Photo from RUNWAY

Time To Stand And Stare – with Runway

“Come and take part in TIME TO STAND AND STARE”: an invitation issued by RUNWAY artists Roz Cran and Sharon Haward during the recent Coastal Currents Arts Festival. This was an art walk from Hastings Pier along the coast to De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on a beautiful sunny day in September. HOT asked Roz Cran to tell us more about the project.

“Participants were asked to wear black or dark clothes for the photos to be taken at stopping points along the way and to bring a £5 note as a donation for the local Women’s Refuge.

Photo RUNWAY

“People gathered at 10am at the end of the Pier and we explained that we would stop for a few minutes at several places during the walk and stand in silence in the landscape. This would be time to be quiet on the beach or cliff, to see the sea, the sky, the gulls, the rocks. Time to breathe, to be still, alongside others.  Sharon and I would take photos and post them on our facebook page: RUNWAY – artists without studios.

“This was RUNWAY’s 10th event. We started 10 years ago with a response to the Anthony Gormley sculpture show on the roof at De La Warr Pavilion. We posed on the beach in front of the Pavilion. We have run events at the Whitstable Biennial Fringe and Folkstone Fringe, we have stood and stared on Romney Marsh; we have walked to Rye Creative Centre and we have walked from Hastings to Bexhill three times. Sometimes this has coincided with International Women’s Day in March and we have collected donations for the Women’s Refuge.  Walkers have been young and old, women and men, we’ve even had dogs large and small.

Photo RUNWAY

“One participant commented: ‘I really enjoyed the whole event.  It was great to be part of a living artwork, out in the environment, meditating as we looked out to sea.”

“We finished our walk this time on the roof at De La Warr Pavilion staring out to sea, ending where we started ten years ago.  A fitting conclusion.”

Also in: Community Arts