FRIDAY 26 MAY
Flo(ra)tilla: Procession of plants
Marcia Teusink
10.30am start
4. OSR Projects, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Join us to celebrate the launch of Od Arts Festival 2023 with a procession of ship-plant-sculptures as part of Marcia Teusink’s Dawe’s Twineworks Commission Flo(ra)tilla. The procession will last around 20 minutes, starting at OSR Projects and finishing at Dawe’s Twineworks.
The Plant Exchange
Marcia Teusink
12.30am – 5.30pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Although ostensibly rooted in one place, plants twist and turn as they respond to light and grow. They spread slowly on their own, or get transported longer distances with the help of wind, birds, animals and people. For the duration of the Od Arts Festival, a plant exchange will be set up inviting visitors to donate and/or adopt plants and cuttings for free.
A Grounding – Reading
Eleanor Duffin and Owen Lloyd
7pm
10. St Michael and All Angels, EAST COKER
FREE – No booking required
An invitation to lie down and think slowly, at a geological pace. Originally created as an imagining of the substrata in St Ives and Carbis Bay, Cornwall, A Grounding is a spoken text which aims to evoke a dreamlike state, and provoke you to imagine your own journey to those locations or a place familiar to you.
Echoed Ecstasy – Performance
Clare Whistler
From 7.30pm
9. In front of Coker Court, EAST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Collaborative artist and performer Clare Whistler will make her own response to Nicola Turner’s sculpture Echoed Ecstasy at Coker Court, in the form of movement. Turner and Whistler are regular collaborators, working together exploring the relationship between sculpture and performance.
SATURDAY 27 MAY
Community Yoga Practice
Lisa Bartlett
9 – 10am
2. Village Hall, WEST COKER
Booking required £5
Everyone is welcome to join local Iyengar Yoga teacher, Lisa Bartlett, for this session, suitable for all abilities. The class will explore finding stillness in some simple classical yoga postures (asana) while observing the movement of the breath. Iyengar Yoga is an authentic and systematic school of classical yoga, which through the use of yoga props, allows every‘body’ to participate regardless of age, gender, or experience level. Please bring a yoga mat if you have one. Anyone with mobility issues is welcome to join in sitting on a chair.
Echoed Ecstasy – Performance
Clare Whistler
10.30 -11.30am
3. The Pound, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Collaborative artist and performer Clare Whistler will make her own response to Nicola Turner’s sculpture Echoed Ecstasy at The Pound, West Coker, in the form of movement. Turner and Whistler are regular collaborators, working together exploring the relationship between sculpture and performance.
The Plant Exchange
Marcia Teusink
10.30am – 5.30pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Although ostensibly rooted in one place, plants twist and turn as they respond to light and grow. They spread slowly on their own, or get transported longer distances with the help of wind, birds, animals and people. For the duration of the Od Arts Festival, a plant exchange will be set up inviting visitors to donate and/or adopt plants and cuttings
for free.
Sculptural Circle Workshop
Tom Sewell
11am -12.30pm
5. The Orchard, WEST COKER
Booking Required £5 – All ages welcome
Join artist Tom Sewell for a Sculptural Circle building workshop. Inspired by the prehistoric stone and timber circles of the Atlantic archipelago and their history of communal construction, the workshop will offer opportunities to participate in the creation of structures using found materials, which will form the parts of the circle. Everything will be dismantled after the festival – with the materials returned to their point of finding.
Drawing from and with plants
Marcia Teusink
11am – 12pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
Booking Required £5 – All ages welcome
Participants are invited to take some time to slow down and closely observe everyday plants from around the site of the Twineworks, using sticks and other plants parts to draw with ink.
Holloways and Hide-aways – Walk
Sara Trillo
2 – 3.30pm
Starting – 7. The Village Café, EAST COKER
Booking Required £5
Sara Trillo will be leading walks around the holloways in East Coker, sharing stories inspired by local folklore, and in particular speculating on drovers’ and smugglers’ paths, hiding places, disguises, and smugglers’ tales. She will be wearing a specially made costume inspired by the local landscape, and in the spirit of a pilgrimage, walkers will receive a unique clay talisman to mark their participation. Each walk will be circular in nature, with the meeting point at The Village Café in East Coker. The walks will be at a gentle pace with regular stops to share stories.
