I've been collaborating with Katy Doncaster for many years on lots of different projects, she's also an artist / forest school leader and educator. We've been wanting to further develop some work we began a few years ago using old books and exploring stories - and were really excited to be able to work recently with Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire. We've made an installation for the Children's Room - everything is made from old books which we've torn, cut, folded, creased, crumpled, scrunched and stuck...
We've covered the ceiling in pages from old books - which took some time, not least because, if you are like me, its really hard to bring yourself to rip up an old book... But also because there were wonderful words, chapter headings and illustrations on every page and the temptation to sit and look at them all in depth is great... We've added a host of cut-out trees and forest creatures, so the ceiling becomes an upside-down pop-up book and maybe, if you tilt your head, you might feel that you are walking up there...
We've placed little doors that maybe lead to other worlds where small people made of books talk to crows and gather flowers...
There's a flock of crows - possibly on their way to join their friends at Black Rocks across the way...
The ceiling also has a set of words from children at St Peters School in Ruddington, who wrote their words about why they love books and which were their favourite. We've set their words into the light coverings so that their handwriting is illuminated. Stories, tales, illustrations, facts, poems, anecdotes and books are an amazing combination. Katy and I have both been heavily influenced by books and stories since we were tiny children - we both spend hours comparing our favourite books and tales. The stories of your childhood are an incredibly powerful thing and never leave you, they sit within you and whisper in your ear when you are far into adulthood...
In order to get ladders and glue all over we had to install all this when the shop was closed to the public, so we spent the night pasting and sticking and being totally captivated by the books and stories.
Scarthin Books is a very special place and an endless source of inspiration; its been wonderful to work there.
Lovely to see the images now, after battling with PVA all night in Scarthin! Fantastic experience for us as artists... we are very lucky to have found such a great place to 'work' (play!).
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