Voices from Gujarati and Yorkshire Rivers

New Poem by David Wilders

2010-11-07T11:45:00.001Z

Banking

The River Aire at Castleford

The environment, the elements, the shaping

The landscape, the life, the flora, the fauna, the valley

The man, the hunt, the forage, the fishing

The living, the family, the field, the growing,

the plough, the orchard

The farm

The crystal Aire, the homestead, the boundary

The invasion, the vicus, the fort

The track, the path, the ford, the crossing, the bridge

The connecting, the vessel, the voyage,

The journey, the transport, the trade,

The waterway, the canal, the cut, the lock,

The horse, the tow path, the rope, the Billy boys

The Aire and Calder Navigation

The Lord, the tycoon, the industrialist, the influx

The expansion, the extracting, the excavating,

The mining, the quarrying, the commerce,

The growth, the wealth, the town

The port, the anchorage, the sailors, the captains

the timber, the yard, the saw mill,

The dock,

The boat builder, the sail maker,

The nail maker, the rope maker,

The blacksmith,

The sloop, the keel, the barge,

The launch, the Miranda, the Lazy days

The Miller, the corn, the wheat, the oil,

The flow, the power,

The waterwheel, the grist,

The dust, the flour, the bagging, the loading,

The barge, the exportThe weir, the flowing, the speed, the foul, the debris The stink, the death, the absence, the chemicals,

The agitation, the stains, the foam

The Whitewood, the floods, the alluvium, the Mere The quarrying, the mixing, the slip, the blungers,

The press, the clay, the thrower, the wheel, the pot,

The stoneware, the blackware, the decorator,

The glost, the bottle kiln, the fire holes, the coal,

The heat, the sweat, the smoke, the chimneys,

The potteries

The layers, the clay, the shale,

The explosion, the scraping the raping,

The ginny, the mix, the press, the drying,

The wicket hole, the stacking, the fueling, the heat,

The baking, the kiln, the brick

The Redhill, the sand, the quarry, the tunnels, the track, the furnace, the heat, the crucible,

The molten, the blow pipe, the blowing, the rotating The swinging, the shape, the casting,

The brown, the green, the bottle

The chemist, the dyes, the pigments

The acids, the alkali, the Phosgene,

The hydrochloride, the mixing, the pharmaceutical

The hazard, the vapor, the stink, the tanks, the plant, The chimneys, the danger, the explosion, the death, The sadness

The shaft, the seams,

The Beeston, the Flockton, the darkness, the heat,

The dust, the stench, the coal face, the shovel, the strife, the hewing, the miner,

The danger, the conveying,

The cleaning, the basin, the tom pudding,

The transporting, the energy.

The environment, the management, the cleaning,

The detox, the conservation, the return, the life,

The otter, the kingfisher, the heron, the swan,

The salmon, the leaping, the pass, the fisherman,

The bridge, the rebirth, the ownership

David Wilders

September 2010

Event on Sunday, 7.November 2010

2010-11-07T11:42:00.002Z

IF YOU CAN COME

info@bohemianbooks.co.uk or pontefractpress@btinternet.com

MEETING Sunday 7 November 1.30pm – as long as you want.
Place: Bridge Arts Gallery, Sagar Street, Castleford, WF10 1AF

You have not heard the last of the Riversmovement or the Free University. We have already committed ourselves to a new programme events and to a meeting at which we expand the programme. This will give an opportunity to bring new work or ideas.

The date of the meeting in Castleford, Bridge Arts, Sagar Street WF10 1AF is Sunday 7 November at 1.30pm

We will be providing something to eat. Quality bread and homemade cake for pudding makes up the menu. Bring your own drink. Pay a bit if you want.We don’t see this as a talk shop. If weather permits we will walk in the afternoon or stay back and do a workshop or two.

Bob is off on holiday but will have photographed all work for the book. This is when you pick up your framed work or if you don’t want the frame the work itself. We don’t have the time to post back work.

Current and future programme.

At present we are committed to:

1. Writing and publishing several books all of which are started

Rivers Movement Artists

70 Reasons Why I Love The Earth

Mrs Pyrah

Monsal Trail

2. Developing a new programme in Castleford and the Five Towns area and are looking for new venues for the current 70 reason exhibition

3. Working on David Wilders Poem as a replacement for Adam Ghodiwala’s 70 Reasons poem

We are inviting you to contribute 1 of 50 new images relating to David’s attached poem

Mary and Geoffrey King’s composition for cello and voice

Reinhold Behringer’s computer composition

4. Obviously the programme needs to expand. A group are going to India in January to strengthen the artistic links but prior to that we may try to find a new venue to display the completed 70 reasons and new works created.

5. The final exhibition was a great success. The Bridge (Our first commissioned play) was a great success. We are also looking for venues for the Bridge, the Aire music/voice compositions and creative writing and reading performances.

We are also hoping after the publication of the Monsal trial book to have at least one other walking/talking and publishing projects.

Thrive

Rachel, Amanda and Brian

Castleford Exhibition Update

2010-09-13T23:58:00.000+01:00

It is important to realise that the Free Univ***** of Castleford on Aire will only move forward if people come to events. The problem of having a free university is the deep seated belief that if a thing is free it is worthless. This is not the case but it gets proven if no one comes in support of the programme.

A CHANGE OF EMPHASIS - WRITING, READING AND PUBLISHING

In week one the main area of concentration was painting, craftwork this week, although the there are some painting and craft sessions we have a book publication, a poetry recital and several creative writing seesion.

Friday is a key day for writing but we are also with a major workshop making bee houses on Saturday 10.15 at Bridge Arts. There is a lot of interest in this workshop.

WE ARE ALSO HOPING FOR A GOOD START TO THE RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION ABOUT EDUCATION AND MRS PYRAH

Outreach workshop for writers and painters
Led by Rosie Gilligan and Liz Salter
Friday 17 September at 10-30am to 3.00pm
Maximum Number 16
Book places before hand. Adults over 16years

The Washing Place by Rosie Gilligan and a Life with Poetry Adam Ghodiwala
Book Launch and poetry recital
Friday 17 September at 6.30pm
Lee Gascoyne – The Exhibition
The Washing Place – A rehearsed reading Rosie Gilligan and Liz Salters
Guest poet – Siamak Foroutan introduced by Brian Lewis
A Life with Poetry Adam Ghodiwala introduced by Brian Lewis
All welcome. Books on Sale in Bohemian Books, Sagar Street

New Approahes To Self Publishing
Led by Bridget Kenningham and Brian Lewis
Friday 17 September 1.30 pm to 3.30am

Book of the Exhibition

Rachel Knowles is still collecting artist's statements for the Book which is produced by the Rivers Movement about the art works, created through out the six weeks.

Mrs Pyrah - A Castleford School Teacher

Wednesday 15 September 6.30 - 8.30pm Reunion of people who knew Mrs Pyrah and a showing of the film made about her school - Brian Lewis, Alison Drake and David Wilders
Tuesday 5 October Outreach session for writers and painters. A day walking along the river and experimenting with different drawing techniques and discussing the teaching practises of Mrs Pryah - Led by Brian Lewis
Thursday 14 October Book in an evening – Memories of a controversial school teacher Professor Mary King, David Wilders and Brian Lewis
Curator – Brian Lewis

THRIVE

BRIAN AND AMANDA

David Wilders: River Aire - From its Source to Castleford

2010-09-13T12:50:00.001+01:00

Poem by David Wilders

Malham Tarn, North Craven Fault, Aire Head Springs

The storm, the might, the rain
The deluge, the sodden, the saturation

The overspill, the energy, the flow, the movement, the descent, the rivulet, the brook, the creek
The birth, the source, the origin

The erosion, the gnawing, the earth, the sand, the loam, the gravel

The movement, the direction, the cutting
The raging, the meandering, the twisting

The by-pass, the oxbow, the flora, the fauna
The quickening, the widening, the banks
The scraping, the valley

The hue, the colour, the debris
The slowing, the deposits, the silts
The clays, the alluvium
The sediment, the planes, the flood, the Ings

Update on the First Week of the "Free Univ*** of Castleford"

2010-09-12T10:45:00.000+01:00

This is a brief up date on the first week of the Free Univ****** of Castleford on Aire

The opening was a spectacular success. We think that +70 people attended and by the end of the evening 50 were committed to sending in original works of art for the 70 Reasons exhibition. We have now 20 framed or on the walls and 40 promised by the deadline 1 October. Lee and David painted for three days and created (and recorded) two very original canvases. The first print workshop was full (Wednesday)and two books of prints have already been begun.

Initiatives are taken up and because there is no very obvious major censorship structure works of great originality appear within a day. It took Rachel Knowles a about six hours to compile and print in colour on a variety of printers the book of artist's statements which was distributed at the First Exhibition launch. This proto book will be developed in the next six weeks by an extended team.

All through the week we have seen people coming forward with interesting ideas. A very beautiful hanging is being made by Janice and Ann Rounds and a group of local women. This will stretch the length of the gallery. This work is a wonderful example of the Univ****** being joined by an existing group of local people. The support we have received from John Cowan the picture framer and Amanda Williams from next door (Bookings and Publishing) has been more than helpful. Thanks also have to go to the Castleford Heritage team May R, Lorna Malkin, Alison Drake and the rest of the Heritage board.

In the window we have a Bust of Barbara Hepworth by the Castleford ceramicist John Hawkins and this is attracting a lot of attention. Several paintings have already been sold. Hopefully Harry Malkin's Castleford Lasses will be bought by the Council/ At £5000 it is a snip.

Bob Clayden is anxious to point out that the Bee Homes are not simple boxes but art works which will be buried on the other side of the river, The initial session where we experimented with several types of clay produced very interesting prototypes. Next Saturday more people have promised to attend but there are places.

Today (Saturday) we received an offer from a published Iranian poet to read his poems in praise of the earth. We expect to extend the creative writing programme in the next couple of weeks as the publishing information programme takes shape.

If our budget is £350 we are creating a quality exhibition for 100,000th of the cost of building the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. Not bad. Our success is a product of our knowledge of local networks, our use of local people and our avoidance of committees.

Thrive

Brian Lewis (Pontefract Press) and Amanda Williams (Bohemian Books- Sagar Street, Castleford ,01977 556741)

Travelling to India - First Try

2010-04-15T18:09:00.001+01:00

We had booked our travel to Gujarat for the 15.April. In the morning we heard on radio and saw on TV the reports about the volcano in Iceland which brought ash into the atmosphere - and we saw that flights were cancelled. Also our flight was cancelled, but when calling the airline, they told us that they would notify us later about what was going to happen. We took a chance and travelled to the airport anyway.

The airport was relatively empty. It appeared that many people had already stayed at home. Emirates distributed a flyer in which the situation was explained. We called, and were able to rebook for Tuesday, 20.April.

Second Book about the Rivers Movement

2010-03-30T01:28:00.001+01:00

On 23.March 2010 we published the second book about the Rivers' Movement. Have a look:

The Rivers Movement by Brian Lewis - Reinhold Behringer | BOOK INFO

Article in the "STAR"

2010-03-08T11:31:00.002Z

Please find here a link to the article (and the video) which appeared in the Star (Sheffield) on 8.March 2010.

The same article with video is also in the Sheffield Telegraph and in the Lancashire Evening Post.

Book: The Rivers Movement

2010-02-26T23:03:00.002Z

On Friday, 26.February, the month of our activities in Barnsley came to a close with the launch of a book:

The Rivers Movement
Painters, Print Makers and Photographers
by Brian Lewis and Bob Claydon

This book contains artwork and photographs from artists in the Rivers Movement Collective. The book is available for purchase through www.blurb.com.

Newspaper Article in Yorkshire Post

2010-02-16T17:56:00.003Z

Here is a link to an article in the Yorkshire Post from 2.February 2010.

73 paintings (to be) created by a 73 year old man in 24 hours

2010-02-16T17:36:00.003Z

This is a press release by Brian Lewis

What a differnce a day makes – an Arts' Day in Barnsley focusing on Climate Change and the environment.

Tuesday 23 February, from 11:00

Contact: Brian Lewis 01977 793121
Mobile: 07904026239
Pontefract Press
www.theriversmovement.org.uk 

Venue:

Emergence Pod 1,
Mayday Green,
The Precinct,
Barnsley

On Tuesday 23 February a steadily expanding group of artists who form part of The Rivers' Movement will be undertaking a gathering called a moot to produce art works. The number that each produces is governed by age. Brian Lewis (aged 73): 'I will create 73 paintings and drawings in a day, I am taking as my theme sustainability, climate change and the environment. Last time I tried it a similar task I was 70. That time the subject was the the Dales and the River Aire. I managed 65 in the 24 hours.' (comment RB: after 65 a person is allowed to retire)

'The 73 paintings in 24 hours event will take place on Tuesday 23 February in Barnsley in a town centre shop closed because of the recession and now a new gallery called Emergence Pod One. It is in May Day Green, in the centre of town. This time I will be working with other artists in order to fuel the debate on Climate Change.'

'Throughout our lives we generate a carbon footprint. No matter how old or how young we are, we can all make a difference to improve our environment and do something today.'

'On the day I will be joined by colleagues who will also be linking age to output. At the moment my collaborators include: Rob Hindle, published poet and WEA co-ordinator for South Yorkshire. Aged 46 he will create 46 poems on the subject. Reinhold Behringer, Professor of Creative Technology at Leeds Met, also 46, will produce 46 live improvisations on 46 different instruments using a computer controlled synthesiser and samplers. Helen Mesezaros, aged 42 (a teacher and community activist) will compile 42 letters of complaint; John Cowan,(50) a local picture framer incensed by the flood of Chinese frames into UK will frame 50 paintings and put them on sale next day. Yvonne Denton (40) = 40 pieces about breaking the chain of consumerism; Richard Kitson, 28, folk and blues singer, will invite 28 people to sit for him and then he will draw them. The John Cowan initiative is pertinent because he is competing when he makes frames with a mass production Chinese product which floods the market squares of the Uk. Bringing them will be costly if measured in Carbon miles. Adam Ghodiwala, the well known Gujarati poet resident in Bolton, will send 70 one line metrical poems giving 70 reasons to love the earth. These in Gujarati with an English translation. He is a class act, very well known in India, and gives us even more prestigue. Jack Aston-Booth, a painter with academic qualifications on the problems of climate on migration birds will produce drawings of 23 Birds affected by Climate Change.'

'Unlike in Gujarat, Falguni Bharateeya and Mitali Baxi have collected a body of work which they will transmit to us in Yorkshire. Throughout the day other artists will drop in just to work on one of their own painting. There is no need to go in for mass production. Quality also matters.'

'This day is part of an arts workshops programme organised by the Barnsley based River Dearne Project which focuses on environment and climate change. This is a follow-on project by others in the Rivers Movement who are anxious to use the arts and creativity to encourage thought about what happens when our social systems and economic values show less respect for nature than they might have done.

