Let me take you on a journey to a special place. A place where people come together in community to grow and feed each other, forming deep roots back into the soil, somewhere surrounded by plants, being kissed by the wind.
Somewhere you can soak in herbal waters and be warmed by stories and an open fire. This is a place to gather at harvest and turn apples into cider and vinegars, alive with connection to each other and the land. Where herbs grow in abundance ready to teach you their gifts, to heal and take back lost wisdom. Somewhere to eat and sing together as we grow. A place where family takes on a new shape and love and compassion is given a space to grow and share knowledge and wisdom for a better future.
Welcome to my dream :) A place has found me for this all to become a reality but I can't do it alone. Allow me to share and put forth an offering to you to see if together it is possible.
I have been on a deep journey of self-discovery for the past few years, peeling back the layers of the past as it shows up in the present and letting go of force and control. Developing a new respect for what is and allowing myself to dream once more of what could be. As a child, I was told I dreamt of a life only fit for the retired. I now see it was a past life we may all have once had and still yearn for.
I have been looking, waiting for a cottage with land to be a custodian of and I come here today as I feel in my bones that she's found me at last. An old farmhouse, built from tucked in next to an old orchard. Upon walking into what is most recently used as a cow shed, a feeling of soft warmth flooded my senses, like a great grandma once known.
She is currenatly home to a family of wrens, and blue tits, of whom I have no intention of evicting in a hurry. The early morning sun shines its golden rays through a stone window frame, casting shards of light that make the straw and muck scattered on the floor look like gold. The remanence of cows not long moved out.
I hope you will indulge the romantic images I have painted here as I felt them at the time, and still do but do not be mistaken that I am unaware of the mammoth task in hand to rebirth such a place if gifted to me.
I'm approaching this from a lifetime of knowledge of listed buildings and blacksmithing know-how. Furthermore, I believe I have a holistic understanding of all levels of life be it animal, plant or human and a sensitivity and respect for the space, not forcing my own identity onto it. For any one person to take this on alone would be foolish so here I am, asking for help.
The vision
I see a permaculture landscape with an off-grid, 2 bed cottage restored nestled in the heart of it. Herbs and a small kitchen garden surrounding her with a wood fire heated bath tub nestled in amongst the plants.
I see chickens scratching around a root cellar dug into a bank. Further away from the house I see herb fields and a larger kitchen garden supplying dried herbs and produce to individuals and businesses.
I see a small amount of timber growing for future heating in amongst a nut grove. A place where community comes together, to grow food and ground to the earth. I see a space for a red tent, where women can gather and be held when the moon is full.
I imagine I'd live there alone or with one or two others but with a desire to share the space with the larger community that doesn't have access to such a place. Where people can hold workshops to pass on knowledge and wisdom and be held. We are in a world that is spinning out, now is the time to come together in new and older ways to help support each other and the earth for a better future.
I am here to call on community now to enable me to answer the call of such a place. I have most of the money to commit to this possibility but this is a cottage that is due to go to auction with a guid price of 250k this coming Thursday (16th May 2024) after noon, there is no knowing which way it could go as it all depends on the day. I've done what I can quietly to this point, but now its time to share it with a wider audience that may share this vision with me or wish to help out in any small way they can.
So I ask first of everyone that has known me. To all that have loved or been moved by the artwork I've made. My offering to you in return is my art. I have gathered all the works most recently done, from the the start of this new chapter in my life.
Many of you will have seen my artwork and the wall hangings that I designing and made in community and alone, starting 10yrs ago. These pieces and the stories they can tell excite me more now than ever. They are calling me back in, they came about from a fascination of mark making, texture and quilting.
Mark making from intention and or commitment as a way of processing an internal dialogue or to tell a story of connection
Texture from objects that hold their own stories of the life they have lived and the people that created them
Quilting for the stories woven into each shape, connecting women together and in some communities, even helping show others a path to safety or a way around the powers that be
Throughout history, from the moment we evolved on this planet, the genus homo was mark making and storytelling and women have mostly held this role, being the storytellers and wisdom keepers of the past. Without the weavers of song or hand, there is so much knowledge that would have been lost to the wind. I do not suggest myself to be one of these women yet as I am still learning the stories to share. Through my artworks, I hope to share the stories of how I'm getting to that point and those of others I'm gifted along the way.
Through the wall-hung art I am offering up, I ask in exchange for your support in helping this dream become the reality I feel. Each hanging is a small snippet of my own personal stories of rediscovery and acceptance. I made all of these works intentionally after meditation on different stages of my development and as a tool to befriend the beautiful darkness within and to see it as such. To step away from forcing and to be at one with what is, while at the same time moving with what feels intentionally authentic.
I would also like to bring in the opportunity to make larger hung works with or for you. As a family and or group of friends or even as an event where everyone gets to forge into a shape and tell their own story individually or as one. Through that bringing together, we can see how our stories are not just our own and we are all connected as one. If this is of interest please get in touch.
This might be too far out there for you to connect with and that's okay. I'm grateful for you reading this far. This might be drawing you in and sending shivers up and down your body as it is me, or you might be somewhere else on it entirely and that’s ok. All is possible. Thank you for hearing me out.
I invite you to join me in whatever way you feel drawn to. Please share this with anyone or everyone you know. There is power in community and this is a crunch time moment. It feels right to be sharing this with you now and I am open to what unfolds and trust that whatever is meant to be, will happen as it's meant to.
all funds are raised I will be able to go ahead and take this forward to the auction this Thursday 16th May.
If funds are able to exceed 50K, the chance of winning the auction increases greatly
If funds given exceed and I win under the total, any extra funds will go into restoring the cottage back to her former glory.
If the goal is reached but not enough to win the auction, all profits will be held ready to go for the next place that shows itself fit for this dream.
Whatever happens, the artwork you buy or commission in exchange will come to you and hugs will be given ( there is a hug option :D )
Due to the short time frame, it will not be possible to work out postage costs in advance. This will come later.
With this cottage, I feel deeply in my bones that this is the one. If you're still reading this, I know you feel it too. Go and have a look at the gift exchange options I have listed and share near and far, time is of the essence.
Come with me in making this dream a reality.
You can find all I offer currently in the shop, here on my websight. If you have an ideas for a commission that can support this please do get in touch. Im grateful for you in being apart of this, even if its just reading what i have to share. It all helps as who knows where any of this may lead xx much love and thanks Rebecca