A performative installation that explores the act of listening as a form of care.

This event is programmed as part of a series of free public events that celebrate and share ‘Views from Convalescent Hill’: a community-led research and creative project exploring the heritage of rest, wellbeing and care in Felixstowe.

BOOK HERE

Free, All welcome, Book a 30 minute slot.

This event is designed to be a personal experience, each slot is for one person only. Please select your preferred time.

How the Project Developed

In Spring of this year, artist Dana Olărescu explored the project's themes alongside eight creative collaborators. A need to find ways to offer mutual support and create safe spaces for one another emerged as a collective priority. The group identified the former Community Listening Service, previously hosted at Felixstowe Library, as a much-missed form of community connection.

All Ears: A Community Listening Station takes these ideas and presents them through a performative installation. Playful and whimsical, All Ears will function as a tranquil haven for individuals seeking an open and non-judgmental space to express themselves. Dana will offer listening sessions on designated days across Felixstowe, warmly welcoming visitors through a creative rather than clinical approach.

What to Expect

Book a 30-minute slot for a performative and open session designed for you to be heard. Bring questions, reflections, or just openness to a candid discussion. All conversation is confidential.

The session will include conversation and light interaction with playful and comforting materials.

Join artist and Creative Collaborator Elaine Aston for this workshop that explores the therapeutic and healing potential of stitching and working with textiles. 

Book a Free Place Here

Join artist and Creative Collaborator Elaine Aston for this workshop that explores the therapeutic and healing potential of stitching and working with textiles. 

This event is programmed as part of a series of free public events that celebrate and share ‘Views from Convalescent Hill: a community-led research and creative project exploring the heritage of rest, wellbeing and care in Felixstowe.

Our emotions can present challenges or obstacles to be overcome. During this workshop, participants will explore their emotions through the act of making and creativity. 

To begin, Elaine will invite you to illustrate an emotion using marks on paper which will then be transferred to fabric using threads and colours of your choice. These samples may then be used as the beginning of a fabric book, scroll or one-off textile sample to be framed or included in another textile work.

All equipment, threads and fabric will be provided including a printed sheet of ideas and some instructions. No prior experience is necessary.

If you have any questions, please email: natalie@pierprojects.org.

Visit the project’s digital archive here

In this one hour talk, author and GP Dr Gavin Francis will reflect on his book 'Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence' and consider how we might make space for rest and recovery in our daily lives.

Free, book here. Please note that this talk will be shared on the ‘Views from Convalsecent Hill’ digital archive in late September.

This event is programmed as part of a series of free public events that celebrate and share ‘Views from Convalescent Hill’: a community-led research and creative project exploring the heritage of rest, wellbeing and care in Felixstowe.

Published in 2022, Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence is a short, uplifting account of hope and healing.

When it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives – until we are forced to contend with what they really mean.

Here, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how – and why – we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it.

Characterised by Francis’s beautiful prose and his view of medicine as “the alliance of science and kindness”, ‘Recovery’ is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.

Dr Gavin Francis has worked across four continents as a surgeon, emergency physician, medical officer with the British Antarctic Survey and latterly as a GP. He’s the author of the Sunday Times-bestselling ‘Adventures in Human Being’ and ‘Recovery’, as well as ‘Shapeshifters’ and ‘Intensive Care’. He also writes for the Guardian, The Times, the London Review of Books and Granta.

www.gavinfrancis.com

Views from Convalescent Hill was initiated by Pier Projects Art Agency, in partnership with freelance project manager Laura Davison. It is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and East Suffolk District Council and is supported by Suffolk Archives, Felixstowe Museum, Suffolk Libraries and Felixstowe Old People’s Welfare Association.

Visit the project’s digital archive here

(Image: James Glossop)

Sunday 7 July, 11am - 3pm, Felixstowe Library 
Free, Drop-In, All Welcome

A temporary installation considering the impact of the sea on our ability to rest. 

Artist and creative collaborator Elaine Aston invites you to come and experience Rest Easy; a new artwork that offers audiences the opportunity to pause and become immersed in a seascape captured in Felixstowe. In addition to found sound, the installation features a newly created deckchair with cyanotype printed fabric created by the artist, that builds upon her established textile-based practice. 

Come along, take a moment of rest and meet the artist. 

Further details of additional public events will be shared on the digital archive. 

