Derwent Valley World Heritage Site Arts support a series of arts activities within the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site. The activities are designed to bring the history of the site alive for people who live in, work in or visit the World Heritage Site.
Derwent Valley WHS Arts’ activities are supported by:
These arts activities include:
Children of the Mills was a multi media performance project involving over 200 children from schools local to the Derwent Valley Mills WHS.
The project aimed to take a child’s eye perspective on life in and around the mills during the industrial revolution and create three interlinked performances at three of the major sites in the valley – each part of the trilogy complete in itself and containing drama, video, dance and song.
Children from six Primary schools, worked intensively with artists for six weeks on ideas arising from personal and social stories of the children and families who worked at Arkwright’s mills and Willersley Castle, and created work with a partner school for the final public performance.
Children from Bonsall, Milford and Wirksworth Junior worked with writer and drama practitioner Andy Barrett and video practitioner Julian Hanby, and children from Belper Pottery, Lea, Matlock Bath and worked with choreographer Debi Hedderwick and folk musician Pete Castle.
The final stunning shows were performed in July 2004 at Masson Mill, Cromford Mill and Willersley Castle to enthusiastic audiences of over 500 people.
The project was conceived, developed and managed by Learning Through Arts, an arts and creative education organisation working with schools throughout Derbyshire.
For more information speak to Debi Hedderwick on 01629 825202 or e-mail Itadebi@yahoo.co.uk
The Bindings project took place during 2004 with artists Tan Draig (textiles) and Lucy Banwell (writing). It was run by Fleet Arts. Together they ran over 60 workshops with community groups and schools along the Derwent Valley, and worked with nearly 600 people. Lucy also talked with mill workers and local historians to find stories or information about the Site, and artist Tan Draig was commissioned to make two art-works.
Tan used the ideas and art-work that came from the workshops, and incorporated them within the exhibition pieces which are on view at the Silk Mill Museum, Derby and Sir Richard Arkwright’s Masson Mills.
Entitled Spheres of Influence they represent the way that technologies developed in the Derwent Valley and have spread around the world. The ‘threads’, which make up the spheres, are bound with over 2 miles of stories from the people of the Derwent Valley; the colours of the spheres are from ledgers and sample cards in the museums; the ‘metallic’ elements inside some spheres represent cogs, bobbins and the World Heritage Site logo; and the ‘tails’ running from the spheres follow the meanders found along the River Derwent.
Following her workshops Lucy used photos of the textile spheres and writing from the workshops to make an origami globe. Linked in shape to the textile spheres it gives the viewer the intriguing challenge of reading just sufficient amounts of the writing to get a feeling for the atmosphere and content of the writing.
For more information speak to Sarah Laman on 01773 820484 or e-mail sarah@fleet-arts.org
Watch This Space is a unique programme of arts events created for unusual spaces. Combining multi media installation, exhibition and performance, each project unlocks the doors to areas of historic buildings not often visited by the public. The Watch This Space team consists of 6 talented artists who collaborate to create intimate artistic experiences which question our relationship to heritage.
In 2004 WTS visited Belper Mill basement. Focussing on the industrial giants and mill workers that helped shape the town, the performance told the story of the rise and fall of one of Britain’s most influential industrial developments.
Using interviews with local residents, video footage captured around the town, dynamic lighting and original soundtrack WTS Belper offered a contemporary yet intimate insight into the mill’s past.
WTS Belper tours were a huge success with locals and visitors to the town and over their 5 day span they attracted 300 people to the mill.
For more information speak to Jane Millum on 0116 261 6833 or e-mail jane@bathysphere.co.uk
Q Arts have been commissioned to produce a digital, projection based, installation piece at mills within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
To complement the exhibition, the artist Joe Mahony is running free workshops with schools, groups and artists at mills and venues within Derbyshire. These workshops explore some of the themes and techniques used in the final projection/installation piece such as computer-generated images, projection techniques, camera obscuras, sequences and time-based media. The final piece will bring together work produced from the workshops to create an exciting visual experience.
Industry Artistry aims to celebrate the history and nature of the Derwent Valley Mills and bring the site alive for the people who live in and around the area by exploring its history of innovation, reinforcing its identity and celebrating its past, present and future. The project follows an ethos of bringing together science and art. The projection will mirror the Enlightenment thinking that drove development of the Mills in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, whilst exploring digital technology to produce innovative artwork for the enjoyment of people from all ages and disciplines.
The Consortium is made up of Derbyshire County Council, the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership, Derby City Council, Amber Valley Borough Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council.
For more information please contact Victor Simão at Q Arts on 01332 295 948 or victor@q-arts.co.uk.
Focusing on the reasons for the mills being built within the Derwent Valley - the power of the River Derwent and its tributaries – this project brings in artist Johnny White to work with a wide range of communities and age groups to produce moving water-powered sculptures. These will be on public display within the Site, for a minimum of one year from the end October 2005.
Made mainly of metal, all the moving parts of the sculptures will be powered by water. Other materials such as terracotta ceramics will be included. These imaginative clay figures, made by both children and adults, will be formed over card-board thread cones, making a further link to the textile industry.
This project brings together design, the arts and technology, much as the mills have done, to create an interesting, dynamic and educational art-work.
Fleet Arts as project managers, assisted by a community team from Rolls Royce, have supported Johnny in setting up and running around 50 workshops with people aged from 3 to nearly 90. Local groups have played a key role in this by putting ideas forward for the final pieces as well as bending the metal and making terracotta creatures for use within the final sculptures.
The project leaves as a legacy not only the art-works themselves but also in memories of the workshops and a greater understanding and appreciation of the history of the Derwent Valley mills and the contribution they made to the development of British, and world-wide, textile industries.
For more information speak to Sarah Laman on 01773 820484 or e-mail sarah@fleet-arts.org
The Derwent Valley Mills Arts Projects have inspired an educational resource DVD supported by information on the web. It builds on the arts activities that have already taken place and will promote creative approaches to learning about the Derwent Valley and its history.
The development of the resource material is well underway, with a planned launch date in March 2006.
For further information contact Fi Burke (Creative Project Manager) on 0794 1048107 or fi.burke@ntlworld.com