Workshop one: collage techniques at The Ground
The Ground Coffee shop is located right in the city centre of Plymouth along the main highstreet Armada Way. The shop window looks out onto the busy street and the walkway of trees that run through its middle. These landscape of trees surrounded by urban buildings is for many a primary source of nature within the city. However at the time of the workshop, these trees were threatened by Council development and planned to be cut down. This sparked large public opposition and heated debates about access to nature within Plymouth’s high street.
This workshop was all about using collage and the window view of the Armada trees that the location offers to be inspired by the landscape.
A popular myth of Dartmoor is that of "Old Crockern" and its guardian spirit of the moor who rides out at night on a skeleton horse. In Sabine Baring-Gould's publication Book of the West there was once a rich man from Manchester who came to Dartmoor and bought up land surrounding the Tor. He enclosed it and began farming around it, to the fury of all the local people. One of them had a vision that Old Crockern was also angry and curse the man "If he scratches my back, I'll tear out his pocket." This ended up proving true, the Manchester landowner wasted all his money trying to farm the area around the Tor, "scratching it's back" and went home years later, paupered. (British Folklore, 2022).
Participants took inspiration from this folktale to envision their own guardian spirit of Plymouth and create a creature that embodies the qualities of Plymouth they want protecting or growing for the future.
There was also encouragement to think about where the creature may live and what parts of the city may need protecting and incorporating those elements into the design.
Some of the participants said…
“It has made me think about how I am part of the process for change”
“What I most took away from the event is the
importance of laughter”
Goblin of the night
A ‘cool, friendly night goblin’ who comes out at night to dance with the moon and sleeps in the sun shadows during the day. They used metallic paper to reference the shining of the stars and took an abstract approach as their goblin is intended to be less visible and more at one with the landscape.
United in change
A goblin that symbolised the coming together of the earth, sky and living things. The power to be united to create change and the search for modification to change the environment. This goblin is a combination of other creatures to display the coming together of all creatures to create change. They wanted a focus on community spaces across Plymouth, for example more spaces like central park instead of the building of more commercial properties.
Guardian of the flowers
A guardian of the flowers and plants in Plymouth, protected both from changing weather but also other people who may pick or trample them. This guardian protects those who are doing good in Plymouth and who work alongside nature to protect the flowers rather than destroy them. They wanted there to be more flowers in Plymouth, particularly on the highstreet.
Transformation
A goblin that takes inspiration from insects, like the shape of a butterfly to imply a process of transformation. The scripture on its body represents communication while the silver dots represent brightness and being able to look at one’s reflection in order to incite change. The many eyes represent the ability to see in order to make wise decisions, whereas the words on the inner belly and left wing resonant with how this participant would like to see Plymouth evolve and grow, they particularly wanted to see an increase in accessible and affordable zero-waste shops.
The giant of Plymouth’s oasis
A giant goblin to guard Plymouth that is impossible to miss or ignore. Wherever the goblin stands the space is transformed from the grey into a nature oasis. There is a kind and slightly concerned expression on their face as they wait and watch to see how Plymouth evolves. This person was both hopeful and anxious of Plymouth’s changing landscape and the development of Armada Way.
A visual summary of the collage creative art workshop held at the The Ground Coffee Shop, Plymouth.