Saturday 6 July, 10am - 3pm, Felixstowe Library
Free, All welcome, Book a 30 minute slot here

This event is designed to be a personal experience, each slot is for one person only. Please select your preferred time when booking.

A performative installation that explores the act of listening as a form of care.

As part of ‘Views from Convalescent Hill’, in Spring of this year, artist Dana Olărescu explored the project's themes alongside eight creative collaborators. The need for ways to offer mutual support and offer safe spaces to one another emerged as a collective priority, with the group identifying the former Community Listening Service, previously hosted at Felixstowe Library, as a much-missed form of community connection.   

‘All Ears: A Community Listening Station’, takes these ideas and presents them through a performative installation. Playful and whimsical, ‘All Ears’ will function as a tranquil haven for individuals seeking an open and non-judgmental space to express themselves. Dana will offer listening sessions on designated days across Felixstowe, warmly welcoming visitors through a creative rather than clinical approach. 

Additional Dates and Locations:

Monday 5 August , 12 - 3pm, Felixstowe Spa Gardens, meeting point tbc

Thursday 22 August, 12 - 3pm, Felixstowe Triangle

Thursday 10 October, 12 - 3pm, Felixstowe Library, to mark World Mental Health Day

Exhibition launch

Thursday 4 July, 6 - 7.30pm, Felixstowe Museum, IP11 3TW

All welcome, book a free ticket by here

Co-curated with Felixstowe residents, this temporary display will share the methods and local knowledge that have shaped this collaborative project. New research and previously unseen objects from the museum’s collection will sit alongside contemporary artworks and responses by residents who have worked alongside project artist Dana Olărescu. There will also be the opportunity to listen to local memories and stories captured by oral history volunteers that personalise this history and bring it to life. An onsite bar will be available. 

Come along and celebrate this unique part of Felixstowe history and find out more about the upcoming events programme.

The exhibition runs from 4 July - 3 November, Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, including Bank Holidays. Free onsite parking at the Museum or in the main Landguard car park from 6pm.

Join us as we launch a bespoke collection of books to borrow from Felixstowe Library that explore themes of health, wellbeing, rest and care. 

Comprising both adult nonfiction and fiction titles, this collection is a collaboration between Pier Projects and Suffolk Libraries.

The titles have been carefully selected and cover a range of themes and ideas - both historical and contemporary - that explore mental and physical health; 

• Environment and Geography: blue spaces and the context of the coast

• Mental Wellness: depression, anxiety and trauma recovery 

• Physical Well Being; sleep, walking, open water swimming, rest 

• Community Health and Care

Free, drop-in, all welcome.

(Image: Project artist Dana Olărescu at Felixstowe Library)

Community Pop-Up, Object and Memory Sharing

Friday 15 March, 10.30 - 12.00

Broadway House, Orwell Rd, Felixstowe IP11 7DD

Are you interested in the history of Felixstowe, or health and wellbeing?

Come along to Broadway House for tea, meet the project team and find out more about ‘Views from Convalescent Hill’: a research and community project exploring the heritage of wellbeing, rest, and care in Felixstowe. 

Would you like to get involved? 

Do you have any photographs or objects to do with the heritage of Felixstowe as a spa town and a place for convalescence? Please bring them along to share with us.  

This will also be an opportunity to share and record your experiences, impressions, and thoughts about health and wellbeing, and the town you live in or are connected to.

Image: Visitors Ruth and Ann share their stories with our oral history volunteer Sheline Gledhill.

For the ninth Studio Social - and last artist talk of 2023 - we are delighted to welcome Henry Driver.

He will discuss his latest project WaterPortals, an interactive digital journey exploring the microscopic world of water. The work focuses on the microbes that live in our rivers, lakes and seas, and understand the crucial roles they play in creating a healthy world, how they are at risk from climate change, and what we can do to make a difference.

WaterPortals is funded by Arts Council England and LEVEL Centre (Matlock, Derbyshire)

Find out more https://levelcentre.com/water-portals/

WaterPortals is on view at Level Centre from 8 September 2023 - 8 January 2024

Henry Driver

Henry Driver is a digital artist and game developer.

He creates projects that connect us to our environment and presents responses to climate change.

His work has been presented across the world and his videos have been broadcast in over 40 countries. While in the UK he has shown at numerous galleries including Tate Liverpool, Tate Britain, Whitechapel and Barbican.

