SPARK #16 is a sixteenth in person meeting for Greater Manchester/North West-based artists who want to intervene in the trajectory towards climate breakdown, and is an opportunity to meet other artists and to share information and ideas.

The Edge of the Bay: a SPARK gathering at Hest Bank hosted by Sam Pickett and Debbie Yare
Saturday 14th October, 2-4
The Shore, Hest Bank, Lancaster LA2 6HW

Please register on Eventbrite at http://spark16.eventbrite.co.uk/. Please note that places are limited to fifteen for this event,

Situated between Morecambe and Carnforth, Hest Bank sits at the edge of Morecambe Bay – a huge intertidal estuary stretching from the south-west coast of Cumbria down to Fleetwood in Lancashire. We will gather on the pebble shore and sensitively explore this dynamic, ever-changing coastal environment featuring salt-marsh, mudflats, the River Keer channel, and a historic wharf. Reflecting on a passage from Rachel Carson’s The Edge of the Sea, we will consider ways of knowing such a changeable environment, and reflect on the importance of salt marshes to wildlife and to us! Please bring a notebook and pencil/pen.

While walking we’ll also be considering the relationship between organic and inorganic materials and the idea that matter could contain memory or energy, a principal theory within contemporary ontologies such as vital matter and morphogenetic making. Humans have always sought protection through the wearing of amulets and talismans so with this in mind, we will each choose a pebble from the beach and hold it close for the duration of the walk. During the second hour there will be refreshments on the beach.

Sam Pickett is a visual artist based in North Lancashire engaging with natural materials, folklore and metaphysical ontologies (Daoism, post humanism, vital matter theories etc) to explore dualities between the natural and cultural world. Her artworks take the form of installation, workshops, experiential interventions and film. She’s currently researching nature worshipping indigenous practices within the British Isles and herbalism.

https://www.sampickettsomewhereelse.com/

Debbie Yare is a visual artist working across media with an interest in photography, video, sound, drawing, writing, and performance. Her practice is concerned with understanding, recording, and translating direct experiences of environments on and around Morecambe Bay, where she lives. Much of the work evolves through the act of walking, exploring, and engaging with the same environments repeatedly over extended periods of time.

https://debbieyare.com/

Directions

There is a bus service to Hest Bank (a short ride) from Carnforth. There is a bus at 13:08 from Carnforth (stop 8) on the A6 that arrives at Hest Bank Crossing on Coastal Road at 13:20. Please let me know if you’re catching this bus and I’ll meet you earlier (debbieyare@outlook.com).

If coming by car, please consider car sharing.

We will be walking on mudflats and pebble shore; unfortunatelty this terrain is not suitable for wheelchairs.

There is a cash only cafe at Hest Bank Shore with toilets.

Please bring a notebook and pencil/pen.

It can be very wet, muddy, and windy at the shore, please wear wellies/weatherproof boots and sensible clothing for changeable weather conditions.

SPARK #16 follows on from Castlefield Gallery’s SUSTAIN programme focussed on low carbon artmaking and from our first fifteen SPARK sessions at Manchester Art Gallery, Rogue, The Birley (Preston), Eccles Friends Meeting House, Manchester Museum, AIR Gallery, Paradise Works, Editional Studio, Cadishead and Little Woolden Moss, Gallery Oldham and the John Rylands Library. The SPARK sessions are intended to help seed a new Greater Manchester/North West-based network of artists working low carbon.

Image credit: drone photo of Morecambe Bay, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) license.
Photos of Hest Bank Marsh by Debbie Yare