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Spaces
Local Heritage & Community Spaces
We specialise in designing creative projects in non traditional art spaces. We love to work in heritage settings & with libraries. Take a look at a range of our project and talk to us, if you want to run a similar programme in your space.
An Invitation to Play - Sculpture Counts
As part of our Invitation to Play
programme we were fortunate to be given the opportunity to take part in one of Art UK’s Sculpture Around You projects.It give us the idea of creating a new game inspired by some of the amazing sculptures in or near the libraries we were working with.We decided to create a card game, inspired by the popular game of Top Trumps. This game is particularly enjoyed by children aged 6-9 years and their parents and grandparents. We invited Brownie units in Harlow & Great Dunmow to get involved in selecting the sculptures that would feature in the game. Over a series of workshops the children discovered more about specific sculptures and took part in other activities inspired by specific sculptures.
You can download here a copy of the game Sculpture Counts
to print and play at home.We have now added 'Lionel' Perch by artists Deb Hart & Graham Slade. Perch was created as part of our "Woven & Welded" Dunmow Big Draw Art Trail programme in October 2020.
The Sculpture Project is the largest ever sculpture documentation project undertaken in the UK to date and made possible thanks to a generous grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Creating Space (2020)
We are looking to create a series of events that enable all ages to discover more about local wildlife and allow us all to celebrate the simple pleasures of being outdoors. In our ever busier lives we will be encouraging everyone to make time for taking part in creative activities.
We will also be looking back our one of our first community programme "The Diary of a County Churchyard" produced in 2010 in the build up to the creation the St. Mary's Church Riverbank Walk. In revisiting this project will be consider some of the challenges as well as the rewards for working
Our first events were our Tweet & Do workshop at Dunmow Library and a Family Birdwatch Breakfast at St. Mary's Riverbank Walk in connection with the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch.
Invitation to Play: Intergenerational Games &Arts Activities at Tye Green & Great Parndon Libraries (2019)
Intergenerational Games & Arts Activities at Tye Green & Great Parndon Libraries i
Over 7 weeks Catheine Mummery (Director of High Stile) & Kiran Chahal led a programme of intergenerational games making & playing sessions in 2 libraries in the most deprived areas of Harlow. They worked in partnership with the Community Builder Team at Rainbow Services. Community Builder Jenny Pankhurst “ We run a number of social clubs for isolated older people. Many people do not family near them & so do not get the chance to interact with other ages. This was the first time we had worked with the libraries & we wanted to support this project as it would enable all ages to meet in a safe community space where they could interact & enjoying learning new games & playing board & card games together. Young & old were delighted to learn how to spray paint & make games.” Holy Cross School were delighted that this project enabled their pupils to feel more connected with their local community, the children were able to show their elders games they knew like Oware (a traditional African & Latin American game) & learn games like Cribbage from the elders. Older volunteers have come forward to keep the games clubs going. The Libraries have reported that this project has attracted new older visitors to use their library more & has strengthened their links with local schools.
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Thanks to Essex County Council, Arts Council England lottery funding.
Thanks to Essex County Council, Arts Council England lottery funding.
St. Mary's Riverbank Walk (2009 - 2012)
We were invited by St. Mary’s Churchyard Committee in 2009 to support them in application for a Community Spaces Grant from the Big Lottery.We helped the group define the project and come up with plans to create a new community space in an overgrown and un-useable portion of the churchyard that ran alongside a short stretch of the River Chelmer on the outskirts of Great Dunmow. The committee were keen that the project strengthened links between the church and the town, and created a quiet reflective place accessible to all that could be an exciting outdoor learning resource as well.
Catherine helped the committee secure a grant from the Stansted Airport Community Fund to enable community consultation to take place prior to the application to the Big Lottery. She also established links with another town community space – the Dunmow Library. Aware that children and young people respect projects and facilities that they themselves have helped create or develop, Catherine devised a year long project in 2010 called “The Diary of a County Churchyard”
that acted as an imaginative action research programme.
Local community groups and schools were invited to visit the churchyard, take part in arts and wildlife inspired activities and consider how they would make use of a new Riverbank area in the future. They then created exhibition displays at the Library and contributed to the “The Diary of a County Churchyard”, a large edited folder of photos and work created, which became the legacy of the project for the Church.
In 2011 The Riverbank Walk
was created and opened to the public by TV Gardening expert Christine Walkden in March 2012. Where once there was an impenetrable thicket with mature toppling Poplar trees, there is now a pathway accessible for all.
Sparks Will Fly (2012)
Sparks Will Fly was a county wide programme created by Essex County Council as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Each District Council was asked to devise a special celebratory day to welcome a mythical sporting giant. Catherine Mummery was commissioned by Uttlesford District Council as Creative Producer for the Uttlesford project, a key aim was to ensure that people from across the district took part.