He was commissioned to create ‘Secrets of Soil’ for BBC Arts and Arts Council England. Secrets of Soil is an interactive journey that explores the hidden world of soil and its role in combating climate change. The project was supported by and inspired by research at the John Innes Centre and his family’s regenerative agricultural practises.

During his residency with Level in 2022, Henry researched and prototyped an accessible digital artwork  creating a playful and visually stunning experience that reveals the microscopic world. The residency explored environmental themes focussing on water and rivers, taking inspiration from the rivers Derwent and Wye to experiment and test ideas for their new work, Water Portals.

www.henrydriverartist.com 

Studio Social: a series of online artist talks.  In each session, an artist will share one recent work or project with time for Q&A. This series profiles artists for whom both people and place are at the centre of their practice.

A day of sharing, workshopping, discussion and eating together offering artists and arts workers time and space to reconnect to their practice, one another and consider collective wellbeing. 

In ‘The Conquest of Bread’ Peter Kropotkin claims ‘Well-being for all is not a dream’ yet the hope for systemic change with economic and ecological progress during covid appears to have disappeared, and once again we are living a constant burn out.

Over the last three months Resident Artist Samantha Jones and  Natalie Pace, Curator of Pier Projects, have been ‘ On_Convalescence. Together, they have explored how as cultural professionals, funders, commissioners and practitioners, we can create a caring ecology, that looks after the wellbeing of each other and along with our communities? 

Their discussions have drawn out questions such as;

• As artists, what do we need to continue to create social change? 

• How can we influence funders to enable this to continue to authentically happen?

• What should a caring commissioning agency look like?’   

Fred Brown, founding member of both Homebaked Co-operative Bakery and Community Land Trust in Liverpool once said ‘When the Bread Rises,  We Rise’. With no abating in a continued cycle of crisis’s, do we, as Kropotkin writes, ‘have the temerity to declare that all have a right to bread, that there is bread enough for all… ‘ and find a way to rise together?

In this ‘post’ covid context, we want to share our thinking, make and break bread together and explore with you; How do we tackle our burn out, heal, come together and convalesce productively for us to continue to care?  How can we claim ‘Right to Wellbeing’ (Kropotkin)? Can we together radicalize the concept of wellbeing? Can we bring co-creative practices into models of care and wellbeing?  And what models of care are needed within our local context, to deal with immediate needs and how can this impact wider fields of practice? 

Event Summary:

Date: Saturday 22nd July 11.00 -15.00 pm 

Venue: Hamilton MAS -  Bent Hill, Felixstowe

Lunch: A vegan picnic lunch will be provided for all participants. If you have any dietary requirements please let us know in advance. 

Group Size: The number of participants has been limited to ensure ease of conversation and a relaxed atmosphere.

Structure: To reflect the slowness of convalescence, this event will allow plenty of time for rest and reflection. One hour has been allocated for lunch to take time to explore Felixstowe and being on the coast, connect with one another, eat and think about the morning’s activities and provocations. 

Swim: After the event ends at 3pm, we warmly invite to join us for a sea dip. The more the merrier and please extend this invitation out to others. Don’t forget your swimming attire and a towel.

This event is free but booking is required.

This event is part of an ongoing programme of reflection and collaboration exploring the thematic of ‘convalescence’ . It is generously supported by Arts Council England.

Www.samanthajones.co. www.hamiltonmas.org.uk/homepage/

Environmental Justice Questions Group Discussion, 12.00 - 15.30pm

Environmental Justice Questions, organised and edited by Harun Morrison, is a growing compilation of questions for discussion and debate. Harun has invited a range of people including artworkers, scientists, activists, writers, theorists, architects, growers, natural historians and horticulturalists to propose questions relating to environmental justice.

Taking place at Hamilton MAS, the session will begin with an introduction to the project and Harun’s practice. Participants will then be invited to each select a question for discussion within smaller groups before forming a larger discussion circle.

No specialist knowledge needed! All welcome. Suitable for 16 +

Light refreshments will be available throughout with vegan food available for participants at 3.30pm.

Choose from two workshops both lasting 1h 30mins starting at either midday or 2pm.

This event takes place within the Great Big Green Week (10-18 June) and acknowledges Felixstowe Town Council’s Declaration of a Climate Emergency.

It is made possible with support from Arts Council England.

