adalbeattie community initiativeproject rock,paper

RAW Rocks and Wheels

A Dalbeattie Community Initiative project

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS & JAGGY BUSHESHow can we interpret the Dalbeattie Primary School story and meaningfully remember 6 generations of experience in anticipation of its 150year anniversary in 2026?

How can we interpret a meaningful historical and cultural story of ordinary people that tells a unique local story distinct from Scotland’sgenerally well represented museum collections?

dalbeattie community initiative october 2018 1

Words and Stones: Thematic Proposal

To ‘interpret’ means ‘to give meaning to’. For humanity it is oneof the most important things we do. We interpret the meaningof our lives in order to understand who we are, where we havecome from, and where we might be going. As artists andscientists, planners and managers, producers and consumers,we are all instinctive interpreters, seeking meaning wherever itis to be found.

In our surroundings, there are many places, buildings, objectsand events that have a special meaning. Even the ordinary andeveryday has meaning - usually hidden, sometimes surprising,but always relevant.

“The historic environment is a platform to stimulate citizenshipand a sense of belonging”: extract from “our place in time” TheHistoric Environment Strategy for Scotland, 2014.

Dalbeattie Primary School having been established in 1876following on the heels of so many other rural schoolsestablished as a consequence of the 1872 Education Actsubsequently saw nearly 140 years of pupils pass through itsglistening granite clad walls. The now redundant buildingsundoubtedly have a special meaning in the community’s heartsand minds.

The History of Dalbeattie Primary School is recorded in a finebook of that name, a research project funded by HeritageLottery ‘Sharing heritage’ Fund and William HeughanAssociated Special trust in which information and memories arerecorded.

This publication was prior to the exciting potential of the AssetTransfer of the site and buildings into community use.

Galloway’s history and cultural identity has local accents of acommon Scottish story.

These national stories and artefacts can be found in collectionssuch as the national Museum of Scotland and Museum of RuralLife albeit found in metropolitan conurbations.

The proposal is that the project interprets the untold story ofthe human interventions in the landscape of Galloway overtime and the ordinary people who made them.

A story of invention, magic, conflict and oppression that is asrelevant today as it was millennia ago.

The proposal is for the Words and the Stones to be illustratedand illuminated both in the landscape and structures of theproject, a public and social memorial that rewards curiosity andenquiry.


words and stones

So what to do and how to tell the story in the words and thestones, the ghosts of collective memory?

An idea, empathetic design and the use of writing techniquessuch as story-telling, humour and metaphor can makeinterpretation more effective.

Provoke, Relate, Reveal + Imagination is this discipline’s mantra.

Eyes on stalks, not bums on seats, to explore, probe, dissect,analyse and respond from many different angles in the mostappropriate ways for this specific site, to experiment.Interpreting is so many things: finding out, expressing,uncovering, sharing, celebrating, giving different perspectives.

Italo Calvino, in ‘Invisible Cities’, asserts that “the grandchallenge for art is to be capable of weaving together thevarious branches of knowledge, the different ‘codes’ into amanifold, multifaceted vision of the world

The last thing we wish to do is dispel that sense of discoverythat every new visitor scents on engaging with the project.Encourage further exploration.

Jean Piaget, child psychologist, notes that “you learn throughinventing, not through being taught what others know butthrough experiencing, inventing knowledge anew”.

Unlike artificially-created experiences the school buildings aresomething precious, something unique - something real, that iswhat our visitors are coming to see - not the interpretation.

Interpretation is intended to move us, not ‘teach’ us, and mostinterpreters agree that the two are qualitatively different. Astrong theme is one that provokes a person to think. When weare provoked by an idea, we think about it, wonder, ponder,and sometimes entertain new and wonderful possibilitiesabout a place or thing or concept. This often results inimplanting new beliefs about the thing being interpreted, or inexisting beliefs being changed or replaced.


jaggy bushes

Give the people of Dalbeattie ownership and the opportunity todiscover, create and communicate their own sense of thesignificance of a place through imaginative and emotional responses.Many remember the “refreshing” birthday treat ritual of beingannually plunged into the playground jaggy bushes, something tolook forward to!

