally and regionally to help them understand and explore the Quantock Hills AONB through the arts. The aim is to help make connections between people, their environment and the heritage of this unique area.
The project will culminate in a showcase event in the Quantock Hills AONB during August 2008. There will lots of things happening throughout the project and regular news updates will be issued. There is also a dedicated project website – to find out more go to www.quantockdreaming.net
Biography
Antony Lyons was born in Cork and is now mainly based in Bristol. He spent most of the 1990s working as an environmental scientist for the Environment Agency in Bridgwater and the Quantock Hills were part of his remit. He is now a visual artist, designer and environmental scientist. He an impressive record of land art projects, exhibits and installations, including lead artist for NOVA’s 2005/6/7 ‘Brunel 200’ commissions for Bristol Harbour.
Ralph Hoyte brings the skills of poet, performer, wordsmith and considerable experience of innovative media projects. Also Bristol based, Ralph has international standing, and his poetry projects include working in the Mendips, Peaks National Park and Japan where he followed in the footsteps of 17th Century Haiku Master, Matsuo Basho.
Somerset based, ‘4 Reel Films’ run by film makers and artists Tim Fogg and Chad Williams. They intend to create a striking new piece of artistic film that will draw its inspiration from the sumptuous verse of the Romantic Poets and the vivid drama of the Quantocks Landscape. There will be a specially commissioned soundtrack and they will also incorporate dance, movement and verse - all inspired by the locations. Tim and Chad have carried out similar work for the National Trust, Dorset AONB and have also worked with a range of socially excluded social groups in the region.
