Farmer Arthur’s Paper Theatre

Lisa-Marie chose to respond to a series of artworks produced by Barry Evans and William Kempster in preparation for an exhibit shown in the 1951 Festival of Britain. This image shows one of five of their original designs now held by the Museum. This one shows potato harvesting. Click on the link below to find out more and to see the others.

Lisa-Marie describes her motivations and outlines some of her previous project experience:

‘My work as an artist facilitator has led me to engage with fragile communities, both locally and internationally over 24 years. I have worked in conflict zones with people displaced by war, in prisons, various mental health settings, with the homeless, soldiers living with PTSD, people facing extreme physical disabilities and multi complex needs, and on regeneration projects. This work has had a far-reaching effect on my own creative practice and continues to influence my every creative intervention.’

As Lisa-Marie puts it, ‘this has been a very special collaboration’:

‘I wanted to work alongside the artists at Downshire to look at how we find accessibility in museum collections to create a piece that shares these important and special voices. There was a beautiful challenge of how we would create extra sensory pieces inspired by the original paintings and how the residents would be involved in of every part of the process… This has been a truly joyful process, the beauty of how we share stories and then how we create a piece of work that becomes a portal for another story or re-telling.‘

At the Festival of Britain, the designs by Barry Evans and William Kempster were scaled-up as larger murals. These were then suspended in a large, carousel-style exhibit called The Country Year. Although The MERL only holds five small designs, there were originally twelve different artworks, one for each month of the year. The ‘merry-go-round’ structure spun round with the help of an electric motor.

Reflecting on links to the original carousel artworks, and in particular their movement and playfulness, Lisa-Marie has described the incredible ways in which the new responses then came to life:

‘The element of play, improvisation, and storytelling were key in bringing the paintings to life and making them accessible… We made up stories, we danced, we sang and magic happened.’

This process neatly dovetails with her usual way of working and we at The MERL are thankful to be a part of her practice and process. As Lisa-Marie describes her vision:

‘The notion that we are all interconnected by invisible threads and that every action we take has the butterfly effect is a constant source of exploration. I have wide ranging experience creating art that explores a sense of individual and communal fragility and how the artistic practice can make a change in terms of individual and collective recovery within communities.  My focus and research is always wanting to understand and question notions of what it is to be human.’

This creative response forms part of the Museum’s 51 Voices project. Lisa-Marie’s and the ‘Downshire Gang’s’ work—Farmer Arthur’s Paper Theatre—was made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and the Culture Recovery Fund. Although we’ve been unable to welcome our communities in to see The MERL, we’re still #HereForCulture.