The Rivers' Movement

The Rivers' Movement aims to create awareness of climate change by means of art, poetry, science, and technology. It is a collaborative project involving Yorkshire people who have twinned with people from Gujarat in India. Together they explore common experiences involving the impact local rivers and climate change has on their lives. In May 2009 The Rivers' Movement received an award from the Environment Agency for Best Climate Change Project in the Yorkshire Region 2009. Their work currently focuses on the rivers Dearne, Aire and Calder but they expect to expand their operations in the UK and India as the year progresses.

Brian Lewis

Brian Lewis has paintings in public and private collections all over the UK. He has had exhibitions at the Ferens (Hull), the Graves and the Mappin (Sheffield), the Piece Hall and Dean Clough (Halifax) - all city or major town galleries, but he prefers community venues. He is also known for his writing on community development. He won the national Raymond Williams prize in 1997 for a book about a woman's prison. He was Birmingham's first Poet Laureate and is currently Visiting Fellow in Community Writing and publishing to the Charutar Vidyamandal University in India. With his wife he runs Pontefract Press.

This is part of a month-long exhibition and arts-workshop programme organised by River Dearne Project Barnsley painters: Loretta Cusworth, Runima Kakoty, Roger Head and Lee Gascoyne.

Letter Five from Brian

2010-02-12T23:22:00.000Z

12 January A good day. I started to work on the Carbon Roll. I find that you can only work out something as complicated as that if you set up the basic model and get stuck in. The designs have to be very small (1.5 inch x 2.5) and as a consequence you need to have the right drawing materials. These however can be pretty basic. Loretta, who worked with me, went into the market and brought a collection of cheap pens and we were away.

Two new people have joined up with me on the Agist Art programme. Adam Ghodiwala, the well known Gujarati poet will send 70 one line metrical poems giving 70 reasons to love the earth. These in Gujarati with an English translation. He is a class act and gives us even more prestigue. In the morning a youngman came in and spoke of his interests. Called Jack Aston-Booth he will produce drawings of 23 Birds affected by Climate Change. Yvonne Denton also has a plan to do 40 statement about 'sustainability and link them in a 'hanging. She has a lot of commitments but it is the idea which counts. As I explained to others there is no need to go in for mass production. Quality also matters.

Letter Four from Brian

2010-02-11T19:02:00.003Z

My training for the 73 Paintings in 24 hours has taken a back step because I have needed to divert energy into publicity and paid work in Bolton. I am still drawing on buses and and trains. This is useful because I know that I will have to start the 23 February running and to have a scrap-book of ideas is useful. From Stalybridge to Leeds I sat side on to a woman in a full burka. She was looking out of the window of the train. She blacks and browns and the background coloured. The scene through the window was beautiful I may trace her in an change the scene three times to fit an Ikea Frame. This will be the subject for a dummy run. I may cut her as a mount.

Suddenly 73 pictures seem a lots of pictures.

I am also concentrating on getting artistic people to the Pod who are also doing an age-on-hours stint. A the moment my collaborators include; Rob Hindle, published poet aged 46, will create 46 poems. Reinhold Behringer, the Professor of Creative Technology also 46, will create a 46 bar piece of music using a computer controlled synthesiser and samplers. Helen Mesezaros, aged 42 (a teacher and community activist) will be compile 42 letters of complaint, John Cowan,(50) a local picture framer incensed by the flood of Chinese frames into UK will frame 50 paintings and have some on sale next day. The yougest member of the group, - Richard Kitson 28 - will invite people to sit for him and draw them. The John Cowan initiative is pertinent because he is competing when he makes frames with a mass production Chinese product which floods the market squares of the Uk. Bringing them will be costly if measured in Carbon miles.

Thrive
Brian

Letter Three from Brian

2010-02-03T09:26:00.000Z

I started a new project today . It is paid work. I am working with Old People and Top Primary in Bolton, Lancashire on a project where the young teach the old about texting and electronic communication and the old teach the young about written communication. I am going in as an actor and calling myself Old Man (OM). I dont think that any of the ream saw the Hindu reference. This amused me. I have to follow the agenda prescribed by the Client - Bolton at Home (A housing association with a high regard for the arts as communication tool and therefore when we get going on the pilot I expect to take as my subject Climate and Environment.

Another day passes without much time for training. However i did manage to watch an interview between Nigel Lawson ( no belief) and Am expert (total belief) and jotted down phrases which i might use as the inspiration for pictures. These included:

The Heat from Cities
No time on our side
Sceptics should be welcomed
Dissenting scientists.

On the top of the bus back from Leeds I drew with a figure which is a landscape when viewed horizontally and a figure when looked at vertically. I will have several of these on the go on the 24 Hours Day. Drawing on the top deck of a bus is not easy. The Japanese brushes are such a joy to work with but the rocking of the bus sends the strokes all over the place

Thrive
Brian

Letter Two from Brian

2010-02-02T09:23:00.000Z

Dear Reinhold

The mounting of the exhibition has taken a lot of time and to make matters complicated I was in a car crash and they had to extract me through the roof of the Toyota on a board having sawn off the roof. However I have had a coupe of nights drawing on scrap paper with a pencil.

I now know that there will be a negative sequence and a positive one. The negative sequence will be dominated by black and a hint of red. This will be applied using print blocks cut rubber erasers and Chinese red 'stamp' paste. The positive by a Blue and Green range. This will be applied quickly in a random fashion to a series of 6" X 8" cards . I will start with 10 negative and 10 positive. That make-up is about 28% of the output required.

The difficult of working on a 24 project is that you also need a couple of bigger paintings on the go, ones which you can can look and think about when you are doing tedious tasks. You stand to paint these. It is a military style. From the beginning - in the fist hour you have to have about ten works started. You rarely complete a work straight through.

What I should have at the end of the 24 hours is a lot of ideas and some finished and some unfinished drawings/Paintings.

Thrive Brian

Setup of Expo in Barnsley

2010-02-01T18:46:00.002Z

Today I met with Lee in the Barnsley Emergency Pod 1 to set up his video installation "Silence". This installation plays back a video recording of his creation of an artwork. I wrote software for automatic manipulation of that replay through a camera: when the audience in the expo room moves, the video replay gets disturbed. The demo appeared to work ok, although a few things still needed to be sorted out.

Letter from Brian

2010-01-29T18:25:00.000Z

Dear R

Last night as i was watching 'Silent Witness' i took a clip board and some scrap paper and started to draw 'scribble compositions'.(More Later) From the last time I did this exercise I know that you must come with some notes because you cannot run for that length of time and think as well. Some of the compositions have to be thought through because mental exhaustion kicks in quickly. This level of planning is vital.

The First Diagram in David McKay's 'Sustainable Development Without the Hot Air' shows in Kw per person per day where in the way we live the carbon pollutants seem to originate. The Second 'stack' diagram shows what we can do to reverse the trend. I decided that the negative stack would eventually be in the 'Black Colour range relieved by red - useful because I have a strength when it comes to drawing in ink - and defensive response in the blue,green white range.

I took the fact that each of us uses 4 Kw/d/p on Defence. This is an easy subject because I can work on figures and ideas of distortion. 4 will figure in the composition and there will be room for a quote. Someone on the tv quoted Robert Oppenheimer on Sin and Physics. From there I began to think about size and thought that I might use the dimensions of the mounts in the Three in One Ikea frames. Through I will need some bigger images just because I will need exercise. Small points but essential.

Already the practical and the cerebral are beginning to mix,

Thrive

B

A Month of Arts Events

2010-01-28T18:14:00.000Z

THE RIVERS' MOVEMENT
presents a month of arts events at
EMERGENCE POD 1
BARNSLEY
YORKSHIRE

The award-winning Rivers' Movement aims to create awareness of climate change by means of art, poetry, science, and technology. Members of the public are warmly invited to a Showcasing Exhibition which will take at the Emergence Pod 1 on Mayday Green, opposite the market place, on 5 February 2010 and will run until 26 February (closed Sundays and Mondays). Workshops and public art events will also be held throughout February.

The Rivers Movement is a collaborative project involving Yorkshire people who have twinned with people from Gujarat in India. Together they explore common experiences involving the impact local rivers and climate change has on their lives. The exhibition currently focuses on the rivers Dearne, Aire and Calder.

The month long exhibition consists of works by twelve painters and photographers and two installation artists. All have taken their subject matter from the problems we face as we try keep our climate and environment in balance. We hope that more people will join us in workshop activities and become members of the either the Dearne Project Group or the Aire & Calder Group. Twelve of the original artists and photographers are featured in a new book which will be launched at the final exhibition on 26 February.

More about the exhibition:

The Giant Dearne Figures

The established Northern carnival organiser, Jean Compton, will work alongside Barnsley people to create at least one large statue. The figures will represent the Spirit of the River Dearne.

Coat of Collaboration Installation

Mother Nature is shouldering the effects of climate change and needs our help to ensure that we pass on a brighter legacy for future generations. We are already seeing the benefits and disruption of our actions. This is being depicted in the textiles of a 'Coat of Collaboration' that Mother Nature wears in the installation being produced by creative engineer Yvonne Denton. This creative work is made to challenge the lack of harmony in our environment.

Silence - An Interactive Video Installation

Lee Gascoyne having discovered a graffitied wall by the river behind Barnsley Asda has depicted it in an oil painting. In remembrance of his time in India Lee links Barnsley to the Hindu Festival of Holi as he destroys the image by throwing coloured powders at it and then dramatically floods it with water to bring the painting back to its original form. All the time he is documenting the process through a video installation. His collaborator Reinhold Behringer has devised a programme especially written for the occasion which allows onlookers to become part of the process.

Illustrating the Dearne

A book celebrating the River Dearne has been produced by adult writers and by school children. This is an opportunity for people to find a poem and use it to create an illustration.

India - Drawing from the 'Picture Frame'

Several of the contributors have images of India. The earliest were taken by Loretta Cusworth's father in 1944 and the most recent by Chhaya Upadhyay of her primary school class on a visit in January to the River Narmada. Jane Weatherby and Reinhold Behringer also have collections of pictures taken in Gujarat in 2008. These will be shown on an electronic 'picture frame' and will be used to encourage people to create larger images.

Painting and Drawing

Most days there will be a professional painter working in the gallery. If you have your own materials you are welcome to join them or simply sit and watch.

Mono Printing

Two established artists using techniques developed by Alexander Cozens (D.1746) will use modern variations of his method to show how the accidents which result from the process of printing one-off images can stimulate creative artwork.

Cyanotype Printing

Cyanotype is a printing technique which relies on sunlight to mark silk. Ideal for creating beautiful scarves. Since the sun can be indifferent to the needs of Barnsley Artist in February, we will teach the technique with the use of a light box and make Dearne Environment Flags.

The Carbon Rolls-Tools of Explanation

Using the important diagram on carbon use in the developed world (which shows the 'consumption stack' in Kwh per day per person found in David McKay's Sustainability Without the Hot Air) we will consider how we can express this complex database by making it less baffling and therefore easier to understand.

The 73 Pictures in 24 Hours Attempt

Brian Lewis celebrates Old Age by taking on the task of creating 73 artworks in a day. 'This time I am taking on the agenda suggested by the Carbon Roll and painting about sustainability, climate and the environment.'

The 24 Hour Moot

A moot is a gathering and at this 24 hour event, artists* from different artforms are coming together to produce work which focuses on the environment, climate change and sustainability. Brian Lewis, aged 73, is producing 73 paintings and drawings, Rob Hindle, aged 46, will create 46 poems. Reinhold Behringer, also 46, will create a 46 bar piece of music using a computer controlled synthesiser and samplers. Helen Mesezaros, aged 42 (an established teacher who laughs a lot) will be compiling 42 letters of complaint. Falguna Bharateeya in Gujarat, India will also be collecting and collating a body of work and transmitting it over to us in Yorkshire at this time. More and more contributors are coming forward wishing to participate in this event. The remaining body of artists will be working on less deadline orientated works throughout the day.

This workshop is open to the general public from 10am to 4 pm. Everybody is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there. We all make a difference...

*Rob Hindle has written poetry and short stories for 20 years. In 2006 he won a national competition run by Templar Poetry for a sequence of poems of place, taking as its subject the Sheffield Flood of 1864 and a new book is coming out this summer. Brian Lewis has paintings in public and private collections but is better known for his writing on community development. He won the national Raymond Williams prize in 1997 for a book about a woman's prison and has exhibited in the major public galleries in Yorkshire and Humber. Reinhold Behringer is a composer and also Professor of Creative Technology at Leeds Metropolitan University. Helen Mesezaos is an established teacher who laughs a lot. Falguna Bharateeya lives in India and is lecturer in literature and education in Gujarat.

Exhibiting Contributors

Lorreta Cusworth, Porl Medlock, Jane Weatherby, Reinhold Behringer, Runima Kakoty, Stephen Court, Brian Lewis, Bob Clayden, Stina Harris, Liz Salter, Rosie Gilligan, Rachel Knowles, Lee Gascoigne and Yvonne Denton.

Dearne Project - Exhibition on 5.February 2010

2010-01-13T21:54:00.006Z

The Dearne Project.

This is a collaborative project involving Yorkshire people and those from Gujarat in India, exploring common experiences of the influences of local rivers on their lives.

The Dearne project is a charitable organization and we aim to bring the problem of climate change to the general public and also re-engage them with their local heritage.

We are holding an exhibition in Barnsley, commencing 5th February 2010 and have the
Children of Silkstone Primary school joining us.

Our project with them has been in writing poetry, painting and drawing. The children have become our 'Climate Ambassadors' and will bring about definite changes in our communities re awareness of conservation and climate change.

Our Future¸ and that of planet Earth, is in the hands of such children.

The children have designed our poster through competition, and we are to display their work at the exhibition.

We are also involved with John Davidson of Groundwork. www.groundwork-stan.org.uk. He is also an active Rotary member in Cheltenham where he runs a similar project.

We hope you will enjoy the work done by the contributors of the book in the knowledge that your purchase helps to support this organization.

Runima Kakoty
Chair
The Dearne Project

Visit at Silkstone Primary School

2009-12-09T21:42:00.003Z

On Monday the 7th December , the day of the first UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen, The Dearne Project group, Artists Roger Head, Runima Kakoty and Loretta Cusworth took teachers and 33 children from the Silkstone Primary School to the Dearne Valley Park off Pontefract Road Barnsley.
Everyone gathered information for use in writing prose and poetry, drawing and painting in order to produce a poster advertising the opening of the first of the Dearne Projects exhibitions in February 2010.

The exhibition will run for 2 weeks and will be interactive for those visiting the Pod in Barnsley town centre.

This project exists to bring awareness to the community about climate change and the link to the Rivers project which is worldwide. The group are using art and poetry to create this interest in the general public.

Anyone wishing to join the project will be welcome.

