The John Muir Residency was formed as an annual project in 2017 when we were privileged to invite some exceptional artists.

Alec Finlay and Hannah Imlach

Alec and Hannah were concerned with the intertidal areas of our landscape and our tendency to overlook changes that are incrementally taking place.

Alec developed a book, which focused people on the important of really knowing you locality: how ancient names can tell us important things about the topography or for instance the propensity to flood. He held a workshop encourage people to use contemporary maps to understand the importance of particular naming and talked about the relevance of popular literature that forms ideas on place and nature.

Hannah was inspired by the ancient limestone ridge at Whitesands, making a film of her performance of the sculptural piece Hexagonal Island Host placed in one of the pools on the limestone causway. The piece Dune Cradle based on Belhaven Bay was created to talk about rising sea levels and the abilities of nature to survive.

www.hannahimlach.com/Hexagonal-Island-Host

Alec and Hannah took plart in an opening walk to the exhibition called Floers. We took in poetry; the installation of Dune Cradle (containing intertidal plants) on the tidal sands of Belhaven Bay; music by Hanna Tuulikki at Belhaven Church; back to the opening of the exhibition where Dune Cradle was also installed; and an artists discussion was held with Lila Matsumoto chairing.