An enjoyable few hours at Covehithe and Benacre (28 August).
A small but enthusiastic group (5 adults and one young person) met together at St Andrew’s Church, Covehithe at 11.30am. Simon shared some of his ‘finds’ and ‘creative art-e-facts’ with the group, emphasising that beach-combing required two skill sets:
- Properly looking and really ‘Seeing’ what is around you
- ‘Doing’ something to create some re-formation suggestive of something greater than the sum of its parts.
We then walked north along the clifftop until we reached the beach at Benacre where it was decided to stop and eat our picnics before getting down to business.
Simon introduced the group to the use of quadrats as a means of focusing attention on a very small bit of beach. We broke up into pairs and each individual was asked to choose one item from within their quadrat to bring to the group’s attention. In this way we were able the better to see the potential of what lay at our feet. Having done this, Simon asked everyone to build a pebble ‘balance’. A competitive element was then introduced to see who could make the tallest ‘balance’ of pebbles – see attached photos of 2 of the finished pieces. This required skill and judgement in terms of the choice of pebbles from which to make the balance. Having completed this exercise the group were invited to use pebbles (plus any other found-materials) to make any one of 3 symbolic designs – circle / spiral / snake.
The group found the tasks fully engaging and everyone agreed that it had not only been ‘eye-opening’ but also a lot of fun. It’s worth noting that although several people within the group had been to Covehithe before, nobody had been to Benacre which was a new and rather lovely discovery. We left our ‘art-e-facts’ in situ for others to discover as they wandered along the beach. It was a very worthwhile afternoon for all concerned, and shared with a lovely bunch of people!
Simon Raven (facilitator)