Environmental Justice Questions (2023 - ongoing )

Organised and edited by Harun Morrison

Environmental Justice Questions is a growing compilation of questions for discussion and debate. Different versions of the card game will have different contributors and designers. Design: Cody Lee Barbour. Drawings by Olivia Abächerli.

EJC was originally commissioned by Mossutstallningar with additional support from V&A Dundee and APAP network.

Question contributors in this iteration include:

Kat Cotta, Naho Matsuda, Rosalie Schweiker, Stella d'Ailly, Jane Trowell, Harun Morrison, Danika J. L Thomas, Graham Burnett, Holly Keasey, Vishal Parekh, Maymana Arefin, Anahi Saravia Herrera, Jessica Emal, Åsa Össbo, Eva Sajovic, Owen Griffiths, Yasmine Ostendorf, Evie Muir, Andrea Ku, Fatima Alalaiwat, Andrea Ku, Mark Godber, Wood Roberdeau, Jared Gradinger, Jack Hannam, Chris Fremantle, Ireen van Dolderen, Rowan Lear, Taey Iohe, Felicitas Zeeden, Sandra Man, Siriol Joyner, Marjet Zwaans, Lisa Stewart, Liz Rosenfeld, Nazakat Azimli, Sophie J Williamson, Inês Neto dos Santos, Olga Grotova, Manon Awst, Ashley Edwards, Satpreet Kahlon, Luiza Prado O Martins, Gayatri Kodikal, Ayumi Paul, Elisabeth Del Prete, Phoebe Davies, Joseph M. Pierce, Ada M. Patterson, Kajsa Sahlin, Rauna Kuokkanen, Max Troell, Luja von Köckritz, Angela YT Chan, Melissa Barton, Rachel Pimm, Kate McIntosh, Oliver Ressler, The Mycological Twist, Jasmine Roha Wakefield, Niamh Riordan, Mary Jane Edwards, Maxwell Ayamba, Katy Beinart, Rahima Gambo, Raluca Voinea Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Rima Sonigara, Graham Harwood, Mandus Ridefelt, Jonas Staal, Adelita Husni-Bey.

Harun Morrison: http://harunmorrison.net/

Artist Bio:

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is currently an associate artist with Greenpeace UK and Designer and Researcher in Residence at V&A Dundee. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2023/24. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is a former trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981). Instagram @harunishere.

Hamilton MAS - the micro art space by the sea- Bent Hill, Felixstowe, IP11 7DG

(Image: James Allan)

For the sixth Studio Social, we are delighted to welcome artist Amy Pennington.

Amy makes work that uses humour to connect human experiences and socio-political issues. They use everyday materials and accessible processes to challenge the binaries of ‘high and low art’, often using queer mechanisms such as campness or satire Amy makes drawings, books, DIY film and improvised performance. In their work, familiarity and accessibility are political strategies to spark a conversation, which soon reaches more complex terrain.

For this talk, they will focus on their Jerwood artist residency at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Cornwall.

https://newlynartgallery.co.uk/activities/seen/

Artist Bio:

The foundation of Amy’s practice is people: working collaboratively, as participants or co-creators, often in everyday spaces including hairdressers, care homes, parks or a factory. Each project follows the process of developing relationships with people and places that means the final work and how or where it is shown is born out of that specific context. Underlying these works is the question of who gets to express themselves, share their experiences and under what terms.

Amy has made work within institutions as well as self-organised groups and in the public realm. They have been commissioned by TATE Liverpool, Battersea Art Centre, PEER, SLG, Pump House gallery, In-situ, Home live art Heart Of Glass, Left Coast, The National festival of making, LADA, and have closely worked with Open Barbers, Mildmay Care home, The Outside Project, and LGSMigrants.

https://amypennington.co.uk/work/

As the nights are drawing in Hamilton MAS and Pier Projects invite you to join us for drinks and good company at our Seasonal Social

Wednesday 21 December, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Hamilton MAS – Bent Hill, Felixstowe IP11 7DG

Let’s mark the shortest day, longest night and celebrate the lengthening days to come.

Over the last year Hamilton MAS and Pier Projects have supported artists and their work, that position humans as a part of nature rather than apart from nature.

As the year ends let’s celebrate our creative community and look forward to the year ahead thinking about our wellbeing and our responsibilities towards each other and the world we live in.

Please RSVP to natalie@pierprojects.org to let’s know you are coming and if you have any access or dietary needs.