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Melissa Davies

@melissawrote

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Poet & Creative Lead
Curious about how poetry might better connect us to our environments.
‘The Arctic Diaries’ published by @arachnepress
POSTS STORIES REELS
Thrilled to announced Phase II of HEAF! This exploration of individual connection to landscape will continue as a collaboration between artists, community, partner organisations and of course the valley itself. Watch this space as poems and stories pop up across the Lake District NP interactive map. Almost a year of R&D has given the project a focus as a lens on the complex experience of inhabiting a protected landscape. In this case also an UNESCO world heritage site. As originally set out, oral history and art will be used to record lived experience through connection to this landscape. Slowly, tentatively myself and my partners are sparking parallel conversations in other valleys of the Lake District as the non-agricultural, rural experience comes to the fore. More on that later! In the meantime, you’ll most likely find me down the valley…. #westcumbria #lakedistrictnationalpark #worldheritagesite #cumbrianartist #poetry by @melissawrote
A week more north than habitual north. Some project work progressed, planning of future projects continued, poems started, sea honoured, guests hosted in silence, plumbing as standard and visiting friends to catch up on a year of news. #northernnorway #arctictravel #creativelife #nordland #arcticautumn by @melissawrote
Taking a moment to appreciate all the coordinating, persuading, re-learning, sharing and connecting that happens just to reach another project milestone. Rarely the effort of a single person! Whether it’s one person or a hundred though, so often milestones are just tick boxes on a funding application as we focus on the outcome or outputs. So yep, just a little shout out for the milestones along the way. #freelancecreative #cumbrianartist #creativecommunity #collaborativeproject #reflectivepractices by @melissawrote
A joy to finally wander through Stranraer! Meeting the @creativestranraer_hub team was a lovely excuse to head west. Project material was collected and plans developed, then the sun came out and Ailsa Craig shimmied into view. Already looking forward to my next trip over armed with a completed community installation. #collaborativeproject #dumfriesandgalloway #solway #poetryconnects #connectingcoasts by @melissawrote
“I’d been given a permit to travel from my parents’ house changing at Ravenglass, where I caught the train up to Beckfoot with my suitcase on my knee….” Processing hours of conversation, punctuated by little images that bring a smile to my face. A first time in the valley that became an entire adult life. A suitcase on the knee. #HEAF #oralhistory #cumbrianartist #eskdale #cumbria by @melissawrote
Autumn brings more interviews & story gathering, workshops, a trip north, planning for a micro-pamphlet, tentative beginnings of a musical collaboration and a new view of Kendal Mountain Festival….. Nipped into the hills for a quick breath first. Also seeking a beautiful venue for an exhibition next year… south west Cumbria ideally. Ideas welcome! #freelancecreative #autumnmountains #writer #cumbrianartist #alltheprojects by @melissawrote
Big news from Eskdale! What happens when you hand the microphone to the people who know a place best? We’re about to find out. This autumn, the English Lake District World Heritage Site is collaborating on a brand new community-led interpretation pilot in Eskdale, inspired by and in collaboration with the brilliant HEAF project created by poet Melissa Davies. Together, we’ll be collecting stories, exploring what makes this valley special, and turning local voices into poetry, film, art, music, exhibitions and more. Because who better to tell Eskdale’s story than the people who live it every day? Want a sneak peek? Pop into Ravenglass Museum and check out the current HEAF exhibition, where local memories, creativity and connections to place are already taking centre stage. This isn’t just about heritage. It’s about people. #Eskdale #CommunityStories #LakeDistrictCulture #HeritageWithHeart #UNESCOWorldHeritage @ravenglassrailwaymuseum @melissawrote by @melissawrote
Between the Seas is coming together! One of two Solway community poems transformed into a conversation with the seascape subject. Next month the two poems come together on a third coast and the outcome is totally out of our human hands… It’s been (and still is) a project about talking to a land that is watery, boundary-less and often overlooked in favour of the sea beyond. People living on this land have made their words physically exist; now we invite the mud, sand, gravel and grass to offer their response. Fun to see them tangled in Solway wind for a little test fly ☺️ Watch this space to see poetry flags from Silloth and Stranraer as they travel. #solway #northerncoast #northernwriters #poetry #seascapes by @melissawrote
Lacking inspiration? Me too! Summer disrupted my writing routines and I’ve spent the last three weeks wondering why the creative flow just won’t come back. So it’s simple steps and reps for a while…pick a book, open a page, choose a line and go from there. Free writing without expectation. Landscape/nature reading recommendations welcome. It all helps!! #creativeblock #freewriting #backtobasics #cumbrianartist #naturewriting by @melissawrote
* A HEAF MAPPED in words * My new exhibition open at @ravenglassrailwaymuseum today! Consider this a stroll through the project so far, as phase I closes and phase II begins. These poems question the financial value of landscape; what role relationships play in creating connection to land; privilege and limitations, frustrations and joys of inhabiting a protected landscape. The whole exhibition is created from recorded conversations with individuals connected to Eskdale as well as public responses to A HEAF MAPPED exhibition which appeared @florencearts earlier this year. Watch this space to get involved in phase II of HEAF. Meanwhile, take a trip to Ravenglass! #eskdale #lakedistrictnationalpark #cumbrianartists #westcumbria #northernpoet by @melissawrote
Nature Writing Club is back with an autumn project! Over a series of monthly sessions we’ll be exploring the theme of ‘Sauvage’ in our personal landscapes, culminating in a collective zine (just in time for Christmas…) As always, plenty of nature, travel, landscape book chat too! Monday evenings in Ambleside. All levels of writing experience very welcome. Booking essential | £12pp Booking opens 1st September here. Location & dates to be confirmed then. #writinggroup #lakedistrict #creativehobbies #naturewriting trysomethingnew by @melissawrote
☀️ Pamphlet launch day! 🚲 ONE DAY IN LOWCA is the outcome of workshops with communities living along the revamped section of NCN Route 72 earlier this summer. We all had a chuckle imagining who (or what!) might come rolling down the cycle path into town…. Today @walkwheelcycletrust will launch the pamphlet at a NCN celebration event in Lowca village. Hooray for poetry being sought out by organisations as a way of gaining community buy-in for public projects! #collaboration #westcumbria #nationalcyclenetwork #poetrypamphlet #communitypoems by @melissawrote

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