MAKE IT HAPPEN
RESIDENCY/COURSE
Organised by Creative Scene and Leeds Art University, Make It Happen was a month long summer school course ran by Periplum to learn about the process and scope for planning and creating outdoor artworks. Over July in 2022, we began with a location at the Calder Valley Marina in Dewsbury as a potential spot to coincide with an annual event held there. We brainstormed these ideas back at the Creative Scene base in the town centre and explored how best to translate these thoughts visually into mindmaps, drawings and storyboards to create the basis for a project proposal.
The rest of the weeks involved more site visits to finalise our ideas, working out a budget and timeline for the project and putting together a presentation to talk through infront of the rest of the group and organisers.
My project idea for this was to create a sculpture and audio installation under the bridge along the canal footpath. Working within the theme of ‘Heritage & Invention’, the works would respond as an informative and playful observation of how a group of alien-like blobby creatures would grow to understand the area based on the conversations people might have along the footpath when walking past them.
Starting with a callout for participation in the project, I would run engagement sessions to talk with community members about their background in the area, and what brought them there. These stories would then be retold through the lens of these curious creatures, drawing particularly on the rich history of the canal in Dewsbury, and the surrounding buildings and features. Being housed under the bridge, it also provided the perfect enclosure for the sculptures and the tech to be housed there, with ladders needed to access the location, and being sheltered from wind, rain and heat.
This course resulted in a great deal of development to the way i consider projects, not only in the practical and organisational aspects, but also the vast scope and potential that projects could be. I also gained an incredible network with other artists, many of whom i’m still in contact with and work with on further projects today.
Emma Denby 