Story Maps is our new project, made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, Story Maps will see us working in partnership with Worthing, Newhaven and Hastings museums with support from University of Chichester’s Centre for Folklore and Fairytales.
Figment Arts are exploring the folklore and history of the South East coast. We're going to be researching the stories and the places they come from and exploring museum collections which relate to these places.
The artists from the Figment Arts Studio will create work inspired by the heritage, and we will run workshops with the public, inviting them to take part and create folklore-inspired art.
We will exhibit the work across the South East, in Worthing, Brighton, Newhaven and Hastings. This page is a blog about the progress of our project.
The Devil | ||
Black Dogs | ||
Dragons | ||
Fairies | ||
Ghosts | ||
Giants | ||
Saints | ||
Skeletons | ||
Stones | ||
Witches |
In April we started to go on research visits to Worthing Museum. Thanks to the team there, especially Archaeological Curator James Sainsbury who talked us through the collection relating to Highdown Hill.
We learned about John Oliver, the eccentric miller who had his tomb built 30 years before his death, and was involved in local smuggling.
We got to see some of John Oliver's personal artefacts up-close, as well as Roman and Saxon finds from Highdown Hill.
Based on what we had learned at the Museum, we ran a workshop for the public at Highdown Gardens on the theme of Highdown Hill. The workshop was during the Easter holidays and we had lots of young children and families taking part. We love the results!
On May Day, we headed out to Lyminster, to hunt for the Knucker, a local dragon that lived in a bottomless pool, terrorising the locals. One day a local lad called Jim Puttock (or Pulk) came up with a cunning plan. He made a giant pie laced with poison and fed it to the dragon. His plan worked and the dragon was defeated. To celebrate, Jim went to the local ale house and had a pint of beer to celebrate. Unfortunately for him, after taking a drink, he licked his fingers which still had traces of the poison upon them, and he ended his own life.
We found the local church to have a wealth of references to the story, including the fantastic stained glass window. Sadly the Knucker Hole itself is completely inaccessible and even barred from view!
Thanks to support from Artists Open Houses and Hanningtons Brighton, we are able to launch our project this May, at number 2 Hanningtons Lane. We were exhibiting art work from our Brighton Fringe Award Winning Artists Open House and inviting people to drop in to tell us your story, browse our pop up folklore library and take part in our collaborative painting activity.
Some numbers:
330 visitors
115 participants
5 collaborative paintings
We created collaborative work on the following themes:
The Knucker Hole, Devil's Dyke, Chanctonbury Ring, The Giant Bevis Hampton and Black dogs & Ghostly Hounds.
We've been visiting Newhaven Museum and exploring the town as our research turns to Newhaven and the surrounding area. The museum is full of personal stories, and there are strong international links with Newhaven being an important port along the south coast.
We are running a public workshop as part of Look Again - Newhaven Supergraphics Festival. The festival runs for the whole month of June and marks the launch of 17 new artworks installed around the town.
We continue to work with Highdown Gardens as part of their 'Discover Days', creative opportunities for families to learn more about the gardens and surrounding countryside. We've been running our collaborative painting workshops and we've worked with over 100 children and young people.
We've shared with them the story of the Midsummer Oak, a tree near Worthing where, on Midsummer's eve, skeletons are said to rise from its roots and dance until dawn to the sound of their own bones!
Then there's the story of the eccentric Miller of Highdown Hill, who may have been working with local smuggling gangs.
We also shared the story of the sinking of the Indiana, a cargo ship which sank off the coast of Worthing, spilling its cargo of oranges and lemons on to the beaches of the town.
The Discover Days have become a popular fixture in the school holiday calendar of activities for children and families. They have helped to raise nearly £3000 this year for the Gardens.
In June, we were invited to run a workshop as part of Look Again Newhaven Supergraphics Festival.
We brought the research we had done at the museum to the workshop, and we were also inspired by Ellie Fryer's folklore and mythology-based mural which we had visited the week before.
We had access to the collection of Hastings Museum and we worked in the Museum building when it was closed to the public, we enjoyed exploring the collection and finding inspiration there.
We started a new partnership, working with service users from Parchment Trust - a disability charity, supporting people in the local area. We also worked with Lifesize CIC a Hastings organisation providing music and arts facilitation for children and young people.
We made stories, poems, music, animation and even some 3D scanning of museum objects.
Figment Arts is a Community Interest Company registered in England
Company number: 06364816
Freedom Works,
The Mill Building, 31 Chatsworth Rd,
Worthing BN11 1LY
