On Saturday 28th March, myself and Jess from the Waste to Wonderful team were invited to the opening of Places, the latest Kurt Jackson exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum. The evening allowed guests to browse the artwork, and listen to Kurt himself, and Tim Smitt introduce the exhibit.
Places is the result of Kurt Jackson approaching 32 writers to present him with 500 words on their favourite place in the UK. Jackson then visited each piece and produced art based on their interpretation. Most were paintings and oil on canvas, with a few thought provoking sculptures too. A great majority of the chosen places happened to be in Cornwall and the surrounding South West, which enabled a real connection with visitors to the Truro based museum.
The most impressive sculpture was constructed from left over tent pegs from Glastonbury, with a few bits of aluminium drinks cans thrown in too. Jackson had explained at a talk the previous week, that he had collected the tent pegs from the tractor which uses a magnet to clean up the Glastonbury site at the end of each festival. The sculpture accompanied a piece portraying a view of Glastonbury with the pyramid stage in the background and the never ending crowd flowing out from it.
The previous week, the Waste to Wonderful team also attended a lecture by Kurt Jackson, in which he spoke about his passion for the environment. The way in which Kurt Jackson distinctively paints the environment, from sea cliffs to forests, to even crowds at Glastonbury; his appreciation and care of the outdoors is vividly conveyed.
The piece about Glastonbury, including all the tent pegs particularly struck a chord. It brought to home how much waste we as humans leave behind us, like a trail. The waste left over from a temporary city such as Glastonbury represents only a fraction of what we create every day.
I hope Waste to Wonderful can be one step towards changing our throw away culture, and alters our views on something we are all guilty of taking for granted at some point or another.
Laura x