The Dearne Project - Update

2009-11-11T23:25:00.001Z

Loretta Cusworth sent me this:

The Dearne Project is working with Silkstone Primary School.
The children will design the poster for the exhibition event in February 2010 and hold a school's exhibition also.
A river walk will be held on 7-12-09 with the children from the school.
many thanks

LORETTA
SECRETARY Dearne Project.

New Web Portal for The Rivers Movement

2009-11-06T10:51:00.002Z

We have set up a new web portal which gives a one-page overview over the project and provides access to the various online activities.

The URL is:

www.theriversmovement.org.uk/

Dearne Project: Working with Silkstone Primary School

2009-11-04T10:29:00.000Z

The Dearne Project is now working with Silkstone Primary School.
The children will design the poster for the exhibition event in February 2010 and hold a school's exhibition also.
A river walk will be held on 7-12-09 with the children from the school.

LORETTA
SECRETARY Dearne Project.

"Can Art Save Us?" Exhibition in Sheffield

2009-10-21T23:21:00.000+01:00

At the Sheffield Millenium Gallery, Brian, Lee, and myself attended the opening of an exhibition with the title "Can Art Save Us?", organised by the Guild of St. George. On display were artworks and artifacts related to John Ruskin. His work in the 19th century centred around art and the negative influence of industrialisation on human civilisation.

A part of the Millenium Gallery is the Ruskin Gallery which is hosting the Ruskin Collection, containing about 900 paintings, watercolors and drawings by artists with some relation to Ruskin, providing "images central to Ruskin's mind".

Establishment of the "Aire and Calder" Project

2009-10-12T17:52:00.002+01:00

On 12.October, the "Aire and Calder Project" was established, modelling itself after the "Dearne Project". This will allow the group to bid for funding and have an accountable structure of management.

Brian Lewis and the Rivers Project in the Yorkshire Post

2009-10-04T22:33:00.001+01:00

On 4.October there appeared an article in the Yorkshire Post about Brian Lewis and the Rivers Project.

The River Wakes Up

2009-08-03T09:50:00.002+01:00

Painting by Runima Kakoty.

Runima Kakoty: River Dearne

2009-07-25T22:27:00.004+01:00

Image by Runima Kakoty

Himalayan Balsam and Sycamore tresses.
Traces of litter and water marks
reach for the boughs of trees.
Rippling water flows through tranquility .
Wheels abandoned to water.
Reflections of rain clouds
marshmallows on a blue background.
Hues of cadmine,
orange iron ore,
colour the soil of the river bank.

River Dearne,
Mother to Barnsley,
your serenity and half hidden wonder
fill me with amazement!!

Dearne Workshop

2009-07-25T20:24:00.003+01:00

On Saturday, a group of participants in the Rivers Project met in Barnsley at the Black Monk Inn Pub for a workshop. First we walked briefly along the river (I still have my doubts if that ditch can be called a river...)., then we met at Runima Kakoty's house where we discussed ongoing projects. One of the activities there was to define a A-Z for the Wiki that is currently in development: it has been set up last week, and the pages are being filled with content. Anyone who is interested in participating and editing the Wiki, please let me know.

"The Rivers Projects"

2009-07-20T17:40:00.003+01:00

The title that was given to this project as "The Rivers Project" (during the Yorkshire Post Award Ceremony) has evolved into "The Rivers Projects". The original project that has started out by linking rivers in various parts of the world, now has created a set of individual projects that are part of this overall activity umbrella.

Project Developments - Now and Future

2009-07-19T17:32:00.000+01:00

(This was sent to me by Brian)

NEW RIVER GROUPS

Nidd - Harrogate
Rother - Rotherham
Don - Doncaster
Frome - Frome
Trent - Scunthorpe
Avon - Strattord
Went - Wentbridge
- Stafford

EXISTING GROUPS

Mahi
Narmada
Sabarmati
Tapi
Eritrean Rivers

Aire Bridge Arts, Leeds Met University and Malham
Dearne Barnsley TUC/Cooper Gallery, Mill of the Black Monks
Calder Centre for Alternative Technology, Hebden Bridge

MAJOR PROJECTS

Two projects are outstripping the others: Malhamdale and the River Dearne

Malhamdale

We have already collected a lot of material and we are now proposing a major gathering on Monday 10 August. Some of us hope to go up on the previous night and stay over. The main 'Meet will be 11.00 am on Monday outside the Buck Inn in the centre of Malham. This will be a 'waters' walk.

There will be a follow up to discuss plans and progress at the Friends Meeting House, Beelks Court just off Beast Fair on 10.00 am on Saturday 15 August.

The Malham Community are interested and we are talking about local government involvement and possibly inputs from the Environment Development Agency.

River Dearne

We meet at Mill of the Black Monks, Grange Lane, Cundy Cross, Barnsley (8 Minutes East from Centre of Barnsley) on Saturday 25 July 10.30am. Have a cup of tea and then walk the river. Lunch prices from another cup of tea to about 10 £ (last time it was really good veggi Food). After lunch we travel across town to Runima Kakoty's House. (Big house and Garden, the Hawthornes, Kereforth Hall Road,) for an afternoon workshop. Writing, Drawing, Creative technology. I estimate between 10 and 20 participants.

This is rapidly developing into a major project. We already have an Exhibition space in Barnsley in February 2010 for a major Rivers Project.

The local authority are interested.

Pam Oxley is already processing material.

MEETINGS WITH PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS

I have had several major meetings in the near future including one with the South Yorkshire MEP. We are looking for a European Dimension.

EXHIBITIONS

Barnsley Barnsley February 2010
Castleford Bridge Arts. Hopefully May 2010
York To be arranged August 2010

The Rivers Project Movement

2009-07-19T17:28:00.001+01:00

(this was sent to me by Brian)

A Rivers Project exists when autonomous individuals choose to collaborate and take action because of a united concern over climate change. The River's Movement is the sum of these singular projects,

Our enthusiasm comes from a desire to create environmental and social harmony by using the arts, creative technology and science. Most organisations concentrate on settlements or communities but rather than doing this we focus is on rivers. We believe that this concentration provides a robust focus for environmental concerns and community education. We concentrate on doing things such as writing readable government reports, poems,

We see no reason to have a strong central organisation. Each river or part of a river has its own group of people and we favour this cellular model. Groups and individuals network with each other and in that way develop their own traditions and ways of working. An individual can belong to more than one group. Collaboration comes through action by those who wish to collaborate on projects.

The Rivers Projects started out linking organisations in Gujarat and Yorkshire, and in 2009 received a climate change award (sponsored by the Environment Agency) from the Yorkshire Post. We are now international, and all the time more and more river groups in the UK are contacting us.

Towards Aims and Objectives

2009-07-19T17:17:00.000+01:00

On 15.July we (Brian, Helen, Lee, myself) had a meeting in Brian's house to focus on aims and objectives.

Here is a summary:

Since we were meeting on 15 July Helen, Reinhold, Lee and Brian discussed the principles of the River's Project and Reinhold typed in notes. What follows are not definitive conclusions. Brian benefitted fom seeing Lee and Helen's notes they worked in isolation and sent these by early next morning.

My Rivers Project Notes (Brainstorming)

The rivers project is dedicated to creating awareness of climate change.

The people who are part in the rivers project are very concerned with climate change and its causes.

Integral community involvement

Who: Individuals that can be defined by roles, occupations, what they like to offer

Committed Supportive organisation:
Pontefract Press
Leeds Metropolitan University
Barnsley Northern College

We are an international federation of groups and individuals who correspond and support each other using email and come together for major projects … collaboration …

Main rationale: climate change awareness

Type of projects: Writing, Painting, Photography, Videa, Power Point Crafts, Creative Technology, Science of Climate, Water Technology and so on, and on

We are about Artistic and social Cultures and sharing models of practise. We are a Vehicle for exchanges

Global perspectives: rivers in different places

Disadvantage and inequality

Rather than concentrating on places and issues, we have concentrated on rivers, for we believe that many of the social whatevers.. can be looked-at from the rivers’ perspective

We are not concentrating on specific places but on rivers for they contain a variety of settlements and geo-physical….

We are seeking Harmony, not domination, Harmony and unity

The process is the core and the process can be located in art, creative technology, science but also in poetry, storytelling, gossip.

Rivers projects need not reference any central organisation
Organisations do not need to register with any central organisation
Relies on email, blog
Autonomous for individuals who choose to collaborate

A rivers project exists when individuals choose to collaborate.

This is for people who are concerned about climate change and wish to create environmental and social harmony by taking action using creative arts, technology, and science

We are international, although in the initial stages we saw the benefits of linking Gujarat with Yorkshire. Since the, other countries and rivers from other parts of the country have come into the program.

In 2009 the Rivers Project won an Award in the category "Climate Change" as judged the Yorkshire Post.
Environmental Agency ... for a joint project between groups …

The project started out linking organisations in Gujarat and Yorkshire.

Jean-Paul Sartre: 'In the case of absence of certainty action should take the place of speculative thought.'

HELEN'S RESPONSE

Thank you Reinhold for this and also to Lee and Brian for our discussions. It is lovely to read all those thoughts, that we expressed individually and as a group. There is something intangible about the ‘spirit’ of the project that becomes more tangible though no less poetic when reading this collection of statements and thoughts.

I particularly like the process part – and this is what makes it tangible and intangible at once isn’t it?

‘Rather than concentrating on places and issues, we have concentrated on rivers, for we believe that many of the social whatevers.. can be looked-at from the rivers’ perspective’.

This reminds me of something Falguni said about listening to rivers. I think she was right about some of the answers to local and global problems - they can be found through sharing information ideas approaches skills and knowledge, and for that we need to learn how to listen and maybe listening to rivers is a good place to start

Best wishes

HELEN

LEE'S RESPONSE

The Rivers Projects exist when autonomous individuals choose to collaborate and take action in the united concern over climate change. This goal is facilitated by the desire to create environmental and social harmony through using the arts, creative technology and science.

Rather than concentrating on places and issues, the focus is on the theme of rivers. For those participating in The Rivers Projects, the adopted basic principal would be that the river of any given locality could transcend fragile social boundaries through the unifying ideology of environmental concern and education.

The core of The Rivers Projects is in the processes and actions undertaken by its members, and so there is no central organisation, and there is also no need for The Rivers Projects to register with any central organisation. Its members are a networked group that support and collaborate through their projects.

The Rivers Projects started out linking organisations in Gujarat and Yorkshire, and in 2009 received a climate change award (sponsored by the Environment Agency) from the Yorkshire Post. Since then, projects have become international as well as expanding to more rivers in the UK.

The River Dearne Project

2009-07-19T17:07:00.002+01:00

(received this from Brian and post it here)

River Dearne Project

Helped by a grant from The Barnsley TUC Training Trust, three Indian visitors came over from Gujarat and took part in the first two rivers Projects. We collected a lot of material which is currently being processed. I found this piece, written in one of the eight Minute sessions so interesting that I thought I would send it on to you to look at and to put onto the Blog. we think that it is by Mitali Baxi but it might be by Kiran Joshi.

In Indian scripture water is perceived as the root element of life, it is from water that life emerged. In Sanskrit we find ‘Jal Iti Jivanam’ – ‘water is life’.

The river is an ever conscious realiy. She is ever sensitive to her past, her present and her future – it is there at a time. She glows in a total harmony with her surfacing ripples and her inner vibrations. The river is indeed a journey from surviving to existing through de-becoming. The river is an integrative principle of life representing the lively traits of human existence.

‘When we touch Narmada in Gujarat, the Dearne in UK is touched too.’

Most of the cultures on this globe were formed around the rivers. Hence, river becomes a natural ‘Guru’ (teacher) to lead out all that is grand in our heritage. Today we mean to make conscious efforts to restore the primordial educative force of river for in this process is the the peace and well being of human kind.

The ‘Rivers Project’ rises to this sublime force and becomes a precursor of natural education aiming at unity and bliss of mankind.

THE THIRD DEARNE MORNING WORKSHOP WILL START AND THE MILL OF THE BLACK MONKS, CUNDY CROSS, BARNSLEY 10-30am ON SATURDAY 25 MARCH.
In the afternoon we are going back to Runima Kakoty's house for a joint workshop.

Artists, writers, creative technologist and scientists are all welcome.

Brian Lewis

Global Poverty (by Anila Q Haq)

2009-07-18T16:55:00.001+01:00

(Written in Scunthorpe)

This earth has wept a million tears
for others it can weep no more.

The empty dry, blue, barren skies,
The marriage between the sun and rain,
The seed that refuses to take blame,
Riverbanks crumble, no place to hide.

The cracks go deep in places unseen
where rivers once ran wild and free
and soil aged onwards, slowly, patiently.

The sky that wept a trillion tears
for others it can weep no more.

Eyes that stare with out a care,
hopeless existence in deserts bare,
The hungry child that cries for life.
A mother’s heart tired, a heart of ice.
The death of many, the cry of blame

Too many lost,
Too many born -
Is now for many the very norm.

Hope torn. The cries, the pain,
The loss of much with little gain.

Brahmaputra (by Runima Kakoty)

2009-07-18T16:48:00.001+01:00

(written in Barnsley)

Twilight,
Promises made,
Dipping toes in topaz water,
Conches blowing in nearby villages
Still night, velvety smoothness
Bright eyes, hopes and dreams
Fireflies twinkling over rippling waves ……

Conches no more
Water overflowing
Hopes and dreams fading
Waves dancing demons
Promises broken!!

Report from Brian on Recent Developments

2009-07-18T15:51:00.004+01:00

( Brian Lewis sent me this on Friday: )

After starting from three Rivers in India and three in the UK, we now have people wishing to form groups on the Nidd, Went, Wharfe, Don, Trent, Avon and Frome to join the Aire, Calder and Dearne. Some rivers have two or more groups on them and people are travelling to work with each other. Considering we have no central organisation, no money and no enthusiasm for either (Editorial comment by me: actually, I do have some enthusiasm for the latter...), and that this Blog and the telephone is everything have, we are doing well.

We have had a lot of interesting mail this last fortnight. Three letters stand out.
The first one came from the Harrogate University of the Third Age and was especially interesting because it made it clear that we perhaps ought to get down to saying something about our formal Aims and Objectives. A meeting at Leeds Metropolitan University took the same line.

My initial response was to wait to see where our unusual growth pattern will take us and then pause and say exactly who we are. However the enthusiasm of Lee Gascoyne and Helen Meszaros (see the other two letters) made me rethink.

Aims and Objectives - Rivers Project

Dear Siggie

Many thanks for your email. It was appreciated. This is my personal opinion.

The Rivers Project will support groups and individuals who emerge and who use the arts, creative technology and science to return places to environmental harmony. The action at this stage emphasises adult creativity. We are very concerned about climate change and its causes. We are an international federation of groups and individuals who correspond and support each other using email and come together for major projects.

