Raleigh

We've just visited North Carolina's State capital, Raleigh. We all know who Raleigh is but did you know that the name in Olde English meant oak forest? That's what this city was before it came into being. The oak motif adorns the city in various public art often using stainless steel.

I went in search of art while Sadie took care of her official business. One encouraging place was Art Space, originally a livery, then Ford car dealership; it's now a large artists' studios, exhibition space and workshop/education facility - just the kind of place we were/are hoping for in Bideford.
With a little help from the State and City and lots of patronage from annual sponsors Art Space survives and flourishes. There were no empty studios, in fact there's a waiting list. Artists pay a rent for their studio to the not-for-profit 'art-space' organisation, but the individual artists can make a profit personally. Part of the deal is that they have to use their studio for a certain amount of time and that they must allow the public into their studios to see what they're doing, answer questions etc. It's based on a similar art space at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria near Washington DC.

Another place was the Visual Art Exchange, similar to art space but without the studios or teaching areas; a co-operative gallery, getting help from sponsors, showing quality and graduate work.
There is a really good, free, arts magazine in Raleigh, or the Tri-city region with Durham and Winston-Salem. artsee premièred this year with it's July/August edition. You don't often see a new magazine coming out in a recession especially a free one.

From the UK to NC

Sadie Green is on her 'Sir Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship' trip to North Carolina and Virginia to see where North Devon's 17th and 18th century pottery was exported to and to make contact with the people and arts community in Manteo on Roanoke Island NC. I her husband Dave am accompanying her on the trip and representing Bideford Bay Creatives (BBC). I go partially supported by a Networking Artists Network (NAN) Go-and-See bursary. My role is to extend the hand of friendship from our local artists in Bideford to those across the water in our 'sister city' Manteo. I'm hoping to find ways of solidifying the twinning process by building real relationships through the artistic community in both towns. I'm also a photographer and will spend some of my time exploring and documenting the similarities and differences between Manteo and Bideford.

The closest international airport to Manteo is Norfolk Virginia, a 2 hour drive away. We decided to fly to Richmond VA instead, a 4 hour drive but close to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Trail (AT). The AT runs the length of Virginia and the western edge of North Carolina and much more, it's over 2000 miles long. We just hiked about 12 miles of it, staying in a cabin 2 miles from the trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of Americas most 'scenic' drives. I now understand the lyrics '...on the trail of the lonesome pine' - there aren’t any pine trees, or very few; it's all deciduous trees here and starting to change colour in the early 'fall'. Blue Ridge Mountains - I was expecting hard grey slate pinnacles, but instead of this there are trees, you see the blue as the sun sets, all of the shaded areas are blue. (the picture, one of Sadie's is of some locals making pastel pictures of the sunset) Trees, lots and lots of them will be a lasting memory of VA. We drove for 4 miles from the 4000 ft peaks to America's first 'permanent' settlement at Jamestowne, down tree lines roads for almost the whole journey; and by tree lined I mean driving through deep forest.

You can read all about the pottery in Jamestowne in Sadie's blog: sadie-green.blogspot.com
Left are some full-sized replica ships in Jamestowne.
We've now arrived in NC's state capital Raleigh, a 3 hour drive from Jamestowne once we'd crossed the James river on a free 15 minute ferry ride. We could have avoided the ferry, knocked 1/2 hour of our journey and taken the free-way but our route took us through a quiet, rural part of the 2 states full of romantic colonial houses, often partially in ruins.

Bideford Heritage Day

I have been an enthusiastic member of Bideford 500, a local voluntary group researching and celebrating Bideford's history, for the last 2 years. In June I got the 2 day per week job as Project Development Worker for the group. This post came about through a Leader 4 grant which also financially assists the inaugural Heritage Day on 17th July. It's a very exciting position to have at an exciting time, when Bideford is really starting to grasp it's forgotten past. This past links it to our twin town of Manteo through the 1585 settlement of Roanoke Island under the leadership of Sir Richard Grenville, Bideford's Lord of the Manor.

Video of the Appledore Arts Festival

New Town Signs

We have new signs on the road entrances to Bideford which now include our American twin Manteo. ‘Little White Town’ was a description that Charles Kingsley wrote in the novel Westward Ho! in 1855. Kingsley was one of Bideford’s famous residents and we have a statue of him near the park. Landivisiau is our French twin, however there are no historic connections to this town.

Coming to Manteo in the Fall

Great news - I have been awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust travel Fellowship for 2010 and will be travelling to North Carolina and Virginia for 6 weeks. I will be researching the North Devon Pottery Trade and also making strong links with artists, arts organisations and artists’ networks. Exact dates of travel are to be confirmed but I will be in NC and VA from mid September to the end of October. I will be spending a lot of my time in Manteo on this trip.

I have done lots of research on where to go and who to meet with, but I am sure there will be plenty more to add to my list. So far I am planning to visit Manteo based artists, galleries and arts organisations, Manteo First Friday Committee and the Artrageous Extravaganza Committee; Dare County Arts Council; N C Arts Council; historic sites and museums in Raleigh; Historic Jamestowne and Colonial National Historical Park (including its collection of Pottery; The Lost Colony Production; Roanoke Island Festival Park; Fort Raleigh National Historic Site; arts communities in the Outerbanks area; Seagrove potteries;

I am in the process of writing an itinerary for the 6 weeks and am open to suggestions of other places / people who would be able to help me with my research and also who would be good to connect to, whether they run an arts or heritage organisation/programme; are historians, archaeologists; or are an individual artist, potter or gallery owner. If you are reading this and think you can help please email me at sadie@experiencedevon.com.

The travel fellowship is an award that is open to any UK citizen to apply for and the focus is very much on being able to bring information back to the local community and to disseminate it on my return.

I hope that this fellowship will be a catalyst - a starting point to enable the relationship between both Bideford and Manteo as new sister cities, and the wider relationship between North Devon, NC and VA, to flourish. It will be an opportunity for the local communities and arts communities to begin to get to know each other and for future joint projects and programs to be devised and executed.

Official twinning of Bideford and Manteo

The twinning of Bideford and Manteo will become official with the signing of a formal twinning charter in the Easter holidays this year. This will cement a connection that has existed since Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Richard Grenville first founded a colony on the site of Manteo in 1587. Here in Bideford Sadie Green and I are members of ‘Bideford 500’ a group dedicated to researching and celebrating Bideford’s unique history and heritage, specifically of the last 500 years, hence the name, although the town is more than twice this age. Whilst the delegation from Manteo are here, at the end of March, they will be invited to experience some of Bideford’s past by walking the Heritage Trail. This was devised through Bideford 500 and the Chamber of Commerce and you can follow the link here which takes you to some web pages all about Bideford 500 and the Heritage Trail.