Members of ‘Under the Canopy’ project have had another busy term at Hollybush Conservation Centre as well as visits to Armley Mills, ‘All that Lives’ at Leeds Playhouse and ‘This is a Forest’ exhibition at Moda Gallery.

Participants have created rain drop patterns, written poems, and made a variety of woven pieces in paper, natural materials and wool, alongside conversation, singing, storytelling, making horse chestnut soap, drinking a range of teas including Matthew’s mulled apple juice (a favourite) and eating the marvellous soups at Hollybush cafe.

Here’s a selection of photos and poems from the last few weeks….

 

Hollybush Rain Song (after Langston Hughes) – by Yvonne

Taste the sparkling, silver droplets on your tongue,

Touch the warm summer shower on your fingers,

Feel the cool caress of the soft rain on your skin.

 

The rain hangs the trees with today’s tears.

The rain gurgles and gushes as it rushes to the gutter.

The rain glistens on rooftops and streets

 

The rain brings life to the dusty soil,

And promotes growth and a promise of harvest,

After the summer sun cracks the earth.

 

Hollybush Rain Song – by Matthew

Hear the rain as it falls on the roof of the canopy above,

Watch the rain as it pools in the canvas like a miniature lake,

Smell the rain as it drenches the soil and renews the earth.

 

The rain wets my hair,

The rain washes my face,

The rain cleanses my soul.

 

I praise the rain for all the gifts it brings,

And keep my fingers crossed that my boots remain waterproof.

 

Rain Song – by Marlene

Hear the rain pitter patter

Watch the raindrops sliding

Seek the view the mist is hiding

Getting wet it doesn’t matter.

Stair-rods making puddles deeper

Splashing wellies faster faster

Hear the joy in children’s laughter.

 

 Canal Connections – by Yvonne

Ripple-causing, gliding, sliding,

Cormorants flying, swooping, diving,

Canal boat drifting, moving, smoothing,

Nature’s beauty seen, serene.

 

Splish, splash, kingfisher’s flash,

Seagulls’ calls, graffiti walls,

Nitter, natter, onboard chatter,

Dandelion teas, a welcome breeze,

 

Cormorants flying, swooping, diving,

Nature’s beauty seen, serene.

Canal boat drifting, moving, smoothing,

Ripple-causing, gliding, sliding,

Starts and stops for age-worn locks.

 

Under the Canopy – by Peter

Under the canopy

greeted late

with Rhubarb tea

Giving love (to Auntie Charlotte)

weaving words from Cleese to Shakespeare

spinning with spindles

words into mats of weave

 

Robbie Burns Under the Canopy – by Peter

My Love

is like a Red Red Rose

Arachne and Athene

Ariadne’s

strong strong thread.

 

Leeds Industrial Museum – by Matthew (using words by group members)

Sheep’s wool,

Sharp spikes,

Soft twine winding –

Old skills passed down through generations.

 

Watching,

Weaving,

Spinning, carding –

Expertise in demonstration.

 

Hainsworth,

Jacquard,

Matrix Machines –

Old skills replaced though mechanisation.

 

Hot air,

Noise and speed,

The smell of oil –

The outer signs of innovation.

 

Child labour,

Textile dust

Poor work conditions –

With industry comes exploitation

 

Diseases,

Injuries,

Fear of the workhouse –

Employment leads to degradation.

 

History looms,

Fabric imported,

A lot comes from abroad now –

Industry shifts with globalisation.

 

Remembering,

Reminiscing,

Old photographs,

The objects here spark conversations.

 

It is heritage,

Community,

This futuristic past –

A resource now for education

 

Friendly staff.

Chattering children

Stories, poems, art –

A building rich with inspiration.

 

Canal Connections – by Matthew (after Ian McMillan)

Gliding gently on the water

Slipping slowly through the land

Listening to the towpath chatter

Moving softly, time in hand

 

A kingfisher darts across the bows –

A technicolour flash –

Between the plastic buoys,

That bob beside the bank,

Like a line of submerged belisha beacons.

A colony of cormorants

Watch its progress –

Solemn sentries,

On the abandoned warehouse roof.

 

Gliding gently on the water

Slipping slowly through the land

 

A cyclist with a top hat and a boom box,

Breaks the silence on the bank –

Blasting out pop classics

Into the still morning air.

In the background the engine purrs

Like a fat contented cat,

While overhead,

The gulls wheel,

Their cries an echo of the distant sea

 

Listening to the towpath chatter

Moving softly, time in hand

 

The navigation widens,

The water a flat, dark plain,

Flecked with gold,

From the flickering autumn sun.

A cormorant dives,

Disappearing like a sudden ghost.

Ripples spread across the surface,

Disturbing the reflection

Of the painted concrete wall.

 

Gliding gently on the water

Slipping slowly through the land

 

On the boat the people murmur –

Discussing the merits of the

Waterside graffiti.

Sharing recollections

Of the terrible flood

That swallowed Kirkstall

And left Bramley an island.

Marvelling at the mechanical weirs

And the salmon leap and the eel ladder.

 

Listening to the towpath chatter

Moving softly, time in hand

 

The boat turns,

Leaving a foaming swell in the water

Heading back towards the docks

And the waiting taxis.

Back though the lock,

That lifts us, like a toy boat,

To the higher ground,

And past the new footbridge,

That is haunted already by a ghostly sailor.

 

Gliding gently on the water

Slipping slowly through the land

Listening to the towpath chatter

Moving softly, time in hand

 

Under the Canopy – by Peter

Rose Hip Tea

Breathe, settle in

Laugh

 

Black Rose Hip grow

In Seacroft

(I never knew that!)

 

Inside out itchiness

Need to blet

after frost make it into Rhoda Mel sweet Scandinavian mead.

 

Anti carcinogenic

tons and tons of Vitamin C

A, B, D….

 

Such a cure-all

And RUN

To the loo!

 

Protection Hip

A fairy formed

Invisibility cloak.

 

Venus – Aphrodite

Bi-um-virate

A loving Adonis.

 

Framed nature under the canopy weaving – by Peter

Marram Grass basket sketched

nature walks

canal side Burdock

 

Barley

Oats

Hawthorne

 

wefted right to left

and left to right

into a strong string warp.

 

by Peter

The importance of being Ivy

 

Sing it loud and sing it long,

because the dark

has come and gone.

Ivy day: invasive nature,

a foe of masonry.

Good natured really.

Sing it loud and sing it long,

because the dark

has come and gone.

Bacchus fronds on Vicar Lane

sober up; a cure all poultice.

A soul mate for your name.

Sing it loud and sing it long,

because the dark

has come and gone.

A mercy in the burnt grate.

A leaf good for a good life.

See how long, see your journey.

Sing it loud and sing it long,

because the dark

has come and gone.

 

Our Under the Canopy Forest – by Peter

Charcoal speaks out expected light.

Climbing boughs looking down.

Lore of landscape a living breath.

Robin’s shelter shared nature space.

 

Temperate time layered elegance.

With little here left to lament.

This is our primal forest nest.

Grounded by our Skippko flock.

 

And some images from the visit to ‘This is a Forest’ exhibition at MODA Gallery