I do not see a need at this stage to spend a lot of time on Aims and Objectives. It is like asking a lover, ‘What are the likely outcomes of this relationship and can you tell me where you expect us to be in six months time.’ Those who approach life in this way are generally doomed and deservedly so in my opinion. Hitler and Lenin did it Gandhi and Jesus didn't. Organisations which last long evolve and adapt to the current environment. Some groupings emerge because of a social need. Most political parties have manifestos and their followers spend over much time defending them and the opposition attacking them to the extent that this becomes the primary occupation. Religions have their sacred books and debate minutia. Take a look at the origins of Islam for another example and compare it with the way it currently functions.

You admit that ‘making us all aware of the importance of rivers is very clear’ and further say that ‘exchanging knowledge between countries is valid’. Strength comes from actions not words.

(Author's name withheld)

This letter came following the Conference at Northern College. I loved it because it hit a lot of key concerns and was quirky. It also highlighted the disappearance of public money systems and the need for a break with the tradition of looking for a bucket full before you start to rethink.

Hi Brian

I met you last week at Northern College at the Global Perspectives conference
We talked amongst other things about Sufism, Mulla Nasrudin and how special is laughter! It helps us to think, maybe help our thoughts to bend around difficult concepts and circumstances. Maybe help us to find new perspectives. Maybe even help our souls to reach new levels of consciousness?

The conference was really timely for me with other lessons especially over this last year, formal and informal education going at such a pace that the curve is in danger of running backwards. I really enjoyed meeting a lot of people who were in some way united in trying to form a vision whether about education, being in humanity on this planet of a better world, and a better way of organising. I really enjoyed the talk from the union guy about international organising, in different ways, like with home workers and rubbish pickers. I felt like I wanted to open up the discussion to community based organising against the BNP which Searchlight is trying to do.

The talks and discussions about the Rivers Projects were utterly inspiring and fit in with a theme in teaching for me this year which has taken place in a building called ‘RAIN’ in the centre of Rotherham, which has both had a leaking roof and we (me and young people) – have flooded upstairs with our wonderful blue paint which was supposed to create a relaxing ‘mood board’ and a sense of serenity but in fact led to a near disaster whereupon our most disturbingly silent member spoke for the first time in class, created the most amazing art work and then team work and cooperation followed– the overall aim of the course – in a big clean up in the hope that we wouldn't be banned from the building!

So my heart was very open to the idea of water and rivers bonding people and used as not just a specific area for organising, we need water to survive and needs to not be polluted, we need equity, Everybody needs water, but also the imagery of water and ancient Indian wisdom.

I am very interested in being involved with exploring notions of Community and community work and community development. I have done some work on this in the past and would very much like to hear about Indian and other perspectives and approaches. When practice teaching last year in a refugee organisation I met a worker from India who was talking about welfare services adn the state and the different conceptions people have of each other in India. She said to me that everyone was seen as a stakeholder, not in the New Labour sense, but in the sense that a service user is not a ‘client’ (with two heads if you look to see how people are sometimes treated) but citizens, a service provider one day might be a service user another. I thought that was interesting.

So thank you for your part in all of that and for being a person who was open enough to share enthusiasm. It was a welcome relief. I would like to find out more. I've attached my CV it only shows one part of a person thought doesn't it?
If you have the write up about working in Rotherham with young people and unemployment let me know, if you haven't I can start it again.

Best wishes
Helen Meszaros

Lee, a painter from Barnsley, came to a meetings in Wakefield and Castleford went to the Dearne workshop at the Cooper Gallery, he then picked up the fact from the Blog and the fact that he had already started a co-operative with Reinhold, that we were going up to Malham with our visitors from India, and he drove there.

Hi Brian,

Malham was impressive. I went to Janet's Foss first and then Gordale Scar, which I climbed to the top of before walking along the ridge to Malham Cove. It's there that I bumped into Falguni, Kiran and Mitali, then dropped back down into Malham. I got your note thanks. Reinhold phoned me mid-walk to say he had to leave almost as soon as he got there (to get to Leeds airport).

I was thinking that it would be good (and may already exist) to have a running list of active participants of the Rivers Project that could be broken down roughly to artist and writers etc? The list or update could include what each member is doing and at what stage they are at.

I also thought that it may be worth while expanding the visual artists' side of the project, as a divergence from the literary content in that there could be progress workshops where the artists get together and show where they are heading, discuss deadlines and make plans etc?

If I had a list of artists on board, I would be happy to do some admin.
Lee

The offer to do some admin was especially useful and as a result the requested list is evolving. Helen, Lee, Reinhold and Brian are also preparing some definitions of what we are now calling The Rivers Movement and statements about what we are trying to achieve. We are all committed to avoiding too many meetings for we see a cellular structure that does things and not just talks about them.

We are now seeing products. Bob (Aire) is making Rivers' Silk Scarves, Rachel(Calder) a Children's book and Porl (Went) a video set to music. Rosie (Don) and Stina (Frome) a collaborative book. ZS, working with his community has written a book text analysis water problems in his home land. Brian and Runima are planning joint work on BL's epic 'The Brahma of Soljitra'. Poems are coming in, and they will be posted in other blog posts. We have already got ones by Ray (Rother), Brian (Aire) and Julie (Avon ) translated into Gujarati and two of them recorded and sung in Gujarati.

The Future

"Every artist an administator and every administator a working artist"

We are now putting together a workshop programme but two Moots (Meetings for everyone) are already on offer. Two major projects which will need a collaborative work across the arts, creative technology and the sciences are emerging: Dearne and Malhamdale.

Saturday 25 July Mill of the Black Monks, Grange Lane, Cundy cross, Barnsley S71 5QF @ 10-30am in preparation for an extended workshop at Runima's home in Barnsley in the afternoon.

Monday 10 August, Outside the Buck Inn, Malham @ 11-00am. We already have a lot of material but this will be a big project. Follow up and Friends Meeting House, Pontefract Saturday 15 August @ 10-00am to discuss and look at work which has been thought about and plan a way forward in Malham and elsewhere. THIS DATE NEEDS TO BE CONFIRMED 01977 79312.

From the Conference in Barnsley

2009-07-11T14:48:00.002+01:00

At the conference "Global Perspectives in Adult Learning" which was held at the Northern College in Barnsley from 3.-5.July, Brian Lewis held a session about "A Book in 8 Minutes" to which all the participants contributed a brief segment that they could write down within 8 minutes.

After collecting all the input from the participants, Zeraslasie Shiker sent this out to each participant on behalf of Brian:

Letter to participants of Global Perspectives' Book

Dear friends,

Pam is currently working on the book on 8 minutes document and we expect to send that out very soon, possibly today. Brian and I have received text from several people and since the piece from Paul Smedley is about right length we are sending that to you. Some of you might want to write additional material??.

Deadline as soon as possible but definitely not later than Thursday, 6 August 2009.

Some people are experimenting for instance Anila from Scunthorpe has sent a very interesting poem on global poverty. I have also adapted a small section of my current manuscript Eritrea: rivers, wells and water (Z. Shiker).

Additional material.

A new idea. If you can thing of a person who is alive or dead and exemplifies the idea of one world. Or a world movement which exemplifies a one world approach. Send us an example.

To illustrate this Brian takes as the man he admires and exemplifies a one world view as the Emperor Akbar a contemporary of the Queen of Elizabeth I of England. Brian writes approximately one 100 words.

“I like the Emperor Akbar because he was a great unifier. Illiterate – we think he suffered from an advanced form of dyslexia he spent more money on commissioning books than he did on his army. He practised tolerance and in his India all religions (and people with no religion) were acceptable. One of his favourites wives was a Hindu princesses who was encouraged to practise her religion. Akbar knew that religious intolerance is a great evil.”

I take Barak Obama because he showed the world that human beings regardless of their colour and background can work towards world unity. He will lead by example as he is the President of the current only super power country in the World. He appreciates global issues that factors world peace, security and cooperation. He will work across cultures. But I am not naive from my experience that people (politicians) might not live as to your expectation.

Who would be woman or man, historical or living who you admire and who's views would advance the one world order?

An example of a newly arrived text which describes a current problem and how it related to Paul's work and what changes he would like to make.

POLITICAL DOUBLE-SPEAK
The issue of child protection is often raised as a major issue after a tragedy strikes. All too often politicians and bureaucrats wring their hands and pontificate when “the system” fails yet again and another innocent and voiceless life is destroyed.

In global terms unachievable aspirations such as the Millennium Development Goals are held aloft as propaganda to give the appearance of “doing something” and to win votes. Other European nations, particularly the Scandinavians, have a far more enlightened perspective in dealing with vulnerable children. They do not criminalise youth and when intervention is necessary it is far more effective. The proportion of children who enter the care system in these countries is far lower than the UK and there is clear evidence that those who do go on to achieve the majority of the outcomes we have set for our own children under Every Child Matters.

In my work I can only hope that practitioners I teach can make their voices heard above the political double-speak bureaucratic incompetence and criminal negligence. The ethos of “The Best Interest of the Child” is the correct one but in an effort to achieve targets, budgets and other politically motivated criteria, the practical application is lost. The fear of being judged, castigated and ridiculed by a flawed system and some sections of the media often restricts practitioners in enabling vulnerable children achieve the safety and security they deserve.
Educating children, their families and those charged with the duty of their care more holistically, will promote an environment where more meaningful progress can be made.

Paul Smedley

Zeraslasie takes on environmental programme which is affected by politics.

Eritrea is a small mountainous country located in the North-east of Africa. It has a territory of about 124,345 square kilometres, coast line of 1500 kilometres in the Red Sea, and 135 small Islands inside the Red Sea. In the North-west it is bound by Sudan, in the East by the Red Sea, in the South-east by Djibouti, and in the South by Ethiopia.

The Eritrean people liberated the country, after thirty years of armed struggle, from Ethiopian colonial rule in 1991. On 24 May 1993 following United Nations supervised referendum, in which 99.8% of its population voted for independence, Eritrea obtained independence. Until late 19th century Eritrea was not unified but the territory was ruled by local rulers. From the 16th to the late ninteenth century outside powers: the Turks, Egyptians, and Ethiopian Kings occupied parts of Eritrea taking over from the local leaders.

In 1890 Italy, a late arriving colonial power, declared the formation of present Eritrea and ruled the country until 1941. During World War Two Britain took-over Eritrea and ruled the territory until 1952. The following 10 years Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia. In 1962 Ethiopia desolved the federal arrangement and colonised Eritrea for 30 years until 1991.

Some of Eritrea's modern dams, bridges that cross major rivers, and water diversion schemes were constructed by Italy. None of those who ruled the country after Italy had selfless coordinated genuine initiatives. Rivers and water were not a priority agenda.. For the Eritrea people the agenda was a political one, self-determination while for Ethiopia's political elites it was ensuring their continuity in the country wide control.

Though there is a potential to construct hydropower stations and viable modern farms near the rivers of Eritrea, politics did not allow that to happen. Eritrea contributes water to the Nile River. Yet the people had acute problem of access to drinking water. For me this is a global issue because of politics the environment deteriorated because of non- environmental factors.

This is a world wide phenomena.

Brian/ Zeraslasie

Meeting at Leeds Met

2009-07-09T22:32:00.000+01:00

Brian. Falguni, Mitali, and Kiran arrive at 13:30 at Leeds Station, coming back from Malham. I pick them up and drive them to our Leeds Met Headingley Campus where I have organised a meeting with staff from Leeds Met, who are working in researching Climate Change and Green Activism. We present our work in "The Rivers Project", and I can show some of the things that I have worked on. There is the map page where the tracks related to the rivers project are shown on a Google Map. I also showed all the Photosynths that I had so far prepared from the pictures in the Rivers Project.

The second part of the meeting was devoted to general discussions about climate change, projects at Leeds Met, and how Leeds Met could be involved in the Rivers Project. Afterwards we continued talking in the cafeteria, then we went to Leeds City centre. Falguni, Mitali, and Kiran did some last shopping for gifts to bring home, then we had a pizza ta Brio. Finally, Jane took them to her place where they spend their last night in the UK - Friday morning is departure.

Thank you for visiting us - it was a pleasure to have you here in the UK!

Visiting Malham

2009-07-08T22:48:00.000+01:00

Monday and Tuesday, the visitors from India travelled to London. But on Wednesday they are back in Yorkshire, to see Malham and the sights there related to the river Aire. I drive to the Northern College Barnsley to pick them up. The ride to Malham takes longer than expected. I had chosen the route through Halifax, which I was told later was unadvantageously slow. Brian is already waiting in Malham, but we cannot reach him because the mobile phone reception there is weak.

Since this is the first time our Indian friends are in Yorkshire, it is essential that they see at least one ruined abbey (thanks a lot, Henry VIII). We pass by the Bolton Abbey, then drive over the Barden Moor to Embsay, through Skipton, then further to Gargrave and finally to Malham where we arrive shortly after 13:00. Brian has organised a workshop for 12:00, but there has been some organisational problem, and the workshop will begin at 14:00. In the meantime we have a meal at the Buck Inn. Afterwards, Brian has the workshop meeting - it was then decided that Falguni, Mitali, Kiran and myself should visit the nearby Malham Cove. There are Peregrine Falcons that can be watched through telescopes.

Lee has driven independently to Malham to see the sites there, Gordale Scar and the Cove. I had planned to meet him, but then was unable as I had to leave for another appointment back in Leeds. Our Indian friends stay in Malham and return to Leeds on Thursday.

Conference in Barnsley

2009-07-04T22:50:00.001+01:00

Jane Weatherby has organised the conference "Global Perspectives in Adult Learning", for which our visitors from India had been invited. I can participate on Friday evening, but in Saturday morning my Smart car has some trouble - a noise in the engine makes me worried, and I visit a station. They cannot find anything, and since the noise had been gone, I keep going on to Barnsley where I arrive 2 hours late.

I had never been at the Northern College. A great location, with a nice view over Barnsley.

Falguni has presented the work about the Rivers Project, and I just join the conference when Brian makes a comment.
Later Brian hosts a session about "a book in 8 minutes", where every participant is writing a brief reflection - they all will then later be bundled into one book.

A Day in Stratford-upon-Avon

2009-07-01T23:50:00.004+01:00

Since our visitors from India had arrived the week before, several activities had taken place in the Yorkshire area. But I was not able to participate in them, because I was travelling in the US. I returned on Tuesday, and at that day Brian travelled with Falguni, Mitali, and Kiran to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The travel to Stratford had been full of unforeseen difficulties, which Brian may some day tell about. They visited Julie Boden who guided them around the area.

On Wednesday, one day after I had arrived ok, I drove down South to Stratford to pick them up and bring them back to Barnsley where they stayed at the Northern College. It is almost a 3 hour drive down the M1, then southwest towards Warwick. Very warm and sunny weather.

At 12:00 sharp I meet Brian in front of Shakespeare's birth house. Shortly afterwards also Falguni, Mitali, Kiran, and Julie are there.

We visit the Shakespeare House, where an automatic installation with a narration is presented to the visitors. Then strolling around Stratford. Getting some refreshments at the Black Swan Pub.

