Flag Planting Ceremony Ahead of Environmental Art Festival
The countdown to the Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS) began this week as Councilor Colin Smyth took part in a ceremony in preparation for the festival weekend on 29 and 30 August.
The Festival has received £14,000 of funding from the Local Authority’s Major Events Strategic Fund. Councillor Colin Smyth, Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Events Champion said;
“The Council is keen to support innovative festivals that can showcase our beautiful countryside and in this instance our burgeoning reputation for art in the environment. Our region is a vibrant, creative place and destination and it is festivals such as EAFS, with its superb collaboration between artists and arts organisations that can attract new visitors to Dumfries and Galloway and encourage people in the creative industries to live and work here.”
Environmental Art Festival Scotland is a two day celebration of experimental art and environmental consciousness, set in the countryside around Morton Castle near Thornhill. It will feature investigative installations and interactive workshops from a range of talented artists at the cutting edge of local, national, and international practice. Participants will be encouraged to journey into the landscape and experience art as they happen across it on a number of specially curated walks and trails.
One feature will be the River of Fire Community Barbeque, created by Jools Cox from Castle Douglas, which will cook up fish caught in local rivers and other regional produce. A bread oven will bake loaves made from corn milled on the spot.
There will also be a 30ft labyrinth, performance by Toronto dancer Bill Coleman, spherical vessels called Urchins floating on the loch and an Inuit kayak. All fit with the festival’s themes which include hospitality, journeys, generosity and inventiveness.
Another key aspect of EAFS Off Grid will be five fireside conversations which will be initiated by artists and scientists which will let people talk about subjects of every kind, such as how people need to adapt to create a more positive future. ‘Quest’, a horse based journey project by artist Jan Hogarth will come across the hills from Moffat bringing water from a spring at Hartfell which, according to local folklore has special powers of enlightenment – and will be available for people to sip before the discussions.
Matt Baker, one of the three EAFS directors, said;
“The flag planting ceremony is an important stage in Environmental Art Festival Scotland, indicating the start of the production process on site. EAFS is made possible this year thanks to the generosity and support of our local organizations including the Major Events Strategic Fund. Without these contributions, EAFS would not be able to deliver this important event for the region.”
EAFS Off Grid aims to attract local people, visitors from all over Scotland, and beyond, and will bring together people who work with the land, scientists, artists, environmentalists, cultural thinkers, poets and performers to participate in the festival.
Picture shows;
Sian Blackburn, David Munro, Charlotte MacGregor, Councillor Smyth and his daughter Hannah wave the flag for the Festival at Morton Castle, near Durisdeer
