| 'Four Shores', which was launched in September 2005, was conceived by lead artist Stephen Turner for a sequence of walks on the Isle of Sheppey linking Sheerness, Warden Point, Leysdown and Harty. The project was developed by the Medway & Swale Estuary Partnership (MSEP) and the project team included poet Ros Barber, architect Simon Barker and film-maker Abbe Leigh Fletcher. Each artist contributed to a series of works that explore the distinctive and changing features of a unique cultural landscape, investigating issues that define the relationship of people with place; with the accumulated layers of meaning that texture the surface of the land across the generations and with our often uneasy relationship with nature. "The four of us camped on the island - spending time together discussing ideas from very different perspectives made for an intensely creative process. Between us we amassed a wide range of material, which really stimulated our imaginations. We were helped by the many knowledgeable people we met: a wasp fancier, local publicans, a retired bobby, the many fossil collectors who walk the beach around Warden Point, as well as the Munns at Muswell Manor where we stayed and who shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for the early history of flight around their property." Stephen Turner describing the artists research period. Ros Barber wrote a series of linked poems, published as 'Not The Usual Grasses singing: a journey around the Isle of Sheppey', written entirely in rhyming couplets, inspired by interviews with island people and her research into Sheppeys history, memories and rumours. "From Roman snubbing to the first Viking settlers, from a psychotic Crusader to an East End criminal, from the world's first industrial dispute to a sunken WW2 Liberty Ship so stuffed with explosives that it could still, potentially, wipe the island off the map and rearrange large parts of Kent, Sheppey has it all. " Originally based on a group idea, Ros Barber wrote an additional poem 'End of the World' inscribed on the sea defence steps at Sheerness and designed by Simon Barker. Stephen Turner created a series of artworks including 'Razorform' and five 'Shellcretes' made from a mix of white cement and shells sited in the Swale Nature Reserve, Shellness; and 'Cracked', 'Fallen', 'Exposed', 'Left', 'Settle', 'Wear' (marked concrete objects to be found along the foreshore from Minster to Warden Point) made from polished and incised concrete, with lettering by James Honeywood. Film-maker Abbe Leigh Fletcher documented the entire project in a 28 minute film with footage incorporating the islands features and landmarks, and interviews with local people and the artist team. Four 'Colours of Sheppey' image charts using details of photographs taken by the artists on the island and compiled by Simon Barker were also created. Inspiration came from a variety of objects and locations, including a drainage pipe, aircraft hanger, concrete barrels from a Sheerness folly, processed peas from a Leysdown caf, vinyl floor tiles, algae on a concrete bunker, the organ case in a church, leatherette seating in a Chinese restaurant, mudslide at Warden Point, the flight monument in Eastchurch, a rusting Ford Fiesta, a pay and display notice in Sheerness, a tourist road sign, caravans and trailers, light on an amusement arcade and an inflatable duck. > Colours of Sheppey: Sheerness to Barton Point, compiled by Simon Barker (PDF 328KB) > Colours of Sheppey: Leysdown to Shellness, compiled by Simon Barker (PDF 552KB) Publications Project catalogue & DVD Four Shores: artworks for the Isle of Sheppey ISBN 0-9550467-1-8
Not The Usual Grasses singing: a journey around the Isle of Sheppey ISBN 0-9550467-0-X
A project leaflet and a set of eight postcards are available from Medway & Swale Estuary Partnership. The project was funded by Arts Council England, South East; SAIL 11 European Development Fund and Kent County Council. > Medway & Swale Estuary Partnership
> Ros Barber's website
> Leaf Films' website | | 
End of the World
Poem by Ros Barber, design by Simon Barker
Photo: Dylan Woolf
Stephen Turner
Fallen, Warden Point, polished and incised concrete, lettering by James Honeywood
Stephen Turner
Shellcrete, white cement and shells, Swale Nature Reserve, Shellness
Photo: Dylan Woolf
Stephen Turner
Razorform, white cement and shells, Swale Nature Reserve, Shellness
Photo: Dylan Woolf
Abbe Leigh Fletcher
Leysdown, digital video stills from Four Shores film
|