Allow visitors to make their own meaning and connections withfamiliar objects, chosen by people like them rather than by curators.Since, in order for people to construct meaning, they must be able toconnect it with what they already know, we have to accept thatthere is no one correct interpretation (the curatorial approach ofmuseums fixed collections) and that people create their ownknowledge and understanding from what is on display.

Interpretation can play a significant role in moving towardssustainable tourism. It is not just about economic return and visitorenjoyment, but also about making links between the visitor, thecommunities they visit and the heritage resource. This is crucial inthe face of declining primary industries that are slowly waking up tothe need to interpret their activities to the visiting urban dweller.

This can be better achieved through integration of how places aremarketed, with the expectations of the visitor and the reality of whatthey find. Marketing, signage, and publications all link withinterpretation and site management to enhance visitors’ experience,and to sustain heritage features and active communities. A totalquality approach should apply just as much to the interpretation, asit does to accommodation and catering.

An audience, made up of unique individuals, has varying degrees ofability to read and understand. Many can find interpretationinaccessible, and it is essential we cater for all abilities and ages -and by doing so we will benefit a much wider audience. There areover one million adults with learning support - more than thenumber of wheel chair users. Like the rest of us, they have variedinterests and many are seeking sources of inspiration for otherpursuits such as art, music or drama.

There are certain “missing audiences” that are common to most, ifnot all, of the various sectors that make up our heritage. Includedamongst these groups are the very young and the very old, peopleon low incomes, ethnic minorities, and in most sectors, ruralcommunities. In other words, those commonly considered to besocially excluded.

It is clearly going to be crucial that the Arts are seen to standalongside other areas of cultural expression, notably Historical andEnvironmental heritage. The chance to create work that inspires andreveals the unknown in an unexpected way is the real reward ofcommissioning an artist to work on an interpretation project.

This is ‘Experience based planning’, which aims to give visitorsmemories, not just ‘facts’ about heritage sites that they mightotherwise forget. The visitor needs to believe that what they areexperiencing still has an influence on them today and is not just adistant point in history. We aim to engage the visitor’s intellect andemotions on an equal level.


heritage lottery fund

Recent and current investments by the HLF requirecommitments to a wide range of benefits other than simply“preserving”, and it is in this context that they have taken aninterest in interpretation. HLF are now funding very high-qualityprojects all chasing more limited funds and competition is verydemanding.

Interpretation is best viewed in the context of HLF’s widerobjectives. They are primarily a conservation organisation, sothe starting point is that there has to be something – a tangibleor intangible heritage asset – to conserve, in this case theschool core buildings.

HLF have guidance on Access and Audience Development thatis there to assist applicants in promoting this multiple approachto projects. Without that combination of benefits, they areunlikely to become involved.

HLF try hard not to get bogged down in defining heritage, theyare determined that it is wide and inclusive. If we as acommunity can argue that a heritage asset, tangible orintangible, is important to us and your understanding of wherewe come from, then it meets HLF’s definition – it is ourheritage.

HLF are aware that not all projects have tangible benefits in theform of a building, an exhibition or a book. Participation is itselfa vital and potent benefit, particularly for new heritageaudiences.

‘Markets of one’ and ‘mass customisation’, aim to developmore targeted interpretive programmes and services for awider range of market groups. Interpretive planning isincreasingly focusing on how to attract visitors, have them trulyunderstand and remember our story and message, and at thesame time get a return on our investment.

Interpretive planning must also address how the resource, thevisitor, and the agencies /organisations will benefit from theinterpretation


thematic idea

The practice of commissioning artists has evolved fromdesign competitions to the now more widely usedapproach of artist placements and residencies. Acritical factor in a successful artist commission is tocreate an environment where the artist can reveal anunknown insight. This environment needs to allow forthe artist to research, probe and develop ideas indialogue with the client. The outcome is probably notknown at the start, so a working relationship based ontrust is needed.

Without prejudice, we should be considering if thedistrict’s wider historical and cultural story should bewoven into the story of the school, with the schoolbeing a piece of the jigsaw rather than the whole.

We should also be considering this historical andcultural story’s relevance to the proposed use of theproject and how it can be related rather than justsuperficial wallpaper.

