Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Sonic Landscapes

 As part of  Alice Fox's 'Place- Making Winter'  course, for the last  6 months I've been recording/mapping  my  daily(ish) walks down  'Abbeyfields'  in Faversham  in different ways. 

So I was delighted to participate in  another project with Kimbal Bumstead as part of his residency at the  BasementArtsProject   this time making  audio recordings on my phone   in my 'Place'  and  then drawing from  the recording with my eyes closed, responding to the sounds and textures.  From the submissions made by the participants  he has created a   digital collage ' map'  and a 'sonic journey' to accompany it.    The result is interactive - you can move through  the 'landscape'   accompanied  by the soundtrack, highly recommended ! 

SONIC LANDSCAPES — Kimbal Quist Bumstead (kimbalbumstead.com)

Abbeyfields  1 

There was  a zoom meeting  with some of the participants talking about what they got out of it.  On many of my walks  I was aware of the  some of the  sounds (  a patch of brambles  with lots of sparrows I call the ' shouting bush ' ! )  but listening  to the recordings at  home  with headphones on  and replaying it again and again I was able to isolate and identify  far more. The crescendo  of a car or bike going past on the road; the rhythms of a dog barking ; distant clanking of boat masts, blurred conversations  and used different media and colours to try and  capture those qualities on paper. 
 A fascinating process which  I hope to repeat  which has added a new dimension and awareness to my walks .   Maybe have a go at blind stitching to the sounds  ( as on Dorothy Caldwell course) 

Abbeyfields 2

Abbeyfields 3 

Abbeyfields 4 



Kimbal's  'Sonic Landscape': screenshots of Digital Collage ( above)   and detail ( below)  







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