“When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls. What is to happen next will take place within the four walls of the story. And this is possible because the story’s voice makes everything its own.”  

John Berger, Artist and Author

At the moment, I’m working with several organisations, including Morrab Library, researching the story of Catherine Payton Phillips (1727 – 1794). Originally from Dudley in the West Midlands, Catherine settled in Redruth and married a local widower, a Copper Agent – William Phillips. The story of William’s descendants is fascinating too. 

They had met years before when Catherine was a young woman. However, from what I’ve read about her, I don’t think she wanted to settle down so young and be a stepmother to two very young boys. She extensively travelled throughout her life, through the U.K., Ireland, Europe and America – encountering crocodiles and journeying through swamps and prairies. 

Catherine and William met again later in life and married. William had never stopped wanting for them to be together all through the time they were apart. 

She was many things, as a well travelled Quaker preacher, but also a campaigner and interested in local ecology and communities. In particular, Catherine had two amazing ideas that have fuelled my research – the desire to ‘beautify wastelands’ and to grow fruit trees to feed communities.  

Over the last two years, I have devised a programme of artist residences at various locations to share my project, and the story of her life and ideas. So far, I have taken part in residencies at Kresen Kernow, Redruth Library and held events for Fun Palaces. 

As part of this programme of events, I have created a Cabinet of Curiosities, which is full of objects that all hint at aspects of her life, her ideas, the importance of orchards and facts about apples (a symbol of the project). There are many exciting and engaging strands to this project, as well as the Cabinet, including an interactive art piece called ‘The Library of Forgotten Fruits’, which will be on display during my residency. 

I also arrange workshops at Krowji and across the South West, enabling others to explore their stories and memories through interesting projects. I offer creative mentoring, where we work together over a number of sessions experimenting with different art techniques to bring your narrative into focus.

Finally, I’m the founder of the @palimpsest_project. This initiative helps record fragmented memories and stories of families through projects and kits. My recent research has been about the history of piecework. This is particularly apt in light of the pandemic crisis, where parents were trying to navigate how to work from home, while looking after loved ones.

Members and visitors alike are welcome to pop in to see Vicki’s ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ which will be displayed in the Elizabeth Treffry Room (upstairs) for the duration of the week. Vicki will also be running workshops and events which you can find out about on our events page.

We are delighted to announce that Faye Dobinson is our new Artist in Residence.  Her residency at Morrab Library is titled ‘Community Power Structure’, a phrase she borrowed from a book cover she spotted while visiting the library recently.

She says: “I was drawn to the cover of a book for its formal qualities – the colour, the typography, and the illustration. The 1953 cover will be the visual starting point for my residency.”

She adds, “I realised the title of ‘Community Power Structure’ contains three threads of interest that run through my art practice. These will act as both the activation point and the scaffold for the artwork that I make in my time at the library.”

Faye is a South East London born and West Cornwall based multi-disciplinary artist, activist and educator. She is an artist, curator, a Celebrant and also leads ‘Defining Practice,’ a yearlong practical based art mentoring course at The Newlyn Art School. She is passionate about art and creativity’s role in creating conversation, community, and heart led change. The relational aspect within her work has resulted in her exhibiting and teaching in Mongolia, exhibiting and working with artists in Tibet, helping open Europe’s first Contemporary Tibetan Art Gallery in East London, ‘The Sweet Tea House’ and saw her implementing ‘The Jupiter Project’, a space of possibility for artists and creative that was based at Jupiter Gallery in Newlyn and finished in April 2023.

She lives in Penzance, UK, with her daughter. We asked her when she first remembers coming to the Morrab Library and what her memories are of the library from that time.

“I first visited Morrab Library late 2019 when I moved into town after living in Phillack (Hayle) then Perranuthnoe for 12 years. I was astonished at the tangible peace, the active and alive stillness of the place. It vibrated with all the words and thoughts contained within it. I felt that Lisa and her staff had made a special place even more potent.”

Faye works in a range of disciplines including painting, drawing, printing, site-specific work and assemblage, and has travelled widely to meet other creative communities and look at the role of art in their lives. This socially engaged practice has run through her 25-year career, finding form in leading a wide range of creative projects in London with disaffected young people, working with children with emotional and behavioural problems, within her teaching and also in her own artistic output that asks questions of culture, power and love.

Faye says: “I will be using different artistic processes to let the space of the library unpack around me: the architectural space, the library as a container of meaning, as a space for the community and as a loved space, special to me and many others”.

We asked her why she wanted to be Artist in Residence at Morrab Library.

“I wanted to bring the different approaches of my artistic process to this wonderful building – to celebrate it through the act of tenderly paying attention.”

Faye has already begun creating artwork inspired by the library which you can have a look at on @communitypowerstructure. The first few pieces draw attention to some of the lesser spotted details of the rooms, such as the locks and escutcheons.

“Artist in Residencies create an opportunity for a place to influence and inspire an artist and for that artist to represent the place back to the community. It is a beautiful feedback loop!

I appreciate the very special space that it offers, the sense of community that it forges. My work is an active memorialising of this special community space: not in a solemn, static sense but, I hope, in a celebratory ‘alive’ sense.