Twisting Heads – Bookbinding
Caitlin Akers
2 – 4.30pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
Booking Required £5 – Suitable for 12+ years
Participate in a twine inspired bookbinding workshop where you will learn how to create some simple sewn book structures in the unique surroundings of Dawe’s Twineworks.
Spooling, twisting, braiding, twine walk, rope walk, twisting heads, fast and loose – the process and machinery used in traditional twine making has a unique language that evokes movement. Taking this as a starting point Caitlin’s workshops will provide an opportunity to learn and enjoy slow and productive movement, and to reflect on the industrial history of the Twineworks whilst making.
Silent Disco
7.30pm – 11.30pm
2. Village Hall, WEST COKER
Booking Required £5 – All ages welcome
Grab some headphones, choose your sounds and make some shapes. Join us for an evening of awesome beats and sonic treats compiled especially for this event by three guest artists. Od Arts Festival bar will be open all night. All welcome.
SUNDAY 28 MAY
Holloways and Hide-aways – Walk
Sara Trillo
10.30am – 12pm
Starting – 7. The Village Café, EAST COKER
Booking Required £5
Sara Trillo will be leading walks around the holloways in East Coker, sharing stories inspired by local folklore, and in particular speculating on drovers’ and smugglers’ paths, hiding places, disguises, and smugglers’ tales. She will be wearing a specially made costume inspired by the local landscape, and in the spirit of a pilgrimage, walkers will receive a unique clay talisman to mark their participation. Each walk will be circular in nature, with the meeting point at The Village Café in East Coker. The walks will be at a gentle pace with regular stops to share stories.
Something to hold on to – Talisman making
OSR Projects Young Potters
10.30am – 1pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
Booking Required £3 – Suitable for the whole family
Make your own clay talisman with OSR Projects young potters. Taking inspiration from Sara Trillo’s Holloways and Hide-aways, you will be guided by local school children to make your own commemorative keepsake. Talismans are traditionally portable objects endowed with magical properties, usually to protect the owner, made to fit comfortably in the hand, something to hold tightly whilst walking. Imagine smugglers navigating the dark leafy lanes at night, slightly fearful of being discovered, but given courage by holding a talisman as they walk.
Seaweed in the Fruit Locker – Perfromance
12-2pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
You will be entertained by Seaweed in the Fruit Locker LGBTQIA+ sea shanty choir. The choir have used their lived experience to rework existing shanties and inspire new ones, continuing the tradition of these hybrid folk songs being adapted time and again through generations and across cultures.
The Plant Exchange
Marcia Teusink
10.30am – 5.30pm
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
FREE – No booking required
Although ostensibly rooted in one place, plants twist and turn as they respond to light and grow. They spread slowly on their own, or get transported longer distances with the help of wind, birds, animals and people. For the duration of the Od Arts Festival, a plant exchange will be set up inviting visitors to donate and/or adopt plants and cuttings
for free.
Drawing from and with plants
Marcia Teusink
2pm – 3pm –
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, WEST COKER
Booking Required £5 – All ages welcome
Participants are invited to take some time to slow down and closely observe everyday plants from around the site of the Twineworks, using sticks and other plants parts to draw with ink.
EVENTS AFTER THE FESTIVAL WEEKEND
Od Arts Festival 2023 presents our online programme. Enjoy moving image and sound at your leisure, there’s also a talk delivered by professor Rosemary Shirley at our artists’ seminar, and be sure to book for the live streamed artists talks – Bedwyr Williams on 30 May and Jennet Thomas on 1 June.
The online programme will continue until June 4.
To keep everyone safe, our events have strictly limited places. All welcome – no previous experience necessary for any workshops or events. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
To join a workshop or event you will need to book online via Eventbrite.
If the cost of an event is a barrier, we are happy to offer a free place (no questions asked) – please email info@odartsfestival.co.uk.