UNTOLD STORIES: FROM THE CAMPFIRE TO THE HEARTH
2022
Centred around the concept of gathering around a campfire with food to share stories, The Auxiliary we’re commissioned for their proposal to draws out untold stories from its co-creators through listening, walking, music, drawing, making ceramics and open & safe space building.
Through creative sessions with artists, the co-creators devised songs, a large drawing ‘tapestry’, ceramics, a sound composition and an online sound walk for audiences right across East Durham and the wider County.
Commissioned through a regional open call, The Auxiliary Project Space proposed ‘From the Campfire to the Hearth’ and invited Nell Catchpole, Chris Suttie and Liz Collier alongside several other artist-facilitators to collaborate.
The fire has been a place for gathering and storytelling for centuries. For Stories from the Campfire to the Hearth, the Auxiliary worked with 4 artists and hosted 5 campfire events across East Durham. These events began with campfires, intended to ignite and invite lively chat and stories through the shared experience of an open fire and warm food. From the campfires, the creative story gathering began. The campfires took place in traditional locations (like the wild spaces of the Barn at Easington) but also spaces where campfires do not normally pop up, like Blackhall Community Centre’s car park.
Throughout the project, the artists and co-creators used materials from and around the fire to build up a material creative storytelling journey. From charcoal to clay and the excitement of thousands of words shared across fire & food, Stories from the Campfire to the Hearth, puts the voice of the community at its core and asks who we are, what does this place we call home mean, and how do we tell our story.
The Barn at Easington. Our first From The Campfire To The Hearth event took places in the most perfect setting, a great start to our campfire gatherings, we had a brilliant crowd taking part in creative workshops with Chris Suttie making clay pinch pots, and Nell Catchpole collecting sounds and stories through audio. Smiles all round.
Exhibition — ‘Untold Stories From Little Voices With Wild Ideas’. With artwork showcasing some of the most incredible stories and art in the form of Clay, Drawing, Sound and Song created during the campfire project workshops. Exhibited at the NMN Art Cafe at Community House, Peterlee.
The project culminated in an exhibition of new work in the Arts Cafe (selected images below) as well as work being shown in other places and spaces including as part of Sonic Arts Week 2023.
Note: As part of this commission, Me Lost Me (Jayne Dent) produced a recoded performance of collaged voice and electronics exploring the disorientating cycles of shift work in mining with ex-miner Steven Maitland from Shotton Colliery. Listen here.
Project Partners:
The Auxillary
The Barn at Easington
Blackhall Community Centre
Shotton Community Hub
Thornley Village Centre
Artists, Nell Catchpole, Chris Suttie, Jayne Dent and Liz Collier
The Arts Cafe @ Community House
— Commissioned by No More Nowt and funded by funded by Arts Council England