Then we drive to Mary Arden's House/Farm outside of Stratford. She was the mother of Shakespeare. The farm shows typical life around the end of the 16th century.

We get some food at TESCO. The restaurant there is closed, but we do not care and take a table. In the past, we Germans occupied countries - nowadays we just occupy tables (thank god!).

The drive home takes longer than planned. The M1 at J25 and 26 is closed because of construction. For one hour there is stop-and-go traffic only, and then we make our way around Nottingham. My car has a few slight flaws: the internal ventilator only works after it gets a good kick with the foot, the engine appears to have difficulties do drive uphill, and the radio does not work at all. So we provide our own entertainment - each of us has to sing a song. I am being advised that as a driver I should not too long clap applause while steering the car. With a brief pitstop at a rest station, we arrive at Barnsley around 11pm. I bring then Brian home to Pontefract, then I drive on to Leeds. Am at home at midnight.

Welcome to our visitors from India!

2009-06-22T18:36:00.000+01:00

Falguni, Mitali, and Kiran have arrived well here in the UK.

Conference: Global Perspectives on Adult Learning, Barnsley, 3.-5.July

2009-06-10T11:16:00.007+01:00

In conjunction with the visit by our project partners from India, a conference is held at Northern College, Barnsley, on 3.-July - 5.July, with the topic "Global Perspectives on Adult Learning".

What is the conference about?

This conference considers the relevance of globalisation and
international development for teaching and learning in the post
compulsory sector. It explores how thinking globally can open up
new possibilities, deepen understanding of our place in the world
and provide better skills for a global economy.

Who is it for?

Educators working in the post compulsory sector, including
HE, FE, voluntary and community and trade union.
Join us for opportunities to:

Discuss issues and challenges
Share ideas, good practice and resources
Foster opportunities for collaborative work
Residential or non residential options

Speakers and Workshops include:

Linda McAvan Labour MEP, Yorkshire & Humber, Chair of the European
Parliament Fair Trade Working Group
Dr Jan Eldred Associate Director (International), NIACE
Professor Falguni Bharateeya University of Vallabh Vidyanagar,
Anand, India
WIEGO (Women in Informal Earnings Globalizing and Organizing)
Brian Lewis Pontefract Press
Louise Mycroft Course Leader for University of Huddersfield’s postcompulsory
teacher training programme at Northern College
Good practice forum
... and more

Friday 3 July 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Saturday 4 July 9.30am - 4.30pm
Sunday 5 July 9.30am - 12.30pm

Free parking
Limited childcare places (6 months to 14 years)
Access for people with disabilities
Refreshments and meals included

The participation in this conference is FREE.

For more information email j.weatherby@northern.ac.uk or
telephone 01226 776000

To reserve a place online, visit: www.pickards.org.uk/northern/

Visitors from India

2009-06-09T18:16:00.002+01:00

In a few weeks, our partners from India will visit the UK, to complement the visit in India which we had undertaken back in November. A set of workshops is planned around Yorkshire rivers, for creating art and writing relevant to those rivers.

These three visitors will be our guests from 22.June until 10.July:
Falguni Bharateeya (Department of English, Nalini Arts College, Vallabh Vidyanagar)
Mitali Baxi (Life Skills trainer)
Kiran Joshi (Assistant teacher, R B Patel High School)

Online Tools

2009-06-09T14:21:00.004+01:00

For easier collaboration in this project, a public Google Group has been set up:
http://groups.google.com/group/the-rivers-project.
This group allows discussions and acts as a repository of ideas.

Furthermore, the Google Calendar of this group is publicly visible here online.

Letter by MP Yvette Cooper

2009-06-04T12:34:00.000+01:00

Yorkshire's Finest Environmental Awards 2009

The Climate Change Award Given By The Environmental Agency

The Gujarat Rivers Talk To Yorkshire Rivers Project

Can I thank you and the university for the support you are giving to Brian Lewis and his colleagues and congratulate you all for having the imagination to develop the Rivers Project and to be acknowledged as the winners of the Environmental Agency's Climate Change Award.

Brian Lewis tells me that without the commitment of Dr Rajendrasind Jadeja and his friends/colleagues it would not have developed in such a positive way. As a token of the fact that this is a co-operative venture he intends to pass the trophy onto the university on his next visit.

The Secretary of State for the Environment (Ed Miliband) made the award on a civic occasion but as a result of this joint effort three members of the UK Cabinet knows about the Gujarat Rivers Talk to Yorkshire Rivers Project. Like your organisations we see the battle against climate change is a world wide problem.

The delegation led by Professor Falguni Bharateeya will be made most welcome when she comes to Yorkshire to take part in the Global Perspectives in Adult Learning conference. I hope that I am able to meet them when they visit my constituency.

Sincerely

Yvette Cooper MP

Meeting in Castleford, Sagar Gallery, 28.May 2009

2009-05-28T23:00:00.002+01:00

The following meeting notes were prepared by Zeraslasie Shiker.

Second Rivers Meeting

Bridge Gallery, Castleford

28 May 2009

Zeraslasie Shiker

The Second Rivers Meeting held at Bridge Gallery, Castleford on 28 May 2009 was the continuation of the First Rivers Meeting which was held in Wakefield on 18 May. Professional Artists who participated at the meeting in Wakefield and other interested artists were present. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss in the ideas of the artists involved in the project.
Brian Lewis introduced the participants with the agenda of the meeting. The agenda include:

Blog about this project: Voices from Gujarat and Yorkshire Rivers at http://gujarat-yorkshire.blogspot.com/
rivers project progress talk - Brian Lewis
project financing email - Roger Head
workshops - Brian
Northern College Conference on Global Perspectives in Adult Education - Jane Weatherby
possible Rivers Project exhibitions

Brian and Reinhold Behringer explained to the meeting that written materials and pictures in the rivers project are posted in the ‘Voices from Gujarati and Yorkshire Rivers’ at http://gujarat-yorkshire.blogspot.com/. Reinhold in addition showed sample pictures of rivers and the importance of the blog to the idea of the rivers project.

In continuation to the work on the project, Brian on 25 May met with Ahmed Lunat, an Indian poet from Gujarat in Batley to collect more information, stories and poems of Gujarat. In addition, he spoke on the phone with interested artists about the project, among others, he discussed with Roger Head on how to finance the project. A document containing Roger’s ideas on how to fund the project is distributed in the meeting.

A form on the dates and venue of future workshops related to the Rivers Project was circulated in the meeting so that each participant could look on which event to attend. The events include:

Hebden/ Calderdale artists meeting, Monday, 8 June 2009, 3 pm to 7pm
workshop Cooper Gallery Bansely, Saturday, 27 June
Hebden Artists meeting, 28 June
Hebden Boat Trip, 28 June
First Dearne Meeting; Riverside event River Dearne, Sunday, 2 July
Conference on Global Perspectives in Adult Learning, 3 - 5 July
Malham Meeting

The Participants of the meeting ticked the event(s) they are interested in. The artists who did not come in to the meeting will be contacted.
Discussion was held on what the participants could contribute to the project. Each participant spoke about his/her ideas or plan. Many of the participants want to work with others. The points are as follows:

Susan and her husband travelled to Calder River, took some pictures which circulated at the meeting. She produced DVD from the pictures and motion of the river that was played in the meeting. She proposed joint efforts to develop her idea.
There is an idea of organising exhibitions that could be related with the rivers project at Cooper in Barnsley, York, and Castleford Bridge.
David Wilders is planning to pull together stories and poems of Aire river and work on the idea of collect clay for Calder river
David/ Harry has an idea of a sculpture on the Aire river related with the rivers project and applying his painting skills.
Brian is working on a river paintings in India, epic poems in Indian goddess, and a poem about Yorkshire. Brian wants to know any one who likes to contribute.
Zeraslasie has started collecting and documenting stories on rivers, wells, and water in Eritrea.
Bob has an idea of making a map of Calder River, and pictures of the 50 bridges of the Calder river.

Reinhold has an idea of creating Google group on the rivers project and to further develop the rivers blog. The group is at http://groups.google.com/group/the-rivers-project. Members are invited, but can also ask for group access.

Roger Head has idea of working in getting a fund for the project. A document containing his idea is distributed on the meeting.
Rosie and Liz have not developed their idea but are interested in contributing something in the project. Liz showed interest in Harry’s idea of collecting clay from Calder River. She told the meeting that she might consider her painting skills in the development of the idea.
Rachel with her husband, mother and father will produce a number of pockets involving small books and pictures covered with glass. Other participants are interested in her ideas and spoke of joint development.

One of the mottos of the Rivers Project is: "Every administrator is an artist and every artist is an administrator."

Other emails will follow in the next few days. These will include:

More on Workshops and Showcasing
Links with other artists
Conferences

Summary of Meeting on 18.May 2009, Art House Wakefield

2009-05-26T15:15:00.002+01:00

Records of the Rivers Project Meeting
First Meeting of the Calder Group
Art House, Wakefield
18 May 2009

Author: Zeraslasie Shiker

A workshop on the Rivers Project was held on 18 May 2009 at the Art House in Wakefield. Nineteen people who have varied professions including writers, translators and interpreters, poets, artists, musicians, scientists, and academics participated at the meeting. At present, the project includes Yorkshire, India, and Eritrea.

Brian Lewis, author of the project, coordinated the meeting together with Prof. Reinhold Behringer from Leeds Metropolitan University. This meeting was intended to move quickly into an operational phase, following the Environmental Award 2009 from the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Post.
In his opening presentation Brian introduced the meeting to the Rivers Project and outlined the visit of a group of professionals from Yorkshire to India. Brian spoke about the tour made by a team of UK professionals into India, and experience shared and lessons learned from the visit. The presentation was supported by pictures of rivers and other events captured during the tour in India. Reinhold supported Brian with the PowerPoint presentation and explanation.

Visit to India

The Yorkshire group who visited India included Brian Lewis, publisher, author, and painter; Reinhold Behringer, Professor of Creative Technology at Leeds Metropolitan University; Ms. Beccy Stirrup, WEA creative writer; Jane Weatherby, photographer and Overseas Development Northern College; Ruth Dass, inter-culture expert; and Jenny Marsden, writer at Pontefract Press.

The group visited different parts of India including the Narmada river, and gave a presentation in a conference held at the Institute of English Training Academy where 11 universities and about 300 students participated. They also visited a Hindu Temple, and attended a folk festival event.

The Rivers Project

The meeting discussed that the mission of the Rivers Project is to pull together people of different regions or countries of the world because of a shared responsibility. "We believe that the talents of artists, poets, film makers, musicians, and writers are major influence in this broad radical programme," said Brian.

We already have links between communities of English, Indian and Eritrean through the work in the Rivers Project. Brian's books on rivers and floods including "The Toll Bar Floods", and "Yorkshire Speaks to Gujarati Rivers" were shown in the meeting. The books are of high quality and affordable.

Discussion took place in the meeting, and David Wilders, a poet from Castleford, read his poem 'Aire River – Source to Castleford'. Its Tigrigna translation by Zeraslasie Shiker was read to signify the importance of inter-cultural communication in the environmental project. Tigrigna is a major working language in Eritrea.
Brian during the discussion asked each participant in the meeting to describe the Colder river in few words. Here are the collections we made:

it flows down Calder dale
it is navigable
it used to be mucky now it's clean
a heron sits regularly on the weir
leeches are present
it is known to flood every 10 years
it is a canal
I have studied on it
food originally
now mucky
a source of Transport
flows through Lancashire
has six legs
have channels
crosses a river
is erosive
source of pollution
learned about it in school
runs through traditional industrial area
canal boats
changes colour
close to its source
smelly
runs parallel to train line
wheel in the river
flows through Kirklees
fast flowing
source of food
driving over M62
environment Agency will not let you in
canalized

State of Progress

India - documentation of stories, songs, and perceptions on ecology, water and climate change developing by Kiran, Mitali, and Falguni.
Eritrea - documentation of stories on rivers, wells, and water in Eritrea began by Z. Shiker.

Forthcoming Events

26 May: Brian Lewis and Paul Medlock Meets Ahmed Lunat (Gul) in Batley (Gujarat Assoc)

28 May: Castleford Second Calder Meeting in Wakefield

8 June, Meet Hebden/ Calderdale artist/activists; Third Carder Meeting, the Centre for Alternative Technology, Hebden Bridge
Brian Lewis – 2 Sessions The Rivers Project (First 3 pm and Second 7:00 pm)

22 June: Gujurati colleagues (Falguni et al) arrive

27 June: Workshop Cooper Gallery Bansley.
Rivers Project (The Dearne) – Ian Clayton First Dearne Meeting

28 June: Big Riverside event River Calder, Hebden Bridge. Meeting starts at 11:00 am at the Centre for Alternative Technology. Train, Leeds to Hebden Bridge departs at 9.13 am arrives at 9.51 am; or departs at 9.45 am and arrives at 10.14 am.

29 June: Toll Bar School and Toll Bar Floods

2 July: Riverside event River Dearne, Bansely. Second Dearne Meeting at 10:30 am. Car park Mill of Black Monks, Grange Lane Lundwood Barnsley.
July, Mystery Plays starts at 7.4 pm

3 July: Harrogate at 2.00 am university of the third Age.
Northern College Conference, three days. Global Perspectives in Adult learning, start at 6:00 pm. Some residential places.
4 July: Global Perspectives in Adult Learning. All day. Being mindful of the Globe – The Rivers Project. Books in an Afternoon – Pontefract Press
5 July: Launching of Global perspectives in Adult Learning

Arising from the discussion

Funding:
How is the project financed?
The rivers project has no funding
Project looks very important so it could get funding
Should Brian put more effort into searching funds

India Visit:
should we travel to India on plain without good reason? Brian's response was 'The visit was important. We met and spoke and listened to the views of people of varied professions: artists, poets, academics, students and community heads. A link or contact point between the two peoples is established.'

Contribution to the Project

The professionals who came to the meeting asked how to contribute to the Rivers Project. Most of them showed readiness to contribute to the work of the project. Points collected include:
I want to involve the general public performance film poetry, general painting etc.
All of my work is made for the average person in the street to enjoy.
What effect will this project have on climate change?
Is there a limit of participants?
How will this connect to India?
How long is the commitment to the project – beyond 3rd July?
Does it have a physical impact?
Why not research the original meaning of the river names and their origins?
what level of independent involvement be expected?

Award from Yorkshire Post

2009-05-07T23:43:00.001+01:00

This project, also known shortly as "The Rivers Project", has been presented with an Environment Award by the Yorkshire Post in the category "Climate Change". Brian Lewis and Jane Weatherby accepted the award from the hands of the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, at an awards dinner at the Queens Hotel in Leeds. The evening was moderated by TV presenter Julia Bradbury.

Visiting Heptonstall

2009-04-26T22:53:00.001+01:00

Brian Lewis and I visited Heptonstall and had a walk around the old mills in the valley below. But first they paid a tribute to the burial site of poet Sylvia Plath whose grave is on the Heptonstall cemetary.

