Come and see the Ken Words ‘Polmaddy and the Rhinns – the beholding eye’ exhibition in the CatStrand!
Open daily, until 29th October.
Are you interested in landscape? art in landscape? and creative words from landscape?
Then don’t miss the Beautiful Ken Words Exhibition, Polmaddy and the Rhinns— the beholding eye, running at Catstrand until the 29 th October.
The Ken words project is a unique project which helps people to connect creatively through words and emotions with landscape and uses landscape as a source of inspiration for poetry. This collective practice, led by curator, Jane McBeth, and poet, Angus MacMillan, has come to be called “poetry-walking”.
The exhibition shares the work produced from a serious of three poetry walks focused in the Polmaddy area, a largely deserted village up in the hills. The poetry walking explores through words and photographic images the atmosphere and changing landscape of Polmaddy in an empathetic way where the writers respond to the landscape bringing to it their own insights and observations to place.
Jane McBeth, Ken Words Project Officer, explains further:
“The exhibition suggests that poetry-walking can be a way of being in the landscape that, by arousing curiosity and sensory alertness, encourages a more open, reflective, and sensitised approach. It is in this spirit that the images and writings, which reflect experiences and reflections from across all three walks, are offered to viewers.” The Ken Words project is led by the Glenkens Community & Arts Trust, funded by Creative Scotland and the Galloway Glens Scheme. The Galloway Glens Scheme is an initiative of PUBLIC
PUBLIC
Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team and funded by partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Drax, the owners of the Galloway Hydro Scheme.
Galloway Glens Education and Community Engagement officer, Jan Hogarth, added: “It is really interesting the way the Ken Words practice of poetry-walking invites participants to engage with landscape and questions the changing nature of the land. Polmaddy is like a ghost landscape, deserted during the lowland clearances. The writings and images on exhibition at Catstrand this month offers us a porthole into the past through the empathy in the artwork. It is well worth a visit”
Glenkens Community and Arts Trust (GCAT) was set up in 2001 to advance wellbeing and sustainability through arts, culture and community engagement through fostering connections and encouraging innovation and creative opportunity for all. CatStrand, the HQ of GCAT, is the physical cultural hub of Glenkens and the surrounding area. It is a vibrant centre for the presentation of high quality, accessible arts and creative learning opportunities. For more information see www.gcat.scot
The Galloway Glens is a 5-year project funded by a range of partners including Drax, the owners of the Galloway Hydro Scheme, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, based in the Stewartry region of Dumfries and Galloway. Its remit is to connect people to their heritage and to support modern rural communities. www.gallowayglens.org
