on a walk down from the moor, where trees hold up the sky

on a walk down from the moor, where trees hold up the sky
A simple contemplation to do with place and memory, reflecting something of the present situation in which we find ourselves; misty, chilly, uncertain and beautiful; missing the moor, with original music on citera and bodhran drum…
These mixed media works are inspired by living and working in a region of outstanding natural beauty and dark skies. For me, they hold a sense of the moor; silent, atmospheric, an emptiness where everything exists…
I am including this series of studies, together with several short films and poetry-music publications, as individual works which contribute to a body of work in 2020 -21.
VIRAL – Journal of a Plague Year by poet Michael Curtis is now published and is our latest in the series:
The Pamphlet Poets Series is an imprint of Community of Poets & Artists Press and features hand sewn collections, in the pamphlet style of the 1920’s and 1930’s, by contemporary poets. Some of these unique publications also include original artwork. We published the first pamphlet of the series in 1997 and our most recent in 2021. Here is the full list, with the earliest in the series first:
Louvre Imperial, by W. H. Petty (ISBN 0 9523546 6)
Under the Skin by Narissa Knights (ISBN 0 9523546 7 5)
To be continued… by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 0 9523546 5 9)
Looking for gods by Dawn Gorman (ISBN 0 9523546 9 1)
Going not Gentle by Jean Sealey (ISBN 1-902529-05-07)
Spontaneous Overflow by Stella Jackson (ISBN 1-902529-07-3)
Interpretations of History by W.H. Petty (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Bus Dreams by William Hazell (ISBN 1-902529-01-4)
Standing Stone by Natasha Carthew (ISBN 1-902529-02-2)
Airing Cupboard by Barbara Dordi (ISBN 1-902529-03-0)
Henge by Mary Rice (ISBN 1-902529-04-9)
Cafard by Robert Cole (ISBN 1-902529-06-5)
Paths by M.P.A. Sheaffer (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Looking for Solutions by Susan Bennetta (ISBN 1-902529-14-6)
Those Marks So Deeply Scored by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 978-1-902529-17-2)
VIRAL Journal of a Plague Year by Michael Curtis (ISBN 978-1-902529-29-5)
VIRAL – journal of a plague year: a new limited edition publication in our hand sewn Pamphlet Poets series
by poet Michael Curtis.
Congratulations to poet Michael Curtis whose outstanding and sensitive collection VIRAL – journal of a plague year is published on the 18 January 2021, by our small not for profit press, as a traditional hand-sewn pamphlet, in the Pamphlet Poets Series. We are delighted to be part of yet another collaboration with Michael, who is an extraordinarily insightful poet and friend.
Bodmin Moor is a remote, rugged, heather, gorse and fern covered upland granite moorland in Cornwall, England. The Moor is the largest unit of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which spans a number of mostly coastal areas in southwest England. It is the first AONB, a type of landscape in the United Kingdom designated for conservation due to its significant value, to receive International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) accreditation for its dark skies.
We live on Bodmin Moor and it is a landscape that inspires my most recent works. Here is Dark-Sky Moor, a work in progress.
robin flew into our sitting room today, through the open cottage door, and perched on my abstract landscape…
Inspired by the poetry of a moorland mist, when the constantly shifting landscape blurs then vanishes away, alone and dreaming…
poetry and music and a van…
Work on paper, based on sketches from last year and a recent visit to Hannafore by Looe (Acadiane Journeys Bodmin Moor to Looe)
I prepared this Somerset paper for an edition of cyanotypes. Unfortunately, it became prematurely exposed to light and could not be used in the edition. However, I did not throw the thirty sheets of paper away and, after several experiments, decided to make some new work, based on sketches I have made. Here is Willow, my first experiment with the prepared paper and medium:
Made on our first outing in the newly arrived Citroen Acadiane, a short journey from the moor to the coast of Cornwall, with a traditional Celtic tune weaved through the film…
We made a series of films whilst living in France entitled “Acadiane Journeys…” filmed from our Citroen Acadiane van, on journeys in France. All these films have original music and poetry, in English and/or French. We lived in France for eight years, had our studios there and were registered as Artiste Libre. Sadly, when we returned to live in the UK our little French van was sold and something larger purchased to help with the house move. Our van was originally registered in Charente Maritime (17) and today Daisy has returned, an Acadiane from the same region, via Wales! So, more films to come, here’s a link to an earlier one, made in France, when we were struggling with staying or returning to the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DcHVLDC_Jc
and here is Daisy, just arrived today:
We had a quiet lock-down, exercising each day near our home, along with other walkers and cyclists, noticing how the birds, animals and wildlife, including escapee sheep, had also taken to our little no-through lane, leading to Siblyback Lake on Bodmin Moor. Then lock-down ended, traffic returned, and it became no longer safe on the lane and walkers stayed away. We find animal corpses most days…
This is our latest Poem by Post, entitled Killing of Crow
photographs taken from the copper path, a route taken by miners, that runs along a stream by my studio, on Bodmin Moor.
The studio roof is now fixed and the culprits, 40 rusty screws, is a current work in progress (apparently 95% of the leaks in metal roofs are due to poorly fitted screws, which rust and let water through)
The opening quotation comes from my published notes in 2019, when I began this project. However, the actual reason the studio roof leaked and the screws became rusty was due to condensation forming within the roof structure, and not rain dripping and pouring in. A new roof, coated with an anti-condensation product, has now replaced the old one. So, with a dry space in which to work, I return to the project and coat each of the rusty screws with two coats of PVA to retain their integrity and history. I then attach these endearing found objects on a golden acrylic canvas, backed with timber, each one secured by a robust U nail…
(Note: If the work were to be hung in a gallery/white space, I would have them attached directly to the wall, as with other work I have made)
I was obviously working on this one metre square painting in 2013, while living in France. I really like it and left something of myself there…
So, here is a photograph of the painting, which is now the work.
