Tina Lane

Catchcold Tower, Lower Hewood Farm Residency and General Shenanigans.

A somewhat belated blog, but better late than never. After the gruelling task of essay writing was finally completed I needed to be free of the confines of a studio or a desk. The day was gorgeous so set off to occupy some public space with my art. An artist friend of mine Louisa was in the studio that day too and knowing a lot of her work is performative and relating to the interactions of people I asked if she would like to collaborate, she said yes.

Just opposite the studio are the medieval city walls with a small tower, well small from the town side, extremely high from the dock side. The public can access the open space at the top of the tower. It is rather uninviting to be honest, as you walk up the steps to this wonderful space, it has no seats or anything to encourage you to go into the space. A few empty beer cans lay on the floor, with an empty wine bottle. Louisa and I cleared the small space of litter, and set up an impromptu public art happening. I laid out 'The Hands' on the wall, symbolically claiming the space to use as a free public space. Louisa set about plans to hold a food sharing event as part of her work. We met with a fair few members of the public and encouraged them to use the space too. We were even fortunate enough to meet with a travel writer who later than day wrote a blog on us as local artists...somewhat more promptly than I with my blog.