These are posts which don't have their own category yet. A miscellany of things of interest.
Back in January, our local Stirchley Co-op supermarket closed forever; a Coop had been on that particular site for 106 years and in the Stirchley, Birmingham, area for 145 years. Several Walkspace members planned a processional last walk up and down the aisles to say goodbye properly, and also see what lay behind the layers […]
Lucy Parris is documenting her current walking practice, which throws up images which become prints, on her blog. These prints were in response to boundaries. I have been thinking a lot recently about visible and invisible boundaries. I chose the walk as I knew it would involve boundaries, I have begun walking the perimeter of […]
Urban conservationist Kat Pearson has been using her lockdown walks "to explore the housing estates of Stirchley, Kings Heath, Bournville and Selly Park […] looking at how cars, and especially garage blocks, are integrated into these estates". The result are some fantastic photos and observations collected as Lockdown Lockups. As she says, many of these […]
Never in a million years did I think I'd be going on a tour of my local postcode, but lockdown has changed all that. Various Stirchley-based walkers – and I'm sure it's not just us – have developed a talent for 'extreme noticing' on our mandated daily lockdown walks throughout March to May. And the result has […]
While chatting about walking the other day, as we do, Fiona mentioned something she'd read in Shane O'Mara's excellent book In Praise Of Walking. Humans are, apparently, incapable of walking in straight lines when blindfolded or otherwise prevented from seeing landmarks. Participants were asked to walk either in a large and dense forest or in […]
Have you made a piece of work, walking or otherwise, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic? As the world suddenly changed a lot of us found our art practice was a vital way to make sense of it all and the National Academy of Sciences in the USA is looking to archive this hopefully unique […]
We announced ourselves to the venerable Walking Artists Network (WAN) email list this weekend, asking for any people doing walk-work in the West Mids to say hello. And a few did! So this is the first WAITWMWRCA, roundups of people new to use that you might want to check out. Lucy Parris is a printmaker […]
In two previous pieces I wrote about walking alone and in company. It feels remiss to write about walking at the moment and not properly acknowledge the current situation and how walking can help. Our current choice of walking companions or lack there of, is somewhat imposed upon us but walking can still provide nourishment. […]
Susan Kruse is one of the first people we thought of when making a list of "people we know who make art using walking in the Midlands". Her work is multifaceted and always fascinating and I'm delighted to see she's revamped her blog, titling it Wayfaring: On walking, magic and the landscape of Britain. Two […]