Painting a Parish Future is a collaborative project by ecological artist Peter Ward and Senior Lecturer in Politics Dr Joanie Willett. The project aims to explore the importance of ecological engagement to political process through interdisciplinary workshops and research. Workshops have been held in Pendeen and Gorran Parishes in Cornwall with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council and as part of the Creative Exchange Programme at the Environmental Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter.

The Background

Peter and Joanie met at a Creative Exchange “Melting Pot” event at the ESI, Exeter University, Penryn, Cornwall, in 2018 and quickly recognized a shared enthusiasm towards the politics of place and ecological engagement. Joanie’s academic research considers how people feel about local politics (for example, Parish councils) while exploring means to enrich and celebrate the importance of such institutions to the broader political process. Peter’s creative research primarily investigates the influence of geology and local ecosystems to cultural identity and behaviours through the use of hand gathered earth pigments and natural materials, shared through paintings, performative actions and workshops.

Throughout history, human societies have taken Nature as a major contributory factor, or ‘voice’, in political decision-making. It is common sense that if we do not understand or care for our environment we may irreversibly damage the natural systems that allow our very survival. However, over time and for a variety of reasons - from industrialization and increased movement to human greed and political/profit motivated desensitization to fellow life-forms and entities - this personal understanding and relationship to Nature has been diminished to the extent that we are now facing a global environmental crisis that threatens our very existence. It is now imperative that we reincorporate ecological understanding, on both local and global levels, to our personal and political decision-making and actions.

Painting a Parish Future is one contribution to many such initiatives to reengage our psyches and activities to a more ecologically sensitive worldview. It is hoped that through physical and scientific, social and creative engagement with the natural materials that exist alongside us in our local ecologies we may form a more balanced and healthy attitude towards our actions within that ecology. Through a combination of Peter and Joanie’s experience, skills and interest in ecological and social engagement they hope to develop models for workshop activities that enable a renewed awareness of how our local environment may have a ‘voice’ in our lives.

With the advent of the recent global Coronavirus pandemic and the measures taken to stem the outbreak, Joanie and Peter have been challenged to find further appropriate means for such processes of social and environmental engagement, utilising digital technologies to enable sharing and communication and the development of alternative creative outcomes.

The concept

Our personal experiences, knowledge and perceptions of the places we live are all contributory factors to the cultural truth of a place. In Western democracies the starting point for policy decisions are ideally based in such cultural truths. Parish councils, of which there are some 10,000 in the UK, are the gathering places for the diverse cultural perception of our local communities. Beyond this such cultural perceptions are strongly influenced, if not determined, by the geographical identity, the physical ecology and resources of a place. Quite literally, our bodies are made from the molecules that we ingest and absorb from our environments.

Painting a Parish Future offers a creative space to cultivate and share personal experience, knowledge and future visions of the places that we live.

We hoped that the creation of such a space within a working Parish would encourage a spirit of commonality and cooperation within groups that may too easily become competitive and detached from the truth of a region’s imminent ecology, in respect of all its inhabitants.

Painting a Parish Future ran alongside ongoing national and local initiatives such as ‘Going Wild’ with Cornwall Council and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Local Neighbourhood Development Plans.

We hoped that the project would provide a model for further actions in local communities across the UK, international research with Indigenous communities in Australia, and the basis for an academic work in relation to such activities, as well as a real focus for community action in the place it is performed.

The process

Both workshops have adopted a similar format but with a slightly different emphasis during the painting stage both for research purposes and to account for (locally determined) practicalities and the personal needs of participants. Having chosen suitable locations for the workshops public and personal invitations were made for participants through posters, social media and presentations to Parish Councils. The day’s proceedings are recorded through photography and audio.

The day began with a general introduction to the project followed by individual introductions from participants including names, backgrounds and interest in the project. The group was then invited for a walk around the community to stop and share information, thoughts and stories about our individual experiences, relationships and knowledge of the area.

On returning to the meeting place we prepared and shared lunch, allowing informal conversations to develop. After lunch, the groups reflected on the morning’s walk and conversations. We then introduced the groups to the materials (earth pigments – their geology and history, and making paint from them) and invited them to participate in a large communal painting on a pre-prepared surface.

Participants were guided through the painting process through a series of questions relating to the local environment, geological time and issues raised in the days conversations. At the end of the day, we invited the group to reflect on the workshop and what they had learnt.

The practice, relevance and importance of structured individual and group reflection within socially and ecologically engaged events have been widely acknowledged through the work of bodies such as the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University. The use of interdisciplinary actions and activities within events promotes and provides a more holistic appreciation and understanding of the diverse elements, entities and energies that contribute to the dynamic life within an ecological setting. Participation in activities, such as painting with local earth pigments, offer opportunities to connect with specific environments through primitive and often unfamiliar actions and hence stimulate new responses and understanding to contemporary situations.