I like using commonplace materials, bringing found objects to the studio…
I was making steps down to the stream running by the studio and needed one last plank of timber to front the top step. I came across a sawn-off scaffold board, which had a nail-plate on one end. The metal plate was jagged at the edge, so I removed it…
When the steps were complete, I took the now twisted nail-plate to the studio and instinctively placed it on a canvas I was working on…
The question is…
burning Birch is said to uplift the spirits. These Birch logs were in the log basket and drew my attention, so I took them to the studio…
Due to the Covid 19 situation, we were not able to take up our 2020 residency with the National Trust, at St Anthony Head, on the Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall. Therefore, instead, we made the 2020 edition from our home on Bodmin Moor. We made thirty-two in total (see below) and have chosen sixteen of these to make available for sale at: https://susanbennetta.com/work-for-sale/
We have just started working on our most recent edition of cyanotypes, from our home on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK. The first “test” set have cooked in the sun, had a very good wash and now drying overnight. We hope to complete the main body of work by the end of the week. Here’s a selection of photographs from the site, where we are working, more later…
Bodmin Moor is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and designated an International Dark Sky Landscape and we have decided to make our work, during this “lock-down” year, using sunlight and moonlight.
We are fortunate to be able to work from our home, here on the moor, with a stream and footpath running alongside the garden and hedge, set in a beautiful landscape; more to follow…
I had just starting to prepare the paper for our Bodmin Moor edition of Cyanotypes and blackened out the project space ready for stage 2, when I got side-tracked and watched the National Trust film we made last year. Here’s a reminder:
Trusting our 2020 edition, from our home on the moor, will be as beautiful.
Sad though not to meet and chat to all the lovely folk who come to say hello and see what we are up to.
Hoping to post this years edition very soon…
Sorry to say that our annual National Trust residency at the former Paraffin Store, St Anthony Head, is now cancelled for May 2020 (as is Open Studio, Cornwall). However, we shall be making a Bodmin Moor edition of cyanotypes during this period, from the home lock-down & for Open Studio Cornwall fans we have just come across this unaired am-dram:
We have now completed three more projects in the Poem by Post series.
All three of these recent poems contain a melody line and guitar chords, so they can be read or sung to music. Currently working on a fourth one…
So, dust down the old guitar in the attic and contact us by email if you’d like one or more of these hand-sewn pamphlets (£10 each including p&p). We can also email a free audio file for each poem, to give an idea of the tune.
Contact by email to: bennetta.artco@gmail.com
poem with music
We have just finished our most recent project in the Poem by Post series, which is also our first one with music! Here’s the last ones being sewn up…
Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK 17 March 2020
in the silence you don’t know (The Unnameable, Samuel Becket)
work in progress continued
Work in progress continued…
Midwinter Spring -“its own season ( T.S. Eliot)”, has its own season on Bodmin Moor, and each of these three paintings carries fragment, history, memory, sense of place, spirit and trace of other. Water from a stream by the studio is mixed with soluble oil paint and…
earth contains fragments of earth from the moor
water has a stream-water wash, between paint layers
flame carries ash from Christmas Day fire-pit flame
Colouring Christmas is a meditation, to do with music, love, nature, fire and the human spirit. Made on Christmas day 2019, with found winter colour from Siblyback Lake in Cornwall and original music played on the Egyptian Oud.
welcome Oud x
Following on from the poetry pamphlet Yn Mis Hedre/In October, here is a new short film to do with the art making process, which includes a reading of the poem in English and Cornish, together with music on bouzouki. I hope you like it. Thank you for viewing:
The latest pamphlet, in the Poem by Post project, is all sewn up. [please see under ARTISTSPRESS, on this site, for project details]
With Thanks to Jerry for translating the work into the Cornish language and to Susan for her sensitive pencil drawing. Here’s the final stitch…
the latest collaborative project in this series is nearing completion, with a translation into the Cornish language…
deliberating on a return to this project…
The Louvre Imperial, by W. H. Petty (ISBN 0 9523546 6)
Under the Skin by Narissa Knights (ISBN 0 9523546 7 5)
To be continued… by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 0 9523546 5 9)
Looking for gods by Dawn Gorman (ISBN 0 9523546 9 1)
Going not Gentle by Jean Sealey (ISBN 1-902529-05-07)
Spontaneous Overflow by Stella Jackson (ISBN 1-902529-07-3)
Interpretations of History by W.H. Petty (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Bus Dreams by William Hazell (ISBN 1-902529-01-4)
Standing Stone by Natasha Carthew (ISBN 1-902529-02-2)
Airing Cupboard by Barbara Dordi (ISBN 1-902529-03-0)
Henge by Mary Rice (ISBN 1-902529-04-9)
Cafard by Robert Cole (ISBN 1-902529-06-5)
Paths by M.P.A. Sheaffer (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Looking for Solutions by Susan Bennetta (ISBN 1-902529-14-6)
Those Marks So Deeply Scored by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 978-1-902529-17-2)
VIRAL Journal of a Plague Year by Michael Curtis (ISBN 978-1-902529-29-5)
Michael Curtis, VIRAL Journal of a Plague Year: