Tag: Sacred Isle

Lift the Lid - Back & Forth - East Cowes, Lift the Lid Project

Sacred Isle’s Vlog with Dmitri Galitzine

Sarah Girling

When we started to plan the art commissions, it was important to identify individuals or organisations that would be interesting for the artists to meet and talk to during their Research and Development on the Island. I don’t know about you but I find Twitter a wonderful source of people who have stories to tell… And so I met Paul Wilson of The Sacred Isle, chatting about the folklore of the Isle of Wight. When I say met, we met virtually on Twitter, then in person at Quay Arts, and I knew that all the artists should talk to him.

So in the Autumn of 2018, Paul met the artists, talked to them about Island folklore and regaled them with stories of the people of Franchetown (Newtown), Old Jack of Steephill Cove and the Dragon of the Isle of Wight! BearFace Theatre were immediately entranced by Paul’s stories, and so an interpretation of the story is in development. Along with this, the story of the Three Sisters of the Island will be explored during the May event, Hullabaloo in Sandown (Sunday only – 12 May 2019).

Dmitri Galitzine was also intrigued by Paul’s stories and although the island’s folklore doesn’t have an obvious link with ‘Back and Forth, and Back and Forth Again’, Dmitri’s focus on the Red Funnel journey between East Cowes and Southampton, he decided he wanted to have a conversation with Paul. Later Paul asked Dmitri if he’d be a guest on his Vlog (video blog). So here it is for you all to see, as Paul has kindly allowed us to share it on the website.

Lift the Lid - The Ventnor Giant - Ventnor, Lift the Lid Project

Phlegm’s Ventnor Giant inspires Island children

Sarah Girling

Since the Project’s first art commission was complete in August 2018, during the Ventnor Fringe Festival, school children have had the opportunity to respond creatively to the Ventnor Giant mural.

The children’s work was temporarily stuck on the wall under the mural.

Having trained as an Arts Award advisor through Lift the Lid, teacher Clare Wright has been working with a group of Year 6 pupils from Oakfield Primary School in Ryde, using the artist Phlegm as inspiration for their own work.

“Year 6 has been researching a world famous street artist, who has created the Island’s largest mural in  Ventnor.  It depicts one of the artist’s famous characters holding the town of Ventnor on it’s back or letting it fall into the sea.  The inspiration for the mural was the architecture, geography and people of the town. As part of ArtsMark, Oakfield Primary is working with Lift The Lid, a new island wide campaign which aims to foster a sense of pride and passion in Island towns and their cultural heritage. The students’ artwork was temporarily stuck to the wall, under the mural,  in Ventnor, before being transferred to our gallery in the school’s Creation Station”

Meanwhile, schools near Ventnor have been working with storyteller Sue Bailey on developing stories about the Ventnor Giant. We hope to share some of these with you in the next few weeks.

If you want to join in the creative fun, then join us at Sandown’s Hullabaloo event on 11 and 12 May, where you can take part in a storytelling workshop with Sue Bailey, or go and watch BearFace Theatre to see what they have developed so far as part of the Newport art commission, with Mountbatten, Barton Primary School and WOW Women’s Centre, based on a story told to them by Sacred Isle‘s Paul Wilson.