Thematic interest can lift the story out of the dryhistorical book context and the thematic historicalresearch carried out by the project team and outlinedin the Consultant’s brief is suggested as being anembryonic staring point.

The theme of ordinary people and how they shapedthe land and buildings over the centuries, oppressedby unstable politics and religious dogma, oftenunrecognised in historical accounts, is a story notcommonly represented in museums and art gallerieswhose collections, normally commissioned or“gathered” by the wealthy, are held in secureestablished national museums immediately renderingthem elitist.


physical framework

It is proposed that the 77metres long new linear retaining wallthat forms the new public square in front of the school belltower represents a simple metaphor for the 777miles ofdrystone walls built by labourers who cleared the fields toimprove the land. The diaphragm (777mm wide) retaining wallnegotiates almost 7.7m of vertical drop and being adjacent thenew natural amphitheatre for public gathering this will be apowerful canvas on which to “paint “the picture of ordinarypeople over time and be presented in the public domain,literally “art on the railings”, free to everyone to engage with.

At present the proposal is to make this “Memory Wall” out ofCorten Steel, a material that the new core foyer is proposed tobe clad in. This steel has a sacrificial coat of rust that thenprotects the material from further degradation, in itselfmetaphorical, and is a perfect contrast in colour and textureand factory process to the Craignair grey granite hewn for thehill, cut-outs from sheets rather than carved from solid.

The linear nature of the wall lends itself to a timeline friezewhich could be laser cut out of the steel or formed in 3D fromfolding and pressing out shapes by local fabricators to anydesign.

Significantly this simple, but powerful wall, reaches directly outtowards the wooded path leading to prehistoric motte of TheMoyle in Dalbeattie Town Wood and at the other end into the21C park of the future and the Motte of Urr at the top of theUrr valley encouraging exploration of the landscapes beyond,such as the 7 stanes trails and other wild routes.

This memory wall artefact and its related square, like the clocktower in the Glasgow Central Station concourse, would be ameeting point, for everyone: cyclists, walkers, orienteers,tourists, historians, families, clubs and like the clock be aspringboard for exploratory journeys out into the landscape.

It seems that the wall’s public prominence in the project is anideal blank canvas and that this could lead to smallerinterventions in the buildings and the landscape.

There is also space for temporary exhibition in the educationblock however this is seen as a separate entity and not core tothe “words and stones” story.


Case Study 01:Kelvingrove

A new system of flexible ‘permanent’ displays has beendeveloped and tested at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum,the most visited British museum outside London. Like manyVictorian Gothic museums, Kelvingrove is creaking at the joints.

The problem was that ‘permanent’ displays often end up withan inflexible rationale, theme and architecture. With a longgestation period for large projects, such displays can datequickly and need renewing a few years after completion. So isthere an alternative? Our community and educational advisorypanels, and a great deal of visitor research, suggested weshould provide a range of experiences and cater for differentlearning styles - contemplative, hands-on, sad, stirring, fun etc.

However, if the public’s involvement in shaping the displays wasgoing to be more than a one-off exercise, and we were to havethe ability to incorporate new research, then displays simplyhad to be flexible - both physically and intellectually. As a one-off capital project, we wanted the new displays to be capable ofchange. To do this we had to abandon ideas of large linearnarrative galleries that fix collections and interpretation, andinstead focus on specific ‘stories’ that arise out of the objectsand visitor interests.

These stories would be grouped within gallery themes chosen toreflect the strengths of the collection and visitor interest, and asan aid to orientation, rather than traditional academic themes.Thus both the ‘story displays’ and themes would change overtime. Around 80% of the gallery space would be devoted to 120story displays with 8 story changes each year. The rest of thedisplay space would be devoted to four Discovery rooms: hands-on areas; a Display Study Centre; open storage with researchfacilities; and two Object Cinemas - son et Lumiere type displaysmixing objects, light, sound and projection.

The first phase of a prototype flexible story display system hasnow been developed and evaluated, focusing on two ‘stories’ -‘Introduction to Italian Renaissance Art’ and ‘St. Kilda: Livingwith the land’.

The idea was to create standardised modules that could bearranged in different ways that were capable of containing amix of all likely objects and media, but could also accommodatebespoke finishes and graphics to avoid a ‘trade show‘ look.

