Dovetailing: Gathered notes, by Clare Dearnaley

Author: Clare Dearnaley. Review by Jane Gibbins.

Dovetailing started life as a multi-dimensional exhibition of sculpture, music and film, held in the peaceful surroundings of Farfield Meeting House.

A familiar Quakerly stillness descended as I tiptoed inside. The installation appeared at first to consist of three components: fragile wooden sculptures suspended in the air and reminiscent of stringed instruments; music; and a film on one wall. Birdsong and rustling trees merged with the music. The film blended with the mobiles so that you couldn’t quite see where one stopped and the others began. As visitors opened the door or moved gently about, the mobiles moved and became one seamless immersive experience. I wasn’t just looking at something, I had become part of something.

The exhibition was a collaboration between Friends: sculptor Juliet Gutch, filmmaker Clare Dearnaley, and composer Sally Beamish. The film reminded us of the journey from trees to the sculptures and to stringed instruments, and thus to music, interpreted at each stage by human skill. The music was born from the trees…

Dovetailing has since grown from its original conception. Visitors were asked to record their reactions. Maybe the intensity of these was unanticipated because viewers’ responses to the work seem to have become integral to it. Poet Ian Duhig, who was to become closely involved in the project, wrote. ‘It routinely transformed its audience into artists themselves’. One visitor wrote, in a phrase resonant for Quakers, ‘Be amazed. You’re not just an audience, we’re in this together’.

The next stage took place over one weekend in Ilkley Manor House and was subtitled ‘Responses’. New voices were invited to take part. Live music, dance, new words and poems were added to the mix. Ian Duhig led a workshop for families supported by Refugee Action. They were invited to imagine what they would put into a Magic Museum Music Box, and a wonderful group poem emerged.

The exhibition has since been shown in the stunning setting of the new Jetty Museum on the shores of Lake Windermere.

Quakers sometimes struggle to put emotions and experiences into words. Clare, Juliet and Ian, with the help of Friend Alice Fox, the artist, have now produced this book. Much more than an exhibition catalogue, it conveys the complex layers of this exhibition and the responses to it. It is a beautiful balance of words and images. It enables readers to share something of the experience even if they haven’t been part of it. The responses from visitors, as well as many carefully- crafted poems, are especially touching.

Hopefully there will be future opportunities to take part.

See www.grovebookshop.com for purchase details.

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