Catherine brought in Kiran Chahal who devised a community participation programme “Tribes and Treasures” drawing inspiration from the world collections at the Saffron Walden Museum. Five schools across the District created banners to be hung outside the museum. Six schools worked with dancer Mary Davies and the world music from the Grand Union Orchestra
to create dance pieces to be performed on at the big Sparks Will Fly
at Walden Castle day. Children were dressed in spray painted tee shirts that linked with the banners. Families were encouraged to come up with designs for their own face paint and decorations for shakers.
On 19 May families lined the streets of Saffron Walden and the grounds of Walden Castle to greet the visiting “sporting hero” Marina Mightier and to watch a parade that brought together groups including the Saffron Walden BMX Bikers, the Thaxted Morris Men
and Nepalese families from the Carver Barracks. Each district had to present a “Bead” to their visiting Campaign.
Catherine devised a photo competition which resulted in a colourful photo montrage in the shape of Uttlesford for the “Treasured Places Uttlesford Bead”.
Programme funded by Essex County Council, Uttlesford District Council and Arts Council England.
Out of the Shadows (2008)
Catherine Mummery established good working relationships with a number of professional artists, enabling them to extend their practice and present them with new creative challenges. One artist who took part in the 2004 Sculpture Trail, Liz Ellis, became fascinated by the social history of the Gardens. Her project “Out of the Shadows”
records the labour, both past and present, of the men and women from the Salvation Army Centre in Hadleigh.
The Hadleigh Centre now offers training opportunities for Adults with Special Needs and Mental Health Issues. Through a series of visits to the Gardens the Trainees were able to do volunteer gardening at Easton Lodge and assisted Liz in the creation of her artwork. Her photographic banners pay tribute to the fruits of their labours by featuring the produce they grow for the Hadleigh Centre’s farm shop.
The banners went on to form a part of a special exhibition at the Salvation Army’s International Headquarters In London in November 2008.
The Hadleigh Centre now offers training opportunities for Adults with Special Needs and Mental Health Issues. Through a series of visits to the Gardens the Trainees were able to do volunteer gardening at Easton Lodge and assisted Liz in the creation of her artwork. Her photographic banners pay tribute to the fruits of their labours by featuring the produce they grow for the Hadleigh Centre’s farm shop.
The banners went on to form a part of a special exhibition at the Salvation Army’s International Headquarters In London in November 2008.
The project was funded by Essex County Council.
An Invitation to Explore (2007)
This was the third Big Draw project organized by Catherine Mummery for the Gardens of Easton Lodge. With each year the projects have grown and become more challenging, exciting and entwined with celebrating or commemorating national or local events and supporting activities within partner groups. However, all centred around examination and reflection on the unique history and extra-ordinary setting of the Gardens of Easton Lodge.
Three projects linked together to form the “Invitation to Explore”
programme:
- Liberation Song – a community music project led by international jazz musicians from the Grand Union Orchestra, which involved over 60 children from 3 local schools. It culminated with an unforgettable performance given to an enthusiastic audience of 300 at the Gardens of Easton Lodge. This had 3 linked drawing projects, which involved over 200 children.
- The Invitation to Explore – Trading/Faces Big Draw Project. Over 1,000 children from 5 local schools decorated cotton reusable bags for display at the Gardens. This event culminated with a display of the bags and related themed workshops over the Big Draw Weekend 13-14 October. The project was run in association with the Recycling Department of Uttlesford District Council, who most helpfully sourced all the cotton bags at cost. Over 400 visitors came to the Gardens over the Weekend.
- Shape The Future – Designing for Sustainability. This project used the theme of trading to look at carbon trading and green energy issues. Children were encouraged to create imaginary green gear driven machines. The competition was launched at the Big Draw Weekend, and was taken up by 2 primary schools which resulted in 69 children entering the project’s competition.
In total over 2,300 participants aged 2 – 80 took part in the above projects.
An Invitation to Discover (2006)
Linking drawing to healthy living and green transport initiatives resulted in an ambitious schools programme with wide public participation, not only in the gardens but in surrounding areas.
Artist Kiran Chahal worked for four weeks with schools across Essex on the themes of journeys and maps, creating stunning banners for display round the Gardens. Each banner reflected curriculum topics and aspects of the Garden’s hidden history, and helped form an arts trail interpreting the entire site. Arts activity days encouraged families to walk or cycle to the Gardens and experiment with spray-painting and collage. Unexpected challenges, such as plaster carving and decorating recycled shoes and bicycle wheels helped everyone discover that drawing, social history, fresh air and environmental awareness can be fun and accessible.
