Hedge Laying Training

On Wednesday 7th February, I observed more volunteers in the park, in hedge laying training. Hedge laying is a tradition in the park since it gets the hedges ready for spring. So again, it represents changes in the park and gives more ideas for my exhibition. The process of hedge laying is difficult because it includes lots of tools and stages to cut the stems, throw away the remains then push them to one side along with long wooden stakes hammered into the ground. You are  seeing changes happening, getting ready for the spring. I thought 'that must be hard, staying out in the cold and having to kneel down and stand up again and again, while using your hands with heavy tools'. For me, it was nice to observe in the fresh air, and apart for taking photographs, I also made some more improvised artworks out in the area and drew some quick sketches.

This is like the other times I've visited the park before. Only staying in the one place observing where the volunteers are cutting the hedge. It gets really cold not doing much. Some of the volunteers were doing hedge laying for the first time and some had done it before. So there was a variety of different experience in people. I decided to get a couple of rubbish bags and ask for a trash picker tool, to pick up any litter I saw around that area, because I had this idea to present only the litter I find around Hanley in my exhibition to prove a point how disgusting it is to have in an exhibition so it shouldn't be in the park. This was slightly new from my past experience, because in that area of the cauldron grounds at the edge of the park, there was lots of litter that I could see. In the other areas, where I walked more, I couldn't find much litter. Possibly because that part of the park was more focused on tidying with the amount of bins or too open to be seen littering. I collected all I could so I won't be short on litter, as a precaution. Just from watching, I learnt some new things about hedge laying and how important it is to the park. These photos are the process I saw through the day.

Later on, in the day, I started some more Goldsworthy-influenced artworks, as well as quick sketches in my small sketchbook, because I felt the need to do more than just photography. Photography is getting a bit boring for me and I'm hoping to try other things.