Kirkcudbright Art and Crafts Trail day 1
We are set up as part of the Wordsmith Crafts encampment, which is in turn part of a group of tents pitched by artisits inspired by heritage.
Some of us have been in Kircudbright frequently recently, helping interpret the Galloway Hoard that was found nearby and exhibited at the Gallery.
This time though we are here as Quartz and contacts we have made through discussions about the intangible heritage that was discovered along with the more obviously shiny silver can be explored further.
When we help people encounter the material evidence left by our ancient ancestors people are often moved by actions that remind them of the shared human experience we have. For example, wrapping a cord round a cross before carefully placing it in the ground. We can imagine many emotions, possible motives, meaningful stories from that one insight. We can rationally discuss which is the most probable, we can also contemplate and enrich our feeling of connection with our past and reaffirm the emotional truth of belonging.
People are not sprung from the ground like mushrooms as a philosopher once supposed. Indeed mushrooms are no longer understood as rootless and there are fascinating books about the vast underground networks in forests that challenge assumptions made about intelligence during the age of reason.
But day one has mostly been setting up. Enjoying the sunshine and encouraging people to use words poetically. These fleeting “word pictures” are being photographed and tagged. They can be discovered online by searching for #SensingSpirituality or @cyberculdee
Our hope is to help build an online library of moments using pictures, poems and more. Then when people search for #SensingSpirituality or #SensingChallenge or any of the other Sensings, they will be linked with other people’s moments.
Here is a gallery of images from the first day though! More will follow.