The key modules were the case, table, bench, screen and slab.The idea has proved very popular, with over 75% of respondentsin the evaluation rating the design of the displays as good orvery good. The results of both the public and technicalevaluation will inform a second phase of development andevaluation, to test additional elements and to refine theproduction brief, planned for March - April 2000.


Case Study 02:Poems on the river Cree.

A writer working with the landscape in a direct way can be veryeffective in bridging the gap between visual art and the writtenword. Nic Coombey of Solway Heritage and poet Liz Niven werecommissioned by the Newton Stewart Initiative to research andwrite a series of poems that would reveal and emphasise thevalue of the surroundings and reveal the hidden history andecology of the River Cree.

The connection between the river and people was especiallyimportant. Liz spoke to local people who use the river, andresearched the town’s history and the river’s ecology. Thisinformation was distilled and filtered through her work. Thebombardment of words, their sounds and rhythms were asimportant as hearing peoples’ ideas and opinions. The names ofplants, animals and fishing flies frequently held a rhythm oftheir own or an echo of others. The words were incorporatedinto landmarks and elements along the route.

Liz and Solway Heritage worked with local crafts people to bringthe words alive, and poems are now found embedded in manybridges, handrail and seats along the river. Accessibility was keyto gaining ownership and understanding amongst thecommunity. Liz, who lives locally, gained the trust of both thecommissioner and viewers through her research and projectdevelopment process. Her own work and aspirations also grewas a result, and now a new publication has been released. It isthis two-way dialogue that allowed the interpretative role ofboth artists to develop beyond our expectations. I urge you totake a controlled risk, and to commission or become involvedwith an art project that has the ability to surprise and reveal theunknown.


Case Study 03:Saying it without words We respond differently to different forms of communication. Text based media can instruct us, butarts media and activities can help us to feel by connecting with us in a more affective (emotional)way. Here we present an Interpret Britain Award winning interpretive project in the Peak District.What are the three most important concepts in interpretation? No not Provoke, Relate, Reveal. Evenmore important than those are Communication, Communication and Communication. Butcommunication is a two way process; it means listening as well as speaking.

The National Trust High Peak Estate in the Derbyshire Peak District is an area of outstandingecological, archaeological, and geological significance. It is also a fabulous place for a day out. Whenwe first set about devising an interpretation strategy for the property, we wanted to integrateinterpretation into a wider learning plan involving staff, volunteers and the public where two-waycommunication plays a crucial role in the day to day management of the property. Arts activities arecentral to the provision of learning on the property. The combination of hands-on arts activities in aspectacular natural setting produces a double whammy of powerful personal involvement andemotional engagement which can lead to the sort of “life-changing experiences” that the newNational Trust Learning Vision advocates.

When we had the opportunity to renovate an archaeologically significant vernacular farm buildingto be used as an interpretation shelter, we wanted to use arts media and involvement with a localschool to shape both the process and the end result of the interpretation. Grindle Barn in the UpperDerwent Valley lies on an old packhorse trail and is now part of a farm which retains traditional haymeadows - so many of which have disappeared in the last 50 years. The importance of the farm’shistory and wildlife make a visit doubly rewarding, but how could we go about communicating thishidden significance?

We started by commissioning artist Nicola Henshaw to carve a wooden bench which wouldsymbolise some of the natural life of the area. The arms of the bench are in the shape of a curlew’shead with its long downward bending bill. The bench fulfils the practical needs of the visitor whilealso suggesting deeper layers of interest. We also commissioned Nicola to carve a wooden panelwhich would go above the doorway, showing a timeline of life in the valley from the monks ofWelbeck Abbey who first introduced sheep onto the hills, to the packhorse trains of the 18th century,and the present day walkers and wildlife of the moors and fields.

