Braid Walk, curated by Jonathan Baxter

Art Walk Projects produces a series of public realm events and research-led social practice residencies in and around Portobello, Edinburgh's seaside and neighbouring areas, with  exhibitions & events held during the year, alongside their annual 'Art Walk Porty' Festival each September celebrating the creative community and public spaces of Portobello.www.artwalkporty.co.uk

Art Walk Porty

Walking from mouth to source along three adjoining burns: Figgate, Braid and Bonaly, taking their inspiration from the way of water.

Where the Figgate Burn joins Portobello Beach

A series of monthly walks with two additional workshops:Workshops: 15th April, 12th August – 10am-1pm (location tbc)Walks: 22nd April, 20th May, 24th June, 22nd July – start time: 10am, finish time: approx 4-5pm.*Walking from mouth to source along three adjoining burns: Figgate, Braid and Bonaly, these walks take their inspiration from the way of water – its flow and healing powers – and the poetry to be found in the name Braid Burn:<aside>Burn (landform):</aside><aside>Large stream or small river</aside><aside>Braid (transitive verb):</aside><aside>To make from braids</aside><aside>To form (three or more strands) into a braid</aside><aside>To mix and intermingle; to braid fact with fiction</aside><aside> Burn (intransitive verb):</aside><aside>To contain a fire</aside><aside>To produce or undergo discomfort or pain</aside><aside>To yearn ardently; burning to tell the story</aside>The story we’ll be telling, or rather, the story we’ll be walking, concerns our collective sense of what it means to live within a climate and ecological crisis, and how walking a watercourse might enable us to live that question now with rejuvenated purpose and joy. Questions we’ll be asking include the following: in a time of climate and ecological crisis what qualities, human and more-than-human, might we braid to ensure our planetary survival? What can we learn from walking this particular watercourse? Why walk from mouth to source: upstream and in search of something we may never find?Over the course of four walks and two additional workshops we’ll be exploring these questions, and more, through walking, drawing, poetry, and conversation. Participants are encouraged to bring their own resources to our collective endeavour: a singer brings their voice, a photographer their camera, an ecologist their know-how.The walks will be guided by our encounter with water, curated by Jonathan Baxter (artist-curator), with contributions from Helen Boden (writer and workshop leader), Sarah Gittins (visual artist and workshop leader), and James Spence (haiku poet). Participants will be encouraged to reflect on each month’s walk and, if they wish to, contribute creative outcomes towards an exhibition for Art Walk Porty 2023 and a follow-up publication.*The first three walks are on flat ground and mostly follow established pathways. The final walk takes in the Pentland Hills where paths are mostly well established but include some pathless walking and a gentle climb. We encourage sign-up for all of the walks and workshops, but if that is not possible please get in touch to discuss alternative arrangements. For more information about the walks and/or to reserve a place, please contact Jonathan at jb4change[at]gmail.com. Places are limited so early booking is advised.

<aside>About the Facilitators:</aside><aside>Jonathan Baxter is an ‘artist and …’ He works across disciplines – both art and non-art related – using psychoanalytic methodologies and performative practices to variously open up, challenge and propose what is. Since 2009 Jonathan has combined the roles of artist, curator and peer-educator to deliver a series of participatory art projects and peer-learning programmes. Current projects include his Craigmillar and Communities Walking Residency (2021-ongoing) with Art Walk Projects and an embedded artist residency at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh (2020-ongoing).</aside><aside>Contribution to the walk: For the Braid Walk project, I’m primarily interested in two things: What the walking of this watercourse can teach us about the climate and ecological crisis. What happens when strangers, acquaintances and friends choose to spend creative time together in places of intrinsic ecological value. I’ll be curating the walk and providing questions to walk with. I’ll also be introducing some mindfulness practices to deepen our experience en route. </aside><aside>Helen Boden is a poet and educator who has lived by the upper Braid Burn since 2010. Her first collection A Landscape To Figure In, a book about place and identity, was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2021. She also makes poetry in non-print formats for exhibitions and performance. As an independent Literature professional, she specialises in devising and delivering socially-engaged creative activities across a broad range of cultural, community and environmental settings, with particular interests in Writing for Wellbeing, ekphrastic poetry, and poetry walks.</aside><aside>Contribution to the walk: I’m interested in exploring various braidings of language, sound, place and placename: the flows of water and of words; states of flood and drought as metaphors; the significance of bridges and gates. I’ll be facilitating writing exercises based on embodied, sensory experience of Braid Burn; and introducing some existing poetic texts about watercourses for both reflection and stimulus to new writing. I’m thrilled to be deepening my engagement with this burn and its environs, and look forward to discovering the words, ideas and experiences all the other walkers bring.</aside><aside>Sarah Gittins is a visual artist and educator, working across a variety of media, with a particular focus on drawing, painting and printmaking. Her work explores issues of social and ecological justice and pays close attention to the wonders of the living world. Sarah is interested in the capacity of image making to enable engagement, conversation and action for change. Alongside making and exhibiting work, Sarah has facilitated creative workshops and taught drawing, painting and printmaking in a wide range of community and educational settings over the course of two decades. </aside><aside>Contribution to the walk: I'm looking forward to exploring different layers of experience on the walk through onsite and reflective drawing and mark making. I will be facilitating drawing exercises that aim to bring our experiences of the Braid Burn's varied environment into the visual realm. How does it feel to step into the burn? What marks can describe the movement of the water, the feel of the stones? What colours can be found and ground from the pebbles that wash up on the banks of the burn? How can drawing be used to pay attention to the welcome and unwelcome finds of an urban watercourse?</aside><aside>James Spence is a writer and a storyteller. His collection Scottish Borders Folk Tales was published by The History Press in 2015. He is currently putting the finishing touches to his book Ferr Frae the Dirlin Thrang – a Scots version of Thomas Hardy’s great classic. He has written four collections of haiku in recent years. His most recent collection A Walk in the Park, reflects on 12 monthly art walks through Little France Park, Edinburgh, curated by Jonathan Baxter. The book was part-funded, launched and exhibited at Art Walk Porty last year. James relishes leading creative workshops in poetry and storytelling, where he looks to inspire people though their own passions and stories. </aside><aside>Contribution to the walk: I see haiku writing as a means of producing snapshots of what I observe. In doing so I find that it greatly deepens my experience of the natural environment. I’m looking forward to taking part in the Braid Walk project, where I’ll both share related haiku and produce new haiku en route. For those who wish it, I’ll also be on hand to assist folk with their own haiku or verse, either individually or within a workshop. We have a deep connection with natural water courses. Folk down the ages have relied on them for their survival. I’m really inspired by burns and rivers; the sound of them, their light, their reflections, their depths and their journeys. I listen out for their little messages of haiku.</aside>

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