The Colden Valley has interesting ruins of industrial mills, now overgrown by trees. Nature took back what it once owned.

Visiting Hebdon Bridge

2009-04-05T23:00:00.002+01:00

On Sunday, 5.April 2009, Brian Lewis and I visited Hebden Bridge, for exploring some sights of early industrialisation and the relevance of water. We stopped at the Centre for Alternative Energy, where we got a nice guided tour through their facilities.

Brian Lewis: new video

2009-01-07T23:47:00.002Z

Contrary to previous planning, Brian Lewis was unable to travel to India this January 2009. Therefore, he sends his greetings to the project partners in Vallabh Vidyanagar with this video message, in which he describes the current state of the project.

News Item on Leeds Met Website

2008-11-15T10:43:00.000Z

On Friday, my faculty Innovation North at Leeds Met posted a news item on the web site, giving a brief summary of the report I had sent last week.

Travelling Back

2008-11-14T23:03:00.001Z

Friday morning we leave at 6:30 from Vallabh Vidyanagar. The plane from Ahmadabad leaves about 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. At the stopover in Dubai, the non-vegetarians among us enjoy a juicy burger at Burger King. Then the last flight leg, to Manchester. Resting and enjoying the in-flight entertainment system.

It has been an amazing time here in India, and we all are now digesting our impressions. We have collected data, Brian has created paintings and poems, we recorded interviews, and we established links for future collaboration. In my view, the project has been a great success.

Visiting Ahmadabad

2008-11-13T23:19:00.004Z

On Thursday, we were invited to a private residence in Ahmadabad for lunch. The person who was inviting us, had attended the workshop in the week before at the Creativity Conference. She would expect us for lunch with her family. Jane, myself, and Asha decided to join Brian and go to Ahmadabad. First, we took one of those motor rikshas from Vallabh Vidyanagar to the Anand train station. There, we encountered a long line at the ticket counter - it seemed impossible to get a ticket for the next train in time, as it was scheduled to leave in about 10 minutes. But Asha knew where to get tickets, at a dealer outside of the station. The ride from Anand to Ahmadabad cost 15 Rupies per person - approximately 20 Pence.

The train was quite full, people sitting on the ground, but we got seats together. People wanted to get their picture taken with us. The ride took two hours. I was able to record with the in-ear microphones the acoustic environment, for later mixing it to video recordings.

The train arrived in time, and our hosts were picking us up at the airport and driving us to their home. We got to know their family members and had a nice time. A brief moment of panic occurred when a monkey was seen in the kitchen...
Then Jane and I went to the old town of Ahmadabad, to see a few parts of the old architecture of the historic centre. A very densely populated area, with interesting buildings and wood carvings.

We met Brian and Asha around 3:45 at the bus station, from where we took a bus back to Anand. A bus ticket cost 45 Rupies. The ride on this Express bus also took two hours, through several towns and countryside. In Anand again a motor riksha, back to the guest house.

In the evening we invited our host from the University to a good-bye dinner at a restaurant.

Driving through Southern Gujarat

2008-11-12T18:05:00.007Z

Today on Wednesday the part of our group which has gone further south to Surat, visits an educational institution at the outskirts of the city. We stayed in a hotel, as guests of this instutution, and visit its nearby campus to talk to the director and the president. We will talk with our home institutions about the possibility to establish links, for the benefit of both.

We have a brief tour through the city of Surat, which is a centre of diamond publishing and textile industry. Then back towards north, onto a 5 hours drive. The road is being widened and converted into a motorway, but the ongoing construction causes congestion and a bumpy ride. We admire and at the same time are scared by the capabilities of our driver, who appears to drive in a suicidal way, on the wrong side of motorways, between oncoming traffic, constantly honking and taking the right of way of other traffic participants. But after 5 hours we arrive safely at the guest house in Vallabh Vidyanagar.

Workshop at Narmada River

2008-11-11T19:54:00.001Z

On Tuesday we leave early in the morning for a several hours drive south, towards the Narmada river. On our way we see many groups of pilgrims who walk with drums and costumes towards shrines.

Our base is a hospital near the river Narmada. It is sponsored by a charity and provides free health care for the surrounding tribes. The area is very rural: the houses are built of mud, and it looks exactly like in the tribal museum that we have visited in Ahmadabad. It seems that several time epochs live here simultaneously in parallel: out current 21st century, with cars and mobile internet, and the century-old rural agricultural traditions of the local population.

The river looks very peaceful and quiet. The dam further upstream regulates the water and releases only a very small trickle. This has changed the whole river surroundings over the past years.

The workshop encourages the participants to reflections, writings, and paintings. A few students from the Sardar Patel University who have accompanied us, bring back a few paintings which they did while being in the river bed.

Unfortunately, the Tata Indicom mobile network appears not to be present here in the countryside, so I cannot provide a live update.

We then drive further to the large Narmada dam, which has been planned since the 1950 but has only recently been completed in its first stage. Further work is in progress, as the dam height is being increased further. Is an impressive structure, and the echoes from the people are divided: some say that it is a strong interference with nature, others praise its benefits for the population.

We drive towards a few visitor points with nice views onto the dam and the regulated water flows.

At the base camp in the hospital, our group divides: most of us return back to Vallabh Vidyanagar, but three of us (including me) drive further towards Surat, where we will meet with a local educational institution which seeks links to UK educational institutions.

International Reflection on Leeds Met Website

2008-11-10T18:39:00.002Z

Today appeared on the Leeds Met website the International Reflection which I wrote last week. Upon my return to Leeds Met, I will brief interested parties on how to proceed further with this project, to contribute towards its aims and objectives.

Testing Immersive Recording

2008-11-10T17:44:00.001Z

On this day after the conference yesterday, each of us feels relaxed, as this milestone of mutual exchange between two continents has been successfully completed. We began further project planning, for the time after our return to the UK. Important is to keep the momentum going. Our group had so far worked very well together, we complemented each other quite well, and achieved remarkable output: simultaneously in the two regions (Yorkshire, Gujarat) several poems were written, paintints were produced, and technology was used to bridge the two locations. I had produced GPS tracks of all our activities which will be placed on Google Maps / Earth after our return to the UK, and I had documented our project with photographs and video recordings. These materials will be used by our Leeds Met students to produce documentary material for publicising the project output.

Now is the opportunity to pursue an activity which is unique to this project and pushes into a new dimension: to use immersive recording for the purpose of capturing an individual experience. I put my head-worn camera on, use the in-ear microphones, and drive again to the Vadtal temple complex. I do not get any more stares than usual - in this rural community there are rarely any Westerners seen. So my somewhat "technological" appearance does not seem to appear any stranger than the mere fact that I as a visitor from Europe are here in this region.

I record at the Garden of Knowledge and at the Vadtal Temple complex. Then, back in Vallabh Vidyanagar there is a Youth Festival, with competitions of universities in folk dancing. A colorful procession moves through the town, with the various university teams performing dances and music. A great opportunity for my immersive experience: I capture simultaneously with three devices: head-worn camera, in-ear microphone for surround head-related sound, and a hand-held HD video camera for a conventional documentation.

Online Conference between Yorkshire and Gujarat

2008-11-09T20:01:00.004Z

Today's main event was the preparation and conduction of an actual live link between Yorkshire and Gujarat. In the morning, we began to prepare the agenda and the material which we would present. This would be some of the material which had been prepared in the past days, during the workshop and the data collection.

It was not clear if the online link would work. A fallback option would be just a txt chat on Skype or Google, but we were interested in testing video and audio links as well. We transmitted all relevant material to the Google group which had been set up for this project, so that our counterpart in Yorkshire would have access to the material also offline.

But it turned out quite well. We sat in the conference room of the H M Patel Institute and linked to our group in Castleford via Skype. The video worked more or less ok, but it took bandwidth away form the audio. So in some instances we had to shut it down. A few poems were recited from both sides, paintings and concepts were exchanged, and the technology aspect in this project was highlighted. We presented a summary of the interviews with the people who were affected by the river changes at the Sabarmati river, and the group in Castleford presented the concept of a future city with a low environmental impact.

Overall an event that went very well!

Activities around Vallabh Vidyanagar

2008-11-08T18:42:00.001Z

On Saturday morning our group visits the painter Kanu (Kanaiyalal) Patel in this studio. He presents each of us with a gift: a small booklet with poems and a printed collection of some of his works, under the title "Masks".

In the afternoon we visit the Sardar Patel memorial, which is towards west of Vallabh Vidyanagar. It is in a large well maintained park, with palm trees and a large fountain in the centre. The memorial itself is a kind of conference center, devoted to explaining about the life of Sardar Patel who was a colleague of Mahatma Gandhi during the time of India becoming independent.

Asha also guides us to a nearby temple with a peaceful atmosphere. As we continue a bit further, we reach a small town, and we drive to the center. There is a central court, with many people there in a festive atmosphere. This is the Vadtal temple.

Second Day in Ahmedabad

2008-11-07T21:41:00.003Z

In the morning we are invited to attend the 11:00 prayer session in the prayer hall. Since there is a bit of time, I am using this opportunity to set up my head-worn in-ear microphones and record some of the street sounds, simultaneously with the HD camera. As the sound recording on the mic input of the video camera does not appear to work very well - too high sound level, without any manual override control -, I record the audio separately onto a digital recorder. It can later be synchronised to the video.

At 11:00 the students move into the hall and take a seat on the floor. Brian, Falguni, Adam, and myself are taking a seat in the front. Then we are invited to say a few words to the approximately 300 students who are present. First, Falguni introduces the rivers project. Then I talk about creative technology. I am equipped with all my gear, looking slightly awkward among all those simplicity and the emphasis on manual labor. I make a point of explaining that I use this technology for linking people and worlds. and for sharing individual experiences. Then Brian makes the concluding remarks. All speeches including the preceeding prayer were recorded on my in-ear microphones - I will publish this recording soon after transferring it to the PC.

Afterwards we visit the marvelous tribal museum on the campus. It seems not to be well visited, as we appear to be the only visitors. But it offers a very interesting insight into the different tribes and their culture. These tribes still are well functioning in the India countryside.

The women in our group visit SEWA in the afternoon, while Brian, Adam, and myself return back to Vallabh Vidyanagar. On our way back we stop at a famous mosque, where Adam has the opportunity to participate in the Friday prayers. Crossing the street is quite an adventure, as the following video shows.

In the evening we enjoy a nice dinner in the private home of Sunil Shah, who had helped me so much with getting the mobile internet connection. His wife cooked excellent dishes, combining the taste and spices of India with some of the European cooking traditions (e.g. chips).

First Day in Ahmadabad

2008-11-06T21:22:00.003Z

On Thursday morning, our group left with two cars from the university in Vallabh Vadyanagar to Ahmedabad. Our first stop was the Gujarat Vidyapith (Vidyapith, a sanskrit-turned-Gujarati word means a University; the university was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi), where we were welcomed by the VC Sudarshan Iyengar. He explained to us the significance of this university, which follows strongly Gandhi's rules for simple life and rural revitalisation. Technology is seen here as something not very possitive, just barely a necessary evil for some of the communication needs.

We move into our rooms in the guest house. The rooms are designed to host two people each, and we are asked if we would mind that. However, as we Westerners cherish our private sphere around us, we are then offered each an individual room.

We drive to the Gandhi Ashram at the bank of the river Sabarmati. There are Gandhi's house and a museum devoted to his life and work. At the river, there is a lot of construction going on: large concrete slabs are erected at the river banks, and some structures indicate that this river would be converted into a flood-controlled long lake.

Here now, our actual work regarding this project begins. These days before were very fruitful for networking and engaging with the people at the Anand University, but now we are conducting our actual project work. A workshop is held with poetry readings about the river. The participants should write something about the river which then is shared. Further, a translation workshop is held, highlighting the difficulties of translating Gujarati into English and vice versa. My role here was to record some of the activities for our project documentation.

A very interesting part of this activity is the conduction of interviews with people who are somewhat affected by the river and its transformation. We meet an elderly person who defends the project, saying it will bring water regulation and is beneficial to all citizens. But there are also sceptics who argue that this work destroys the coherence of the river with its banks and the surroundings.

In the afternoon we visit a woman who is working for the organisation darshan. They create street performances about critical issues, as they have been banned form performing in regular theatres. One issue which they have addressed in the past is the violence which had erupted between Muslims and Hindu in 2002 and the following years.

Live from the Sabarmati River, Ahmedabad!

2008-11-06T07:07:00.006Z

We are right now at the banks of the Sabarmati River, at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. We just held a workshop about poetry and the river Sabarmati, and now we are conducting interviews with people whose lives have been in some way influenced by the river.

Earlier today we stopped at Gujarat Vidyapith where we were hosted by the VC. We will stay the night there in the guest quarters.

This live blog update is possible because of our mobile internet connection. The new Panasonic Toughbook CF-19 comes quite handy now, to edit and collect data on the outdoors.

Fourth Day in India

2008-11-05T19:39:00.007Z

The activities during the first three days were:
- planning the week,
- settling into the accommodation,
- meeting Vice Chancellor of Sardar Patel University, Dr. B.G. Patel,
- giving a keynote address at the conference "Creativity and Literature" (Brian Lewis),
- organising a workshop on creative writing (Beccy Stirrup and Jenny Marsden),
- giving individual presentations about our work and about creativity in general (Jane Weatherby, Ruth Dass, myself).

Today we visited two other faculties:
- the Faculty of Arts who are hosted in a very interesting contemporary building
- the Faculty of Business, Department of Tourism, where we received a nice Gujarati meals prepared in the restaurant of this institute.

We further discussed the plans for the next two days, as we will head out to the river Sabarmati, to hold workshops and conduct interviews.

I will then for the first time test recording of video and audio with the immersive equipment, which is head-worn and can provide a subjective capture of the experience of the wearer of this equipment.

Thanks to our friendly hosts, especially to Sunil Shah, we do have now internet: we purchased an online connection through a special USB wireless modem, through the name of one of the University employees. This allows us now to have internet during the whole rest of our stay. However, the connection is quite slow, and we do only have a limited number of minutes available - which means that we need to economise on the usage.

Nevertheless, I used this connection today in the evening, to upload pictures to Flickr and to report back to our colleagues in Yorkshire.

Conference "Creativity and Literature"

2008-11-04T06:57:00.010Z

The conference "Creativity and Literature" which is held here at the Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, at the H.M.Patel Institute of English Training & Research, 3.-4.November, fits very well with our theme of using the arts to create awareness, and we decide to actively participate in this conference. Beccy and Jenny give a workshop on creative writing, Brian gives a poetry reading on Monday evening at the poets' meet, and the rest of us (Ruth, Jane, and myself) each give a presentation on Tuesday morning, about our work our institutions, and our vision regarding creativity. I mention the strong links of Leeds Met with India (Bollywood, Gandhi Hall), and the students applaud enthusiastically, especially since the province of Gujarat is the home of Gandhi. My presentation is somewhat ad-hoc, as I was not sure what the audience would expect. These are students of English Literature, with the ambition to become writers and teachers. So I twist my presentation towards creativity, looking at technology to aid human creativity, as well as being a bit provocative and point to artificial creativity, with an example of the "Cybernetic Poet" who might eventually replace human poets like Brian. (Just kidding of course).

Arrival in Anand

2008-11-02T20:46:00.006Z

The travel on Emirate Airways went well. Some of us could get a bit of sleep, others were reading ("Cultureshock", as a preparation for the experiences in India), others were enjoying the selection 100s of video-on-demand movies. We arrived in the morning, 8:30 local time. The driver from the university was already there, and we squeezed into the Toyota: 6 passengers and one driver, on two seat rows.

After a drive of 90 minutes on a motorway, sometimes shared with pedestrians, lots of moped drivers, and sometimes herds of cows, we arrive in Anand, a town about 100km SE of Ahmedabad. We will stay at the guest house of the Sardar Patel University in Vallabh Vidyanagar.

After a brief break, we have a meeting at the university with our hosts Dr. Rajendrasinh Jadeja, Director of the H M Patel Institute, and Dr. Falguni Bharateeya, Head of the English Department, where the program for the next days is being discussed. Our organisational contact is Asha Makhecha (from the Faculty of Business) who had been setting up the meetings, and who showed us around so that we would find our way here in Vallabh Vidyanagar. It turns out that on Monday and Tuesday there is a conference held at the university: "Creativity and Literature". We agree to participate and give a few talks to the participating students.

One problem is the availability of internet: there is one PC in the computing lab which has Internet connection, but for some reason the Ethernet cable does not work with my laptop - no connection is shown. Our host will try to resolve this in the next days, but for now I cannot send out blog entries or emails.

In the evening we have a dinner at a local restaurant, and afterwards we are invited to Asha Makhecha's home for a tea.

Travel with Emirates Airways

2008-11-02T04:20:00.013Z

We had chosen to fly with Emirates Airways, as they had a very reasonable price. They fly from Manchester to Dubai, then go on to Ahmedabad. Nice food is being served.

Before:

After:

We have 4 hours in Dubai Airport, from midnight until 4 am. It is quite busy there, obviously many flights arrive around that time. All stores are open, so one can get a last supply of power adaptors, memory cards, and batteries.

Departure

2008-11-01T13:47:00.018Z

Four of us met at 9:00 in the Leeds train station, taking a train towards Manchester.
This time, there was no direct train, but we had to switch at Manchester Victoria to a bus.

Long line at the check-in for Emirates. I can use the bag drop-off line, because I checked in online yesterday. But the process still is very slow.

A guy in the queue who travelling to Dubai mentions all the new building developments there - and he is not very positive about their environmental impact.

--- on board now, switching off the mobile.

------------------------------------------------
sent from mobile phone.

To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to http://disclaimer.leedsmet.ac.uk/email.htm

Photos from Jake

2008-10-31T14:06:00.020Z

Brian sent me this morning these pictures by Jake.

New "official" blog is online

2008-10-30T09:28:00.003Z

This blog here is just considered the "working" blog for this project, documenting the development and the individual contributions. Jake has set up now another blog, which could be the starting point for a fully public interface to the project: Two Rivers Talking.

Meeting with Brian

2008-10-17T21:00:00.000+01:00

On Friday afternoon I drove to Pontefract to meet again with Brian, to discuss the upcoming travel and funding issues for our project. He showed me his atelier where he had a large collection of his own paintings, among them a collection of the Gordale Scar and other nature-related works.

Malham Cove Photosynth

2008-10-15T16:03:00.001+01:00

Here is another photosynth, from the pictures I took at Malham Cove during the "Moot" with Brian on 28.September.

Gordale Scare Photosynths

2008-10-15T13:05:00.004+01:00

I just completed two Photosynths with some of the pictures which I took during the Moot 2 weeks ago with Brian, when we went to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales, to explore the sources of the river Aire.

If the synth does not show up properly, you may have to reload this page. Also, you need to install the photosynth viewer software from the Photosynth website.

Towards Gordale Scar

In Gordale Scar

Meeting at Old Broadcasting House

2008-10-14T21:38:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday evening, our group met for the 2nd time at the Leeds Met Old Broadcasting House. Before the meeting, I recorded again Brian's explanation of the project, this time in HD and with him in a jacket. I will still have to edit this statement before I can post it onto YouTube.

Brian told about his story regarding getting the visa in Birmingham. Beccy will also travel to Birmingham to hand in the application at the embassy. I had sent my application per postal mail - am still waiting.

Jake and Laura will establish the Yorkshire connection point during our online collaboration on Sunday, 9.November. Beccy talked about her Malham work and about the online story that she is developing. Brian talked about his interest in "embodied energy" and "working with concrete". Jane talked about the "myth-busting" that she intends to do related to climate change, and she also wants to explore the academic communities during our India visit.

On 22. October another meeting will be held in Castleford.

Giving a Pitch to Leeds Met Students - in the GANDHI HALL

2008-10-01T16:08:00.003+01:00

The BSc students at Innovation North (Leeds Metropolitan University) have to create a major group project in their last year. This usually involved cross-discipline work, with students having background in Multimedia, Computing, Web Design, Video, and Audio coming together and creating impressive artefacts. Today on Wednesday, these students were given several pitches of project ideas in the Gandhi Hall of the Leeds Met Headingley campus.

I used this opportunity to propose this project "Voices of Gujarati and Yorkshire Rivers" to the students, for them to create an interesting multimedia experience) web, DVD, etc. which would highlight the outcomes or document the progress of this project. Several hundred students attended this event, and I already received feedback from one student who is in fact from the Gujarat area and who wants to participate.

Very symbolically meaningful, this event took place in the Hall which is named after the most famous of all Gujarati humans, Mahatma Gandhi.

Moot at Malham

2008-09-27T23:32:00.007+01:00

Today on Saturday, Brian and myself went to Malham, to create videos and other documenting material from the sources of the Aire. Brian pointed out several very interesting facts about these sources: that the water would not flow directly, but would first sink into the ground, then unearth at another location, before becoming the Aire.

We saw the impressive Gordale Scar and walked over the hills to enter the cove from above. It was a beautiful day, "Indian Summer" with blue sky, but a fresh and "crispy" air. There were a number of tourist visitors there, but somewhat less than expected. It seemes that the summer season already is over.

Janet's Foss, near Malham.

Gordale Scar

Malham Cove

Overall, we walked a distance of 5.8 miles.

Walking around Malham Cove.

Grant from Rusking Foundation!

2008-09-25T14:53:00.001+01:00

We are very grateful to the Ruskin Foundation who is now supproting this project with a small grant. This will contribute to some of the travel expenses of our team.

Participants Meeting at Old Broadcasting House

2008-09-24T21:29:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday evening, we organised a meeting for those who will participate in the travel to India. Brian, Jenny, Jane, Beccy, and myself were the ones who actually will be on travel, Louise and Jake also joined this meeting as they represented the people who will represent the Yorkshire link during our absence. Adam and Ruth were not able to attend. We discussed the plans and schedule for the travel and the workshops in India.

As I showed this web blog, I realised that there seemed to be an issue in the case of a slow internet connection: the Google map did not show up properly, and the Photosynths just showed part of the photosynth web page instead of the synth itself. Not sure what this was - could have a reason in a temporary outage during the page build-up (due to a faulty wifi connection), and then the Javascript just could not work properly to create all the page elements. Some participants mentioned that they had seen the same on their computer... so I will have to revisit this issue. Maybe simply shorten the blog to show fewer entries (e.g. only the last 3)?

We also planned the upcoming Moot event in Malham, which had originally been scheduled for Sunday but was moved to Saturday now. Hope the weather will be fine!

Immunisations

2008-09-08T15:24:00.003+01:00

Travelling to India requires for us Westerners to receive a couple of immunisation shots. Some details are available on the web, for example here: www.mdtravelhealth.com/destinations/asia/india.html.

Today I went to my NHS surgery and received two sets of shots: one for combined Hepatitis A/B, and another for Pollio/Typhoid/Tetanus. A 2nd appointment would be in 1 week, a 3rd one in 3 weeks. Also, I will start taking malaria tablets before the travel - I do not want to take any risk.

[poem:] Brian Lewis: The Weir

2008-09-02T23:59:00.002+01:00

A
Like hampton's Geordie worm that wraps
its tail round Penshaw Hill this river
holds to Yorkshire, wont let up: It entraps
the best we have flowing ideas. Shiva giver
destroyer returner the girls in Boticelli dance
in Primavera three women seen as one
in spring time all are here united by chance
flowing silk like water alone

B
Heve water overlaps itself and folds
on water, gauges at the bank and bites
above the mud into wet earth, penile it holds
to it for a second then withdraws clods come away grass fights
for survival but as each blade separates
from its cousin the earth and water marry
as churned mud the varying states
of nature are all and earth
and fire
breath assure

C
She saw eight cormorants standing on a bank
one morning as she sent her husband off to work
We talk of nature but birds can blank
you, they watched her at her door a stork
of . How nature once had died
here,
complied

D
notised I look into the flow and watch
a skin of water feather and then fold upon itself
I catch
my breath that a shelf
of bank will fall before this seasons out
unless its buttressed. It will decay
in incremements I think about
last May when heavy rain just washed away
Toll Bar and parts of distant Hull

E
I am the guardian of the bridge. Its moods
are mine, we share a similar space. Sky
earth and woods
I dont know why

F
But listen to the sound. You sleep through
visitors day. I never hear it. When the weir that;
is silent then I hear. The town and each platt
of water speaks to me and the sheet
beauty holds me

G
Is this our earth's last gasp? The sacred Aire
here's sacred to Bulgaria. Here two links join
the body urges for the sea. Its dare
to thrive or will.
bright-light fine
whisp of water up'm in sad mud
no food

H
I look down on the battering log that struck
the weir boards, board headed snout and the face
that Northmen mounted on their long ships. Stuck
in the rigmarole of history I try to place
it in the same context. Not always Raider
Rapes, Pillage and Burning
a trader
trader setting out from Yorvik

[poem:] David Wilders: River Aire - From its Source to Castleford

2008-09-02T23:58:00.000+01:00

Malham Tarn, North Craven Fault, Aire Head Springs,

The storm, the might, the rain
The deluge, the sodden, the saturation

The overspill, the energy, the flow, the movement, the descent, the rivulet, the brook, the creek
The birth, the source, the origin

The erosion, the gnawing, the earth, the sand, the loam, the gravel

The movement, the direction, the cutting
The raging, the meandering, the twisting

The by-pass, the oxbow, the flora, the fauna
The quickening, the widening, the banks
The scraping, the valley

The hue, the colour, the debris
The slowing, the deposits, the silts
The clays, the alluvium
The sediment, the planes, the flood, the Ings

[poem:] Julie Boden: Inuit snow Song

2008-09-02T23:56:00.001+01:00

The ice is melting fast, my love,
and sighs of seals sing low
as waves grow heavy with ice, my love
and sea dissolves the snow.

And no one knows the words, my love
to tell these winds of change;
they blow bewildering fast, my love
to turn our homeland strange.

How can they tell our world, my love
in words they do not know ?
The Greeks had many a word for grass
but all our words are snow.

Oh how will our descendants see
this world our words could blow
like powder from a looking glass
to tell us all we know?

To tell us all we know, my love,
to show us what will be.
Oh, who will tread our footsteps, love
when all returns to sea.

The ice is melting fast, my love.
The sighs of seals sing low.
My heart grows heavy with ice, my love.
Come sing your words of snow.

My heart grows heavy with ice, my love.
Come sing your words of snow.

[poem:] Ray Hearne: Might Stay Fine

2008-09-02T23:53:00.000+01:00

Didn’t it rain?
every kind of hard rain
didn’t it pour?
till it couldn’t spill more
didn’t it sile?
Brother Noah big style

but didn’t it shine
like a silver wine?

like a silver wine

and now it might stay fine
it might stay fine

it might stay fine
says the primer
for the part-time rhymer
spinning me another line
it might stay fine

Shock and awe showers
flattening the sunflowers
it got so dark
nearly to the black mark
sky-high glowers
falling on the kow towers

but didn’t something still shine
like a silver wine?

like a silver wine

now it might stay fine
it might stay fine

it might stay fine
says the primer
for the part-time rhymer
spinning me another line
it might stay fine

A see-through wall
river-full and all fall
down like cloaks
a Krakatoa wave broke
from a nightmare time
when I couldn’t see a thing rhyme

but didn’t love still shine
like a silver wine?

like a silver wine

and it might stay fine
it might stay fine

it might stay fine
says the primer
for the part-time rhymer
spinning me another line

it might stay fine

it might stay fine

it might stay fine
says the primer
for the part-time rhymer
spinning me another line

it might stay fine

it might stay fine

[poem:] Ray Hearne: Going for Growth

2008-09-02T23:51:00.002+01:00

Under a high heel of virtual concrete and steel
overshadowing all I can see
puthers of unsubtle dust rim the wheels
of the vehicles rolling interminably
going for growth mother, going for growth
mother, you and me both know that going for growth
isn’t everything money men swear it to be
in the sight of the shanty-town citizenry

Motorway, freeway, expressway or carriageway
making away with what’s left of the day
junk-sellers, bank-tellers, umbrella-fellers
hair-gellers with little or nothing to say
save ‘going for growth,’ mother, ‘going for growth’
mother, you and me both know your ‘going for growth’
isn’t half the carved up cake it’s cracked up to be
when it comes to the shanty-town citizenry

Barrio, rookery, slum and favela
the sons and the daughters of too many lies
kissing the cheeks of their own little children
are seeing the same look in each other’s eyes
‘going for growth’ mother, ‘going for growth’
mother, you and me both know your ‘going for growth’
isn’t even a slow road to where we should be
in the eyes of the shanty-town citizenry

Licking the long lips of valleys, young rivers
are tonguing the notes of a new poetry
clinging to zephyrs and mangos and tamarinds
hum-along melodies are ribboning free
going for growth mother, going for growth
mother, you and me both know that going for growth
’s never more than slogan for day-glow TV
or a joke to the shanty-town citizenry

going for growth mother, going for growth
there’s a whole other show now for you and me both
in the voices like millions of tributaries
singing out for the shanty-town citizenry

it’s the song of the voiceless, between you and me,
to the tune of the shanty-town citizenry

(Feb – April 08)

[poem:] Siobhan Mac Mahon: Ancestors

2008-09-02T23:47:00.000+01:00

How have you forgotten us
so soon? Trapped our stories
beneath your supermarket floors -
those vacant corridors of misery
and half price goods.

At night, beneath your hasty monuments
to greed and haste,
we tap our stories out,
incant the ancient mysteries
our voices carving symbols in the air.