The programme also kick-started future collaborations with the County Park Rangers, Essex Record Office, health support workers, Rights of Way,
cycling & walking groups. Artists involved were Kiran Chahal, Stella Eldon, Anne Schwegmann-Fielding, Liz Ellis & Antonia Hockton.
Project won an Inspired by Heritage Drawing Award from the Big Draw and Campaign for Drawing.
It was funded by Essex County Council, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Uttlesford District Council.
An Invitation to Draw: Drawing On Memories (2005)
Previous year's Sculpture Trail showed how artists could help interpret the site and bring new audiences to the Gardens. In 2005 the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II presented fresh opportunities for artists to make their mark. Five artists (Kiran Chahal, Stella Eldon, Hilary Sleiman, Tom Deakins & Jacqueline Davies) were invited to undertake commissions.
Easton Lodge played a strategic role in WW II when its parkland was used for airfields. Launched with a family day in the summer, followed by workshops in 4 schools, the project resulted in a sculpture and drawing trail around the Gardens’ places of wartime significance. Children were proud to see their work displayed alongside that of the artists, who led the workshops, and discovered how memories and emotions can be explored through drawing.
The project was regularly reported on in local papers and it went on to win an Inspired by Heritage Drawing Award from the Big Draw and the Campaign for Drawing.
Project was funded by the Big Lottery Home Front Recall Fund and promoted in the BBC’s “People’s War Project”.
An Invitation to Create: Artist Residency & Sculpture Trail (2003-2004)
In 2004 Catherine Mummery & Anne Schwegmann-Fielding worked together to devise the Invitation to Create
programme. This saw Anne become the Gardens of Easton Lodge first Artist in Residence. The Residency included the creation of Darling Daisy
– a mosaic sculpture of the Gardens’ most renowned owner the Daisy, the Countess of Warwick, the famous mistress of the Prince of Wales who exchanged the whirl of society high life to embrace socialism. This permanent artwork is made of objects found buried within the gardens the Countess loved so dearly. Visually striking and very tactile the sculpture remains to this day highly popular with visitors.
An Invitation to Create Sculpture Trail & Exhibition
Curated by Anne Schwegmann-Fielding and Catherine Mummery
this was organised as an open submissions event. An independent panel selected 25 artists from over 40 who submitted entries. The trail placed the conceptual alongside the more traditional and took the viewer on a journey through the gardens, with artworks at their feet and above their heads. Many of the works were created specifically for the event. Materials used varied from shredded tyres, to limestone and glass. Over 600 people attended over the 3 days of the event and artwork by 7 artists was sold. The project received wide spread local media coverage including making the news on Anglia TV.
An Invitation to Create Sculpture Trail & Exhibition
Curated by Anne Schwegmann-Fielding and Catherine Mummery
this was organised as an open submissions event. An independent panel selected 25 artists from over 40 who submitted entries. The trail placed the conceptual alongside the more traditional and took the viewer on a journey through the gardens, with artworks at their feet and above their heads. Many of the works were created specifically for the event. Materials used varied from shredded tyres, to limestone and glass. Over 600 people attended over the 3 days of the event and artwork by 7 artists was sold. The project received wide spread local media coverage including making the news on Anglia TV.
Artists involved included Jacqueline Davies, Antonia Hockton, Liz Ellis, Richard Bray, Shermaine Slocombe, Jelena Lukic (CADE, Writtle College), Richard King (& Acorn Villagers), Eliane Tribley, Stella Eldon.
Programmes were funded by Essex County Council and the lottery funding from Arts Council England.
An Invitation to Developing contemporary art programmes at the historic Gardens of Easton Lodge (2002)
The seeds for establishing High Stile Projects were sown at the Gardens of Easton Lodge in Essex. The Gardens under the ownership of Brian and Diana Creasey supported the development of a bold and ambitious programme that enabled Catherine Mummery to work with a range of artists to interpret the gardens’ hidden histories through a public art and community engagement projects.
In 2002 Catherine Mummery was introduced to Anne Schwegmann-Fielding by artist Steve Downey, who at the time was Essex County Council’s Visual Arts Manager. The first project they organised together was with 6th Form students from Helena Romanes Secondary School and 6th Form Centre.
“What has been most fascinating about this project has been drawing from the designs of Harold Peto, but interpreting them in a contemporary way. It has been really impressive the way the students thoroughly researched the project and interpreted the Gardens. It is exciting to think that their work will in turn become part of the history of these Gardens”, said Anne Schwegmann-Fielding.
This project was so successful a further set of tables was created in 2003 this time involving pupils from Dunmow St. Mary’s Primary and visitors to the Gardens as well as students from HRS. A set of vinyl cushions to go with the tables and chairs were created by textile artist Jacqueline Davies with the help of a team of community participants. The tables, chairs and cushions are still in use at the Gardens.
