This was a great day out in spite of a rather dull cloud cover. Nonetheless the light on days like that is often perfect for photography because the cloud acts as a giant diffuser. With a smaller group, six of us this time, everything changes substantially in terms of our relationships with the landscape and with each other.

We followed a route from the road above Hunthill, down to the Scraesburgh back road then cut up through the woods to the fields and track above Coalpits. Plenty stops for photographs, chat about landscape, light and art and a silent chi kung exercise with eyes closed which was very revealing. Back at the ranch (Kenmore Hall) we had refreshments and I rolled out a length of paper for everyone to write and draw their words and sketches. Pictures below.

Look out for details of the next walk on 27 April where we'll be exploring sound.

The Fallow Land Project is one that obliges me to take my time, slow time, time for reflection and research over days, weeks and months. Without this temporal stretch I wouldn't be able to unearth meaning. Mining for meaning. Fallow is an interesting  signifier. It carries with it agricultural and ecological significance, metaphorical resonance in the biblical and spiritual spheres and, as I'm discovering, there's an important social meaning that emerges slowly when you start to work with people and form small communities around activities that connect us to the land and the food environment. 

I'm interested in how we can form small communities around food growing in the town - planting vegetables, siting planters around the public space and working with the council to recreate the historical herb garden in the Old Friary. The Jedburgh Artwalks already have the feel of a nascent community.

If they can be sustained these modest initiatives could and should transform social potential from a dormant state into a productive state, releasing creative energy and offering benefits to the individuals, the groups involved and the town. A side benefit, much needed in this slow small town, would be the establishment of a precedent in the cultural creative and community domains, a template that enables further development. That's where I am just now with the meaning of the word 'fallow'.

And what a great time we all had of it. A four mile circuit then refreshments and discussion in Jedburgh's Kenmore Hall. My neighbour Alan Dodds who farms locally had provided us with maps and information on what's going in the fields because nobody apart from farmers seem to know what goes on. I certainly don't. The species rich meadow, a variety of grasses just left to get on without disturbance, is a new one to me. The maps have helped greatly in informing our reflections on art in the environment more generally.

As you might know I'll be hosting Jedburgh's participation in the Fallow Land Project for the next five months. As part of  that  I’d like to invite writers to contribute to the art works around the project by writing one or more haiku. A haiku is a short Japanese poem consisting of three phrases composed of seventeen syllables, in a five-seven-five pattern. Quite often there’s a seasonal reference.

The primary theme is fallow which can be understood literally, usually agriculturally, or metaphorically, for example relating to spiritual growth. Other related themes are land use and ownership, soil, the food environment and sustainability.

The Fallow Land Artwalks are under way on the last Sunday of each month. The themes from February to April are word, light and sound respectively so I'll be encouraging the walkers in February to contribute their own haiku.

You can submit as many as you like on as many relevant topics as you wish. If contributors wish I’ll then figure out a way of presenting everyone’s haiku(s) in small publications using folded card and paper as well as putting them on my website where I'll be updating progress regularly. It would be wonderful if you were able to participate and of course if you want to write something more substantial please do!

Please email me your poems (as word docs preferably):-[email protected]

Provisional deadline: Friday 21 February 

There’s a very good Wikipedia entry if you want to dig deeper:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

And here’s a link to the Fallow Land project:-https://www.artwalkporty.co.uk/project/fallow-land/ 

As part of the Fallow Land project I've made a good start to the the year with my plans to host a series of four artworks in and around Jedburgh between January and April. I had the idea from the excellent work done by Artwork Porty over the years. The idea is to invite people to walk and reflect upon the environments encountered during the walk. Walks can be medium specific, for example a soundwalk, or more general, for example to make connections between creative people.

The first walk is fully signed up and we'll be doing a four mile circuit along the back roads and woodlands above Jedburgh to the south-east. In preparation for this I'm learning from local farmers, informing myself about what goes on in the fields. This is an important part of the project, investigating the patterns of activity in the managed landscape, from land ownership to land use to food growing, from which some kind of art work will emerge.

My hope is that we'll get talking and learning about not only about the land and landscape but also about how we might make art in and around the topics and themes that arise. This occupies me regularly on my walks and I'm always relish the opportunity to listen to ideas from other artists. 

For the next three walks, at the end of the month from February to April, I want the groups to consider particular art forms, especially sound, lens-based media and  writing though I imagine these will all fuse together over time.