Spoil Heap Harvest is a public art work by Paul Conneally for TRANSFORM, Snibston, Leicestershire
I see my work for TRANSFORM 'Spoil Heap Harvest' being that of ‘cultural forager’ bringing in the ‘spoil heap harvest’ looking backwards to now and forwards to explore what this place and surrounds was, is and could be.
The foraging will be via a series of interventions in and across the public/private intersection sphere. The interventions would be pieces in themselves – acts of public art, and the materials coming out of the interventions would form the basis of new cultural word and idea based products and spoils – signs – labels.... pickles. Thought pieces too such as “The Big Purple” which I already consider a work...
As poet artist I have been inspired to find that this place and surrounds was once walked by, worked in and in fact home to ,for periods of time, William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Constable, Walter Scott and more – all linked to Coleorton Hall which has direct links back to Snibston Colliery via mining - the first recorded mines in area were at Coleorton, the hall itself became the headquarters of the National Coal Board in the area - the Miners Gala’s, now re-established at Snibston, traditionally took place at Coleorton Hall.
The owner of Coleorton Hall at the time of Wordsworth and in the period leading up to Stephenson making Snibston, George Beaumont, was involved with the Swannington Railway and in terms of UK culture was the instigator of, and first person to give his art collection to ,the National Gallery – it would not exist without the Coleorton collection. At the time George Beaumont and the Coleorton group were the premium arbiters of style and culture England.
The Spoil Heap Harvest (the collective name of the interventions) will be mediated through the poetry and art of the Wordsworth and co. Made and discussed here in north West Leicestershire - the work of Francis Beaumont too – the great English Renaissance playwright poet and contemporary of Shakespeare and Johnson – born and brought up in and around Thringstone – and mentioned many times by Wordsworth and Keats as an inspiration. I propose that North-West Leicestershire is indeed as much Wordsworth Country as is the Lake District.
I want to stress that the ‘Spoil Heap Harvest’ will not be pure document, or true stories. That type of work is already underway with the new proposed exhibition spaces at Snibston. This said, Spoil Heap Harvest does return to source – the people and places that contributed to, come out of and are associated with Snibston, but does not seek to document their stories directly – the harvest will be a series of new pieces incorporating where these people and places were, who they are now ,their dreams and aspirations moving forward in across and out of this place mediated through artistic poetic process to make new art new words new interpretations of and for this place.
The foraging will be via a series of interventions in and across the public/private intersection sphere. The interventions would be pieces in themselves – acts of public art, and the materials coming out of the interventions would form the basis of new cultural word and idea based products and spoils – signs – labels.... pickles. Thought pieces too such as “The Big Purple” which I already consider a work...
As poet artist I have been inspired to find that this place and surrounds was once walked by, worked in and in fact home to ,for periods of time, William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Constable, Walter Scott and more – all linked to Coleorton Hall which has direct links back to Snibston Colliery via mining - the first recorded mines in area were at Coleorton, the hall itself became the headquarters of the National Coal Board in the area - the Miners Gala’s, now re-established at Snibston, traditionally took place at Coleorton Hall.
The owner of Coleorton Hall at the time of Wordsworth and in the period leading up to Stephenson making Snibston, George Beaumont, was involved with the Swannington Railway and in terms of UK culture was the instigator of, and first person to give his art collection to ,the National Gallery – it would not exist without the Coleorton collection. At the time George Beaumont and the Coleorton group were the premium arbiters of style and culture England.
The Spoil Heap Harvest (the collective name of the interventions) will be mediated through the poetry and art of the Wordsworth and co. Made and discussed here in north West Leicestershire - the work of Francis Beaumont too – the great English Renaissance playwright poet and contemporary of Shakespeare and Johnson – born and brought up in and around Thringstone – and mentioned many times by Wordsworth and Keats as an inspiration. I propose that North-West Leicestershire is indeed as much Wordsworth Country as is the Lake District.
I want to stress that the ‘Spoil Heap Harvest’ will not be pure document, or true stories. That type of work is already underway with the new proposed exhibition spaces at Snibston. This said, Spoil Heap Harvest does return to source – the people and places that contributed to, come out of and are associated with Snibston, but does not seek to document their stories directly – the harvest will be a series of new pieces incorporating where these people and places were, who they are now ,their dreams and aspirations moving forward in across and out of this place mediated through artistic poetic process to make new art new words new interpretations of and for this place.
