Abstract matters #1: Borrowdale
Aim of the experiment
To celebrate and explore the infinite potential and possibilities of the world we live in through engagement with its raw creative matter - its patterns, textures, lines and designs - understood as abstraction.
Background
In my introduction to this project (see About page), I outline some of the theories behind Scree. Amongst these is the idea that rather than us (and everything else in the world) being pre-existent entities which interact, we might more accurately be understood as existing only as a result of our relationships with others. Yet if this is the case, as a friend once asked me, then what does come before? And my answer is abstraction (an answer that took me a few years…!) Agreed, this is a slightly abstract answer in its own right, but what I aim to refer to is very specific: that raw state of unrealised matter / emotion / ideas from which the world comes into concrete being, which this experiment sets out to ‘find’ in the world, in its patterns, textures, lines and micro and macro states (ie moments which resemble what we might think of as abstract art). I’ve always found abstract art energising; equally I suggest here that the ‘matter’ this experiment seeks out is filled with both energy and possibility which finds expression in the world we know. My own experiments in seeking out such matter has helped me better make sense of the world in a constant state of emergence, retreat and re-emergence. And perhaps, if we can see the world as fluidly as this, then we might set about playing our part in its ongoing creation with more attention and care…?
The ideas behind this exercise are admittedly complex, and might be beyond some younger participants. Yet during my own explorations of these ideas with children, they have responded really well to seeking out the patterns and textures involved, and asking them to imagine: this is the raw material from which the world is formed, then what kind of world might we like to participate in making with this energy (and who will that make us)?
Route instructions
Click on the image to open an interactive version of the map on Viewranger,
or you can download the GPX file of my route here. (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
This experiment can actually be completed on any walk, anywhere. I chose to do it on the route outlined here due to the icy conditions at the time, and the possibilities that the rivers and tarns offered to explore temporary abstract states in the ice (abstract matter temporarily ‘frozen’ by the weather conditions). I’ve also offered an easier route for this experiment in a separate guidebook entry (Abstract Matters #2: Loughrigg Fell), where there’s also an accessible alternative from White Moss car park.
Route grading: Difficult (8.9 miles, 3,200 feet of ascent)
Accessible alternative: see Abstract Matters #2, or can be completed on any of the National Park’s Miles without Stiles routes.
Location: start at Seathwaite Farm, near Seatoller (see here on Google Maps)
Route Adaptation for Walk-from-home
As above, this route can actually be done on any walk; even urban and built-up environments can provide a really interesting context to explore these ideas.
I’ve often found the sky to be one of the most interesting ‘places’ to explore (also because it’s both material and immaterial both at once, and rarely entirely unchanging / static).
But water, ice, plant growth on rocks, patterns in the earth or mud…all of the above can be found in the widest range of places during your walk-from-home.
Writing & Art Ideas, & Virtual Alternatives
Combined writing & art exercise
For this experiment, I suggest a hybrid approach, combining writing with images, although you might prefer to do just one of these. While walking, your aim is to seek out instances of abstraction - by this I mean textures or patterns or lines, or micro or macros images which you find along your way - which resemble what we’d perhaps expect from an abstract work of art. Either photograph or sketch these while out and about; back home these images will provide the starting point for short imagist or aphoristic poems which will sit alongside the photographs / sketches. Imagist poems tend to be brief and focus particularly on sense impressions, with very little interpretation (haiku are a good example). Aphoristic poems contain short, pithy sayings. Since the theme is abstraction, I’ve also labelled all my poems with an abstract noun (via a random matching process).
Virtual exercise
My own images (below) can be used to complete the writing part of this exercise. Alternatively, it might be interesting to explore the relationship between any of these images and actual abstract works of art. Do any of the below images remind you of an abstract painting or sculpture? How does making this connection expand both your appreciation of the original work and your appreciation of this ‘raw matter’, and what is the relationship between them? How can you explore your answers to the above in a piece of writing? A third idea sets out from an actual abstract work of art (yours or someone elses). Imagine if this image were located in the landscape - where would you find it, and what might it become? Either make a new work of visual art which places this image in the landscape, or else use this as the starting point to let your imagination rip in a piece of writing.
My Poetry / Gallery
Click on the middle image below to open a slide show of abstract images with accompanying poems.
