Wild About Winter
Wild About Winter was an Ace-funded project from December 2020- April 2021.
The aim of the project was to connect to our local community during lockdown through storytelling and the local landscape to find new ways of producing and sharing creative outdoor experiences.
Wild About Winter
We created an online episodic story written by John Quinn performed and devised by Elaine Beard and Jeannie May, filmed and edited by Ellin Hare.
Nicola Balfour and Jyl Friggens created large-scale land art pieces at Hawthorh Hive.
Nicola Balfour created large-scale cut-outs in the windows of Blackhall Community Centre that related to the unfolding story.
We created and delivered art packs that linked to each episode of the story to over 1,000 people in East Durham. We hosted an online Facebook community where people share their photographs of winter and responses to the stories and land art. Jon Codd created the Winter Wolf which travelled around East Durham to share people’s experiences of being in lockdown.
Wild About Winter
People were encouraged to watch the three episodes, and then watch the 'how to make' videos as a starting point for making their own art pieces, using the natural materials and objects that were around them and capturing in photographs the small changes and beauty as winter slowly turns into spring. They then posted their work on Facebook. After the first episode, many of the photos used in the films were from Facebook posts.
At the end of the project, an exhibition of the photographs and films was held at East Durham Arts Cafe.
There were also Wonder Walks tailored to the seasons and Wildlife information videos as part of the project.
