Creative Climate Fest

It’s been a steadily developing  process, but at last we’re on track this July for a first dedicated environmental art and music festival at the wonderful Scolton Manor Country Park, a few miles north of the Pembrokeshire county town of Haverfordwest. After initial months of planning and reaching out to partners, the country park became an obvious choice to host a large and diverse arts festival, dedicated to the issues around climate change and a sustainable future environment. The weekend of July the 5th and 6th will host the occasion, with a generous eight week exhibition to follow in the large Green Barn conference centre.

But Scolton’s also a great place to explore all kinds of opportunities, and not least the abundant supply of wood from its on site timber yard!        

The Creative Climate Fest, to give the event it’s newly polished title, will have a wide range of wonderful partners, from Popty Press Printers of Haverfordwest to the contributions of bio-diversity rich local farms, like Froghall Farm and Caerhys Farm. It’s being jointly curated by Scolton’s manager, Mark Thomas, and myself, with much of the show given over to environmental presentations and displays, but with art and music as central features as well. With that in mind, I started creating some sculptural interest with a foray into Scolton’s woodland to construct a simple wind model.

I began with the stands for what would be the model, but one which would aim to spin an attached piece of decorated artwork on the opposite side to the wind blades.

Stands constructed, the propellor needed fashioning, so long strips of outer wood, bark still attached on the one side, were shaped with a trusty 24 inch saw into 3 equal blades.

A central hub followed, a circular cut block of wood with the three angled notches onto which the blades could be attached. A circular metal shaft was then driven through its centre as a pivot for the spinning blades.

Sundry cuts and additions, including the jigsawed gears, and the bits and pieces began to come together.

Next, the parts were aligned and secured to their positions. The propellor blades and shaft turn a gear at the end which powers a vertical shaft down the front of the model.

A little bit of fiddling about, including positioning another set of gears for a central horizontal shaft through the middle of the upright stands, and the model nears completion.

This Easter, it should be completed, with the spinning model on the opposite stand given its final form. 

It’s been a lot of fun, a piecemeal bit of simple woodworking, but of course, the final test will be if the wind sees fit to spin the waiting blades. My little dog, Rosie, is looking dubious…