The next stage was to work with the local school and two artists to collect natural and historicalimages of the area and rework them in clay to create ceramic tile pieces to be inlaid into the barnwalls. Children from Bamford School visited the barn and by means of a role-play we recreated thelife of the packhorse trains, investigating how and why the landscape has changed over thecenturies. Artists Lesley Fallais and Les Biggs worked with the children collecting words and imagesthat reflected their understanding and response to this place. Back in school these images wereadded to and refined, with each child creating their own tile. The art work became part of theinterpretive process allowing the individual to communicate their own response to and develop theirown understanding of the place. They therefore created their own significance rather than havesomeone else’s significance forced on them. The only words on the barn walls are the words of onegirl’s poem intended to evoke an emotional response. For the rest visitors can see dotted around thewalls small images on the ceramic tiles that refer to the life, past and present, of this place. If theyare sufficiently intrigued to find out more there is a leaflet, illustrated by the children, available in adispenser in the barn.

This provides more information in the form of an imaginative journey of a packhorse train through achanging landscape, identification of some of the hay meadow flowers, information about theenvironmental significance of this site, and useful visitor information.

Grindle Barn demonstrates an arts based approach to interpretation and learning across theproperty that gives people the opportunity to discover, create and communicate their own sense ofthe significance of a place through imaginative and emotional responses. In making the InterpretBritain award, the judge noted that they were “particularly impressed by the integration of artsactivities as a medium for interpretation…the interpretation appealed not just on an intellectuallevel but also on an emotional level, encouraging a response and direct involvement from the user.”

Adrian Tissier, The National Trust [email protected]


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Case Study 04:land marking

Many of us respond to the landscape with passion. It takes an artist’s vision and skills to communicate that feeling coherently. Sculptor, John Behm’s response to his local landscape are his Waymerks on the Southern Upland Way. The footpath passes John’s studio. Its walkers know nothing of the struggles of the artist within, so John was inspired to champion the tradition of making.

Calling on his knowledge of history and archaeology, he thought out a way to draw attention to the rich products of past makers: the artefacts that bear witness to their craftsmanship, ingenuity and sense of design. He sought to demonstrate that artists still make beautiful things, and to remind people of the rich wildlife, past and present. Hand-minted in lead and copper, the Waymerks are ‘art tokens’. There are thirteen reverse designs, for thirteen stages of the footpath, and a common obverse. The latter is a palimpsest of earthworks which suggest mankind’s impact on the landscape. A Bronze Age beaker, an Iron Age sickle with a phallic handle, and an Anglo-Saxon beast from a ring are represented on the Waymerks. A wild boar appears for the Melrose section of the walk. This has double resonance: not only a former resident, it was also the insignia of the XX Legion at nearby Trimontium. The Waymerks are left in hoards in artist-made kists. These have been concealed, though never completely buried, at remote and lovely places along the Way.

Walkers are invited to take to the hills and look for them. Bronze plaques (bearing a bastard Latin word ULTREIA (‘on with your quest’) on the waymarker either side of the kist site identify where to look. Successful hunters take home a Waymerk. The response of walkers has been delight, sometimes rhapsody. “I adored the submerged basin with its lid bearing the Covenantor text, but nothing can match that cunning little stone drawer in the bank!” wrote one. People report that they do go home and look at the website (www.waymerks.org.uk) written on every kist to discover the background to the designs. Many who have found a kist by chance say they have returned to the Way to search for others. The lure of an art-treasure hunt has people out on the hills, appreciating not only the landscape but the creativity of the people who live on it now and who have done so in the past.

Fi Martynoga is an arts organiser and environmentalist who manages the Waymerks project: [email protected]


Case Study 05:process

I should start by introducing myself as a ‘process-led’ artist.

This little piece of artworld jargon means that I have no loyalty to any particular medium:instead I work by immersing myself within a situation or place through a process of multi-layered research. Out of this I this create an artwork entirely specific to the place.

‘The context is half the work’ is the mantra of much site-specific art practice, meaning thatthe artwork cannot exist separately from its surroundings. It derives its power from the webof relationships between the place and the artist’s intervention in or with that place. Whenconsidering artworks as a part of interpretation practice, this relationship is particularlypertinent. An artwork is by definition subjective and will therefore contain many layers ofpotential interpretation; in order to achieve this within a contextual work it is necessary forthe artist to understand a place as a multileveled entity.

Experience: My research begins with direct experience, spending time alone in a place,sensing an intuitive response. Often this will take the form of an idea of scale, acharacterisation in terms of texture (hard/soft, stable/mobile, loud/quiet etc) and arelationship to surrounding features (buildings, landforms etc). The intuitive response is thena foundation of the work and crucially the sounding board against which all further researchis tested.