Beneath the tarmac of your busy feet
we breath, our stories filling
stone cold caves with light
and warmth, our voices rising
as in flight

At night our bone deep stories stir
the silence of the hidden henge.
Gathering precious relics from the past
we hold the circle fast
to sing the future in.

(August 2008)

[poem:] Michael Yates: River

2008-09-02T23:45:00.000+01:00

Sacred River

It's all about the living water - The way that water lives its life - Where it comes from where it's going - Under ground and under skies - It cuts its way through rock and time - Runs its way down to the seashore - In tidal conscience fills the ocean - In vaporous presence fills the skies

A River Runs Through Us

Weir down there!
But we’re up here
on the murmuring bridge
the mumbling bridge,
the tourniquet
for the deep wound
cut by the water.

Me mam said:
When she was a girl,
the foam flew fierce
up off the Aire,
up in the air,
rotted her nylons,
ravaged her knees.
(“Don’t say ravaged,”
says me dad,
“it’s not a nice word.
But it doesn’t do it now,
so I’ve heard.”

Weir down there!
And I’m up here
on the curving bridge,
the swerving bridge,
single strong shackle
holding the brown burglar,
the intruding river.

Me dad said:
When he was a nipper,
the river stunk.
(“Stank,”
says me mam,
“is the past tense of stink”)
but now, he says, it’s fit to drink.
Well, almost, I think.
And: only if there’s nothing better.
But then – rivers!
What would I know?
Rivers only run through things.

They don’t like stopping.
Not round here.

Something useful for travellers

2008-09-02T16:48:00.003+01:00

I hope everyone is looking forward to the trip,

to help make our travel go as smoothly as possible I am reccommending a book:

Cultureshock! A survival guide to customs and etiquette-INDIA by Gitanjali Kolonad

price £11.99

[poem:] Rebecca Stirrup: 3/4 Water

2008-09-02T16:45:00.003+01:00

My glass of water is rare. I can see right through it and the world opposite is turned upside down – precise but for a spreading out. I have drunk it carelessly – twelve steps away I can refill it and do the same again. The water in my glass is polite and still.

When I crossed the river the spray flecked across my face; I was safe on my bridge so it seemed gentle. But looking in the mud surface – the mud we are could dissolve there so easily. Perhaps that is why the water is dark. It has on its mind to erode people as well as soil. It would love to touch my feet and pull me in. The rain is making it fat, and its appetite is growing for solid food.

Poems! these are the ones we have so far.....

2008-09-02T16:33:00.013+01:00

Here are a few poems that have been created in the context of this project (they have been placed in separate entries, for better indexing):

Brian Lewis: The Weir
David Wilders: River Aire, From its Source to Castleford
Julie Boden: Inuit Snow Song
Ray Hearne: Might Stay Fine
Ray Hearne: Going for Growth
Siobhan Mac Mohan: Ancestors
Michael Yates: Rivers
Rebecca Stirrup: 3/4 Water

News from Atanu in Anand about our trip

2008-09-02T16:26:00.002+01:00

This is a roughly edited extraxt from an email Atanu sent to Brian and I with some further ideas and information about our Indian trip in November:

News for the proposed Meet after discussion with the Core Advisory Committe (Piyush, Dr Jadeja, Surendra, Falguni, Asha and Me)
Here are my comments in response to your queries/comments.
We would like you to interact with our students and probably have a sort of workshop/talk about the issue of climate change and how that can be integrated within the larger scheme of teaching English in Gujarat. How can it be, for example used creatively (for creative writing purposes), what would be the issues when you try to deal with a politically and often ethnically sensitive issue like 'joining of rivers' or disapperances/ displacement of communities due to climate change and man-made interventions (like dams etc). We could also arrange meetings with faculty members in the departments of humanities and social sciences for small one-day workshops/seminars/talks. This could include departments of architecture, sociology, fine arts, and social work. You could of course add to this list. We are also planning to have two workshops (as you have suggested) on different aspects of two rivers (Mahi and Tapi) - folklore, myths, songs, poems, cultural sites, communities, paintings and oral forms where you could give your own inputs about the UK rivers. These could be sort of cultural exchange programmes where the rivers 'talk'.

We could forge a joint education work with various relevant departments (if they are willing) with H M Patel Institute acting as a sort of monitor for such projects. We could also have H M as the nodal agency for forging relevant tie-ups. This could be included in the project proposals for funding, and when the funding is made available, in consultation with the UK group, we could tie-up with various sectors - both academic and non-academic (for example, NGOs)
No problems provided that you let us know which departments you would like to work with. We could tie up with some departments as mentioned above as well as have a workshop with Falguni's or my students.

Two Indian run river workshops at which we will be present

Visit days (cultural)
This could include cultural and architectural sites around the rivers, Mahi and Tapi, as well as local places of interest ,e.g. Gandhi Ashram, Pavagadh (declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site and about 70 kms from V V Nagar), Baroda Museum etc
Pottery
(One day? Two days? Will talk to my friend Kavita and I am sure that we can arrange something.
SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association)
No problems since this is just a one-day affair
Thamna Health and Eduacation Trust
No problems
However, I feel that so many things packed together could be fatiguing. However, we will take it as it goes.

Developmental information about the project

2008-09-02T16:15:00.003+01:00

Voiced from Gujarati and Yorkshire Rivers

Climate Change and Our Heritage

Objective: To use the arts to consider climate change in Yorkshire and Gujarat

Aims: We aim to use the Arts to discuss climate change and pollution. In the developmental stage we will do this by working with invited writers and workers in both the UK and India. In the second stage the project will broaden out for greater community involvement, particularly through adult Gujarati speakers and primary schools in the UK. We will achieve this through:

web-based communication

developmental creative writing workshops

community arts workshops

web-based communication between workshop events on two continents.

Our subject is climate change. We will apprach this through three main issues, food, water and energy. Management of these three will produce a change in Cultural Modelling. The workshops we run will take climate change as their focus and develop web based communication technology. There is potential to develop partnerships with the exchange of writers, artists and arts and media innovators between the UK and India.

We welcome:

partnerships especially higher education partnerships

The project also considers:

language and translation

the common ground between cultures

we expect and welcome debate on the limits of communication and the technology of communication.

Two Phases

Phase I Development – ACE Funding Sought
October – December 2008

In this first phase we will develop a team through experimenting in workshops. This will enable people to take skills uniting our common themes -climate change and pollution- to communities in both Yorkshire and India. This will directly relate to the evolution of the interactive technology; that is, the website we will create.

Phase II Consolidation – funding not sought at this time
January – March 2009

This second phase of the project will benefit local communities via continued workshops and exhibitions. Please reference Appendix A.

Climate Change and the Indian Connection

Climate change is an issue of vital importance which affects our communities with increasingly far-reaching consequences. This project has developed out of recognition that it is important to make contacts with community groups in other countries, because of the need to develop an international response to climate change.

Development Plan

Five Initial Workshops: We are trying to put together a strong core of experienced writers and artists in the developmental stage. The five initial workshops will train up a strong team of writers who will then continue to work with schools and community groups in the Consolidation Phase. To ensure the high quality of these initial workshops from which all other work will stem, we are using writers and artists who have proven records as key tutors. For example:

Barton on Humber: Karen Maitland, Penguin author
Rotherham: Ray Hearne, South Yorks. Songwriter/Poet
Aire: Becky Stirrup, Creative Writing Tutor
Castleford and Nidderdale: Brian Lewis, Writer, Arts Consultant

Workshop leaders will also be working with printmakers and painters. The project will incorporate many art forms, including painting, poetry, photography, film, writing, pottery, story-telling, folk-singing, heritage and travel writing. All of the painters, photographers, publishers, sculptors, crafts people and multimedia workers are experienced and have had exhibitions. The Indian workshops begin on 1 October 2008. We want the UK workshops to take place at similar times, so we plan to start workshops in October 2008.

Website: The IT component is a learning tool which links communities across continents. The website is a convenient place for two groups, who are working together thousands of miles apart, to collaborate on a single arts project. It is also a convenient place for people all over the world, and especially the UK and India, to find out about the project, see the results and become participants themselves. The website will showcase of the project.

The website will support the project by acting as a single repository for:

Profiles of the artists and others involved

A Calendar of events

Descriptions of upcoming events

The outcomes of past events (written word; e.g. poetry, photographs and other imagery, video, audio etc.)

cross continental communication and participation via; comments, forums

Forum and comments: The Gujarati and English editor will both need to check the forums and comments sections of the site regularly to ensure that nothing inappropriate is posted.

Communication: Primary communication will have to be in English, therefore the Gujarati editor will need to be able to communicate in both languages. English text will be translated into Gujarati by the Gujarati editor and then posted by the overall editor.

Promotion: Someone needs to contact relevant blogs and websites (arts, environmental etc.) to get news out about the site. This needs to happen at intervals during the life of the site. Similarly, someone needs to contact relevant organisations offline.

Exchange – UK to Gujurat

We propose that members of the general team, Brian Lewis, Jenny Marsden, Adam Ghodiwala, Jane Weatherby and Beccy Stirrup go out to India for ten days in November 2008. We will be present at two Indian run workshops out there, as well as running several workshops of our own over a ten day period. These will be developmental workshops, essentially a test-run. We will then communicate back to UK workshops via the website. We will be talking to educational leaders in India, schoolchildren and their teachers (teacher training) and university tutors in English and Educational facilities. We will work with communities in India to establish contacts and help create work and ideas we can bring back to the UK. During the 10 day exchange we hope to communicate with over 500 people, mostly through workshops.

Visiting the New Castleford Pedestrian Bridge

2008-08-28T23:57:00.022+01:00

Today a few of our group went to Castleford, where a new pedestrian bridge had been opened recently, as part of the Castleford revitalisation program. It had been featured recently on Channel 4's Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan. In our group was of course Brian, who held everything together and knew all the people who had some relation to the bridge, as he had been a main advisor in this project. There also was Jenny Marsden, one of the writers in this project, and Porl Medlock, an award-winning photographer.

Photosynth of Castleford Footbridge, seen from South-East.

We walked across the bridge, and my task was to record the coordinates on GPS. The picture here shows the GPS track of two roundtrip walks across the bridge. The bridge itself is not seen in older satellite photos, hence just the image of the river.

GPS Tracks of Castleford Footbridge.

The footbridge is not very far located from the road bridge which bears a lot of vehicle traffic.

Another Photosynth of the Castleford Footbridge. Scroll to the right to see the old road bridge over the Aire.

Jenny then interviewed the "champion of the bridge" Wendy Rayner who mentioned that now there is even Salmon to be seen in the River Aire, since the heavy industry had disappeared from the river banks. Back on the bridge, Brian talked to a few teenagers who were enjoying the foot-bridge.

Brian's interview of the teenagers.

We then went to the Sagar Street Gallery to see an exhibition by Heather Parkinson, a painter who is also a friend of Brian. Her pictures display a connection with water - she was interviewed by Jenny.

Photosynth of Sagar Street Gallery, Castleford. It is located south of the foot bridge

This was the first "action" day in which we collected images, video, and data. I captured all the sounds with the in-ear microphones for true head-related stereo.

Second Meeting

2008-08-14T18:12:00.002+01:00

Today, Brian and his son Jacob visited me at Leeds Met. We discussed issues regarding web site, blog, and content. This blog here will be the development blog, documenting the evolvement of the project, whereas the "main blog" would be set up after securing appropriate funding. In January, it is planned to officially launch the project and its web site.

First Meeting - Booking Flights

2008-08-13T21:39:00.005+01:00

Today, Ruth Dass and myself visited Brian Lewis in Pontefract, to discuss the project and the travel. Each of us told a little about their individual story, so as to get acquainted better. Brian gave an introduction to the beginnings of the project, shown here in this video:

We then tried to coordinate the flights. I had been a bit fast: the day before, after a few email correspondences back and forth, I had booked my flight on Emirates Airways through the web site www.southalltravel.co.uk, which seemed to offer great rates. However, when we tried today to get the remaining flight tickets, we encountered a few hurdles: on Southall Travel, there was no more any offer for my particular flight route. Instead, the lowest fare was almost 200 pounds higher than for what I had booked. So we tried directly with Emirate Airways, and yes, there were flight tickets available at the same low price. However, I had to overcome several obstacles: the Emirates flight booking site appeared to be very "impatient"; I had entered the data quite slowly, and after about 10 minutes I encountered a "session expired" and had to start all over again. Then, after entering all 3 passengers, there was a problem regarding the payment: Emirate Airways does only accept credit cards, not debit cards, for the online payment. Also, the credit card must be in the name of one of the passengers... this was a major issue. After finding the local office of the Emirate Airways in Manchester (is well hidden on their web site, as no direct contact phone number is provided on the main page), we try to book the flights by phone. Yes, they accept payment with a Maestro Debit Card - but the flight price is more than 200 pounds higher than on the web! We receive the advice to book online and use the option of picking up the airline tickets at the airport in Manchester. Finally this works ok, and after one more "session expired" we finally have booked additional 3 flights. For some reason, these three could already reserve their seats... while I was not given this option. This will teach me not to book early and use an intermediate travel agent!

Involving Leeds Met

2008-07-27T21:22:00.000+01:00

Leeds Metropolitan University has already ongoing links with India, for example through its sponsorship of the IFA "Bollywood Oscars". I would be on personal holiday from 26.July - 10.August, and the group planned to book their flight tickets on 11.August. This meant that I only had 3 days to submit my travel forms to Leeds Met and to alert the senior managers of our faculty about this great opportunity. This project is very much in line with many of the Leeds Met vision and character attributes: worldwide horizons, cultural partnerships, environmental engagement, and interdisciplinary research and development.

I identify my role in this project as linking geo-centric web interfaces with the project output and conduct. Specific would still have to be defined, but such a collaborative project across the world would provide a lot of opportunity for utilising multimedia and communication technology, allowing to tell the story / narration in a novel way, through the medium of the internet.

The management of our faculty is very positive towards this project, and I have been given an informal "ok". So I can peacefully have a vacation now, and upon my return can begin to organise the travel.

Initial Contact of Participants

2008-07-24T01:42:00.000+01:00

Today a meeting was held in the Leeds Met Old Broadcasting House. It was here that I met Brian Lewis from Pontefract Publishing. I had given a presentation about my work and the general interest of the Centre for Creative Technology, for an ongoing discussion about a project bid. Ruth Dass from InterCulture knew Brian from earlier collaborations, and so I was introduced to him.

He was planning a new project: "Gujarati Rivers Speak to Yorkshire Rivers", in which writers would express their interpretation of the climate change and its consequences, across two different local regions in the world. As in my presentation I had pointed out our recent work on geo-centric interfaces, Brian asked me if I would be interested in participating in this project. This would involve a travel to India, to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, in November 2008. Since I always am keen on traveling in this world, I hardly could say "no", but I could not yet commit to this, as Leeds Met would need to approve such a travel.

This project provides an excellent opportunity for showcasing geo-centric web interfaces, linking events and narrative to geographic locations.