See Somerset changed / Into something rich and strange
Visions of Somerset disrupted by water are the focus of an unusual exhibition at Ilminster Arts Centre from Tuesday September 1 to Thursday 17 September.
The show is called Seeing Through the Rain: Young Visions of Ilminster’s Life and Future.
It features artwork created in July by around sixty Year 6 pupils at Herne View Church of England Primary School in Ilminster. They worked with artist John Gammans and Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) community team member Bel Deering.
Bel Deering said: “We began by exploring the many ways in which water is constantly being cycled through the world around us. The children made clouds, studied maps and built leaky dams. There was plenty of water, plenty of mess, and welcome relief from the heatwave!
“They went on to imagine how Ilminster could adapt and thrive in a changing climate.”
They produced 16 large panels, which together form a kind of tapestry of water and landscape. Beneath every painting is a map of Ilminster.
John Gammans said: “Before the children made a single mark, these maps were submerged in water, crushed, folded and unravelled again and again. The wet paper was rubbed away to reveal a damaged and partially eroded landscape beneath. Roads disappeared. Place names faded. The surface became covered with creases and scars.
“Water had disrupted it. The children’s physical energy had transformed it. And, like a landscape after a flood, something familiar had become altered and uncertain.
“The children then returned to these surfaces and reclaimed them through their artwork.”
The exhibition also includes a selection from hundreds of smaller sketches. Some of these will be submerged in water during the show, in glass vessels, where they will change in ways designed to provoke attention and curiosity.
SRA Chair Cllr Mike Stanton said: “These children will be dealing with flooding and other climate issues long after I’m gone. This development of their understanding and insight at an early stage in life provides a foundation for their futures and for the future of our planet. The inventiveness and application of future generations is our best hope for solving these intractable problems.”
Herne View Year 6 teacher April Elliott said: “The sessions provided a rich learning experience, helping pupils develop their understanding of water, flooding, and the local area. Most importantly, John and Bel encouraged creativity and individuality, giving children the freedom to express their own ideas rather than working within overly restrictive parameters.”
Through its Community Flood Action Fund, the SRA has also recently given a grant of nearly £9,000 to Ilminster Town Council for culvert clearance using a high-pressure water jet to remove silt and blockages, and stream desilting. The aim is to reduce flood risks for properties in Ilminster along Station Road, Home Farm Way and Green Lane, and in Holway House Park and Home Farm Park. So Ilminster residents should also soon be able to see some physical, as well as some imagined, changes in the local landscape.