Photos of Pendeen workshop above courtesy J Willett and M Ward

The workshops

Pendeen Parish Hall: Saturday 10th November 2018

We decided to run our first event in Pendeen as it is a community with which Peter is very familiar, he has conducted extensive research into the geology of the area, and has been building a pigment collection from the locality. Geologically it is fascinating and until the 1990s was well known for its extensive mining activities, providing a rich mineralogical landscape for Peter to explore. We advertised locally in the Parish ‘Outreach’ magazine, through flyers in local shops and on notice boards and through personal invitation to relevant experts, and engaging with a local councillor.

The process of painting, led by Peter, took participants a little out of their comfort zones but allowed the group to ground its thoughts in a meaningful and enjoyable way. The pigments themselves offered further insights into the local environment, as well as paint making. Chemical analysis of all pigments was performed by the Camborne School of Mines, both for further interest and to ensure their safety – many materials from mining waste in Cornwall contain quantities of Arsenic and other unstable heavy metal minerals. The painting itself was structured through an approximation of the evolutionary process, starting with imagery around geology, then land use and flora and fauna and lastly human intervention. Despite the initial discomfort, participants recognised the value of the process, at whatever level individuals felt able to contribute, and enjoyed the end result.

Gorran Old School Rooms: Saturday 9th November 2019

After a successful day in Pendeen Parish in 2018, we were able to build on our learning for developing this event, and approached the Gorran community through Parish Councillor Michael Bunney to perform a similar workshop as part of ESRC Festival of Social Sciences day 2019. Through his help we invited a diverse group from the area and secured the Gorran Old School Rooms, itself a historic building and community initiative, as a base.

Gorran was chosen both through previous community projects by Joanie and Peter’s interest in a historic umber pigment mine at Gorran Haven. During initial, and subsequent, research trips the historic mine site proved inaccessible through tidal activity although old photographs of the mine jetty were shared. However, an abundant seam of blue-grey Devonian (400ma) metamorphosed slate was found on Little Perhaver Cove. The pigment was collected and used, along with other pigments from Cornwall, in the painting activity during the workshop. The village is located on a fault line that was disturbed during earth movements caused by volcanic activity 300 million years ago, leading to distinct igneous and metamorphic geological formations and local mineral deposits.

The location of a community in the area has evolved through the geographical setting of a sheltered harbour promoting fishing and trade, soils and surface morphology supportive to basic agriculture, mineral mining and relative proximity to the China Clay industry around St Austell. The area has historically and presently a very strong community spirit encouraged and fostered by the church and rowing club. More recently the community has become reliant on tourism with a large proportion of retirement, holiday and second homes. Community issues have arisen through travel and communications and public services to such a remote location and the breakdown of community through second home and holiday home ownership, as well as the decline of fishing and mechanization of agriculture.

The day was structured similarly to the Pendeen workshop with introductions, albeit somewhat curtailed by the larger group, a walk around the village to explore and share local knowledge and history, a shared lunch back at the School Rooms and conversation focused on issues arising from the particular location of Gorran. After which a large communal painting was made using Cornish earth pigments using the issues discussed as a basis for the imagery and design. Those left at the end of the day spent some time to reflect on process of the day and what we had learnt through the experience.

A conclusion, a summary

After two very successful events, it was agreed that the workshop had been useful and inspiring with everyone feeling they would use what they had learnt in some way. Some said they ‘had never participated in anything like it before’ and that it had revealed a new way of working in the public sphere. It was encouraging how everyone got involved with the process and in particular how the act of painting with local pigments was enjoyed and valued.

Whenever an event such as this is approached, the facilitator will necessarily fill their mind with any relevant information they wish to share and a structure they aim to run the day through. In practice, especially when working with adults, it is essential that such plans are held merely as guidelines and that the process and dynamic of the group are allowed to express themselves for a satisfactory outcome to be achieved. Indeed, it is inherent to the process that the day is allowed to progress organically within any practical limitations, such as time, space, numbers and sustenance, to be true to itself. What is exciting about such a process is exactly those surprises or unknowns that arise, leading us to new ideas and future actions.

A way forward – new technologies

In common with many other aspects of education and public engagement the Coronavirus pandemic will have far reaching effects on the provision of ecologically and socially engaged events. Acceptable and necessary guidelines for travel, workspaces and communication has and will continue to challenge the means by which we share experience and physically engage with others and the environment.

Many such limitations are creating opportunities to adapt and utilize our knowledge of new technologies, often providing better ways to communicate and share our relationships with our communities and the natural world. However, one area that may be undermined by new guidelines is that of communal activities, such as painting and eating together, as well as the gathering and use of site-specific materials. While similar activities may be implemented, for example making paintings and objects individually with locally found materials which are then put together and shared digitally or sending parcels of materials to participants prior to the event, the dynamic energy of physical engagement may be (temporarily) lost.

But adapt we must and adapt we will. It is what the human race, along with all other life on earth, does. Peter and Joanie look forward to building upon what they have learnt through these experiences, to rising to the challenge of the ever-changing Coronavirus guidelines through new practices and technologies and providing further events in the future. If you would like to run a Painting a Parish Future event in your community please get in touch.

Peter Ward and Dr Joanie Willett, June 2020