 

I hope to bring a loving quality of attention to the details of the library – the idiosyncrasies and particulars that, for me, create a portrait of the place. I will be noticing what I notice and chronicling that. To me a place can be explored through myriad artistic processes and through that, different facets of the space can be revealed as it begins to unpack through the details of the sounds, smells and sights. I hope to help the often quiet and unseen be noticed and appreciated.”

We’re thrilled to be hosting Faye until November 2023 and you may spot her around the library over the course of the next few months, gathering inspiration and creating pieces.  She will be exhibiting the work created during her residency in the library in January 2024.

@communitypowerstructure

www.fayedobinson.com

Over the past year you may have seen our Penwith Futures Book postcards and posters in the library and while you’re out and about. We really hope you’ve pinned them to your noticeboard, popped them on the fridge or tucked them inside your bedtime reading as bookmarks, but most of all we hope that you have been mulling over your ideas to contribute to the ‘Penwith Futures Book’.

We’ve received some brilliant submissions so far and lots of interest from members – thank you all – but if you haven’t sent anything in yet we would like to encourage you to put pen to paper and send us your ideas.

As a quick reminder, or a brief introduction for our new members, here is a bit of information about the book and answers to some of the questions you may have…

What is the Penwith Futures Book? 

The Penwith Futures Book will be a compendium of your brightest ideas for the future of our local area. We would like you to imagine and then write down what a more environmentally friendly and socially just future could look like locally. We’ll put it all together into one big beautiful book for all to read.

What should I write? 

There is no right answer. The entries we have received from people so far have been a personal representation of what really matters to them – reflecting on what they love about living in Penwith, the things they cherish about the landscape, our community and the history of this special corner of West Cornwall – as well as looking hard at some of the problems we’re facing due to the climate crisis.

They have shared their hope and visions for the future – including greater access to nature for all, Cornish lessons for school children, and plastic-free beaches – and given ideas to help steer us there too.

Do you have any examples of other people’s entries to help inspire us? 

How can I send in my ideas?  

Your entry can be typed or hand written in any style. It could be in bullet points or rhyming couplets, in comic book frames or scribbled jottings, a typed paragraph or spider diagram. We want it to be representative of the people of Penwith, expressed naturally, so please be as creative as you like, adding illustrations, doodles, artwork, maps or photographs to help communicate your ideas.

We only ask that you keep your entries to under 400 words (or up to A4 size if submitting any artwork) and that you submit them by the end of April 2023 either by dropping them in to the library, posting them (Morrab Library, Morrab Gardens, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 4DA) or emailing them to harriet@morrablibrary.org.uk. Please include your name and contact information with your entry so we can chat to you about it.

What if I know some people who are not Morrab Library members but who might like to give their ideas for the book, can I share this with them?  

Absolutely, yes!

Perhaps you’re a member of a local history society, or you’re part of a home-schooling group, a bunch of ramblers, a litter-picking tribe, a crocheting club or a choir. We’d love to hear from organisations too.

If you are part of a group that you think would like to share their ideas for the book, please encourage them to get in touch with Harriet (harriet@morrablibrary.org.uk) for more info.

You can also download our poster if you’d like to share it with friends and organisations locally or on social media to help us spread the word.

Penelope Shuttle described the process as a “fascinating and educative experience” and went on to say that “reading the poems was exhilarating and often profoundly moving.” 

The poems were judged anonymously, so the judges were excited to discover that they had chosen such an international shortlist with poets hailing from all over the world, as far afield as Christchurch (New Zealand), Lagos (Nigeria) and Florida (U.S.A) with plenty of poets from across the U.K. too and one of the shortlist a Morrab Library member from Penzance. 

We thought we’d tell you a little bit more about the competition winning poets and also share clips of the poets reading their winning poems in their own voices at our hybrid event which took place at The Exchange in Penzance earlier this month.

She began writing poetry in 2007 on retirement from being an NHS manager. Since then she has had individual poems published in poetry journals, organises an arts festival in Sussex and had  her pamphlet Grapes in the Crater published in 2015. She is now working on her full collection.

Anna added: “Although I wrote this poem a couple of years ago, it’s been especially in my mind with everything that’s going on currently”.

Children’s competition:

Penelope and Katrina were both truly “wowed” by the quality of the poems in the children’s category. 

Penelope Shuttle said “The standard of the children’s poetry was exceptionally high. Well done all! And congratulations to the teachers for giving their students, however young, deep access to the imagination, and the power of articulation.”

The children’s competition received over 200 submissions and the judges were so impressed by the calibre of entries that they decided to appoint joint second and joint third prize winners, generously supported by the Dennis Myner Trust. 

Dexter Warburton, aged 13, won second prize for her poem called ‘A Boy Talking To A Robot In The Future About Where He Lives’ which you can read here. Caterina Williams was awarded joint second prize for her poem ‘The Flow of Words’, which you can read here. 

The judges loved the form of the joint third prize winner, 7 year old Ziva Patel’s poem, ‘Refugees’ which you can read here. 9 year old  Benjamin Williams, younger brother of Caterina Williams, was the joint third prize winner for his poem ‘Nonsense Safari’ – the judges particularly loved the rhymes in this poem which you can read for yourself here.   

You can read many the highly commended poems, in the adult’s and children’s category, on the website here.  

Morrab Library, The Dennis Myner Trust and our judges would like to congratulate all of the shortlist poets and say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the competition!