Information: The second research phase is a gathering of factual, anecdotal and experientialinformation about the place. Much time is spent walking in and about the place andspeaking to people connected with it (a place exists as the sum of the thoughts of those wholive there, those who used to live there, those who have visited and those who have neverbeen there). These conversations form another key foundation to the work; a mixture ofpersonal anecdote, history, opinion and conjecture. More often than not each conversationwill throw up more suggestions of people to talk to: following this seemingly randomsequence can uncover a chance remark or story that becomes an essential generator for thework. Alongside this work is a similarly chance-informed trail through maps, text and imagesrelated to the place.

Experiment: At this point in the process the work has begun to suggest a material form, andthe third stage of research usually starts in the studio with experiments with materials andimagery. Materiality, and the technology inherent in shaping and joining materials, arefundamental to the reading of the work and often an idea demands research into unfamiliarprocesses or design precedents: for example a recent project led me into working with theartificial sea used by the wave energy research group at Edinburgh University to test thebuoyancy and movement characteristics of a floating section of an artwork.

Observation: The final aspect of research in my work is to consider each work as anexperiment in its own right. As I see the purpose of my work being to contribute to thechanging identity of a place, I assess the evolving relationship of a work to its context. Oftenthis is impossible to assess through my own observation; instead I rely on a process ofhearsay and observation from a distance (there is often nothing less helpful than thecomment of someone made in the knowledge that they are talking to ‘the artist’). Often theway a work enters into the mythology of a place can take unexpected and frankly bizarreforms.

A suspended bronze figure that I made in Glasgow’s Gorbals began to seep a ruddy liquidfrom the centre of her outstretched palm: in a predominantly Catholic area this was rapidlypassed round as a miracle (with a bit of a Glaswegian twinkle). The result was that I fulfilleda long cherished personal ambition of being featured in The News of the World , while thesculpture figured on several esoteric websites as a harbinger of the second coming of JesusChrist! Probably more significantly, the episode has contributed to widespread localadoption of the artwork as a good luck charm for the neighbourhood. It is this kind ofexperience that informs my approach to practice, a practice that in its entirety can be seenas a process of research into the role of identity and memory in public space.

Matt Baker [email protected] dalbeattie community initiative october 2018 12

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what’s the point of people?

Can any of the following be measured or even answered?

An interpretive plan can be a vital part of the process of producing an accuratebusiness plan and, hopefully, a successful funding application.

We have clearly stated the heritage merit of the project.

Keep the visitor experience in mind when developing interpretation.

Set clear, measurable interpretive objectives.

Ensure that the design brief follows on from the objectives of the interpretive plan.

Ensure that the interpretation meets relevant national standards and best practice.

Only take interpretive approaches that are practical to maintain.

Provide plans for ongoing development and refreshment.

Who are our visitors? School parties and family groups, parents and toddlers, retiredpeople, office workers at lunchtime, specialist groups, coach parties, walkers. Whatthey want to know and how they want to find out will vary enormously.

Where do they come from? Our visitors are local, from elsewhere in the UK, and fromoverseas. Many speak another language, we should consider translating some of ourmaterials.

We have lots of repeat visitors who may appreciate a regular change in ourinterpretation or if abstract, reveal further connections in landscape.

Why do they visit? What are their motivations? Does what we provide meet theirexpectations and can we cater to all their interests? We need to be sure that theanswers we offer match the questions they bring with them.

How long do visitors stay and what holds their interest the longest? Are thereparticular areas or tools that people seem most drawn to?

What level of knowledge do they bring with them? Are our visitors already experts inthe subject we are interpreting, or is it likely to be something new to them?Understanding this will help us provide the appropriate content.

What are their physical and learning needs? Everyone has different accessrequirements and preferences for the way we gather information. It’s useful to bear inmind that the kind of interpretation we might enjoy will not be shared by everyone.

Who isn’t visiting and why? This is perhaps the most challenging question to answer,but one which is crucial if we are to encourage new visitors and broaden the appeal ofour interpretation.


adalbeattie community initiativeproject rock,paper

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