Summer is Ready! Field System’s May Day Celebration, Thursday 1 May and Saturday 3 May.
This Beltane, why not head for the historic stannary town of Ashburton, where Field System Gallery and Ashburton Arts Centre present a town-wide and inclusive celebration of the arrival of summer.
This is a May Day celebration for our time. In an age of fractured politics, hate speech and environmental disaster, the organisers are drawing on the rural and activist traditions of May Days past to celebrate things that unite us: social justice, equality, tolerance and, of course, the return of summer!
The event includes feminist retellings of folkloric tales in the Lore and Land III art exhibition, Morris dancing with Molly No Mates, Bristol’s premier queer, drag king Molly dancing team, and a social activism workshop with Right To Roam supporters and campaigners, MAYDAY Morris.
The Lore and Land III art exhibition opens at 18:00 on Thursday 1 May in the Field System gallery. This group show explores the otherworldly, the bestial, connections to the land, and forgotten things via image, sculpture and sound, bringing together the works of South-West based artists Libby Bove, Gemma Dunnell, Abigail Tinnion, and Asha Uberoi. This latest iteration of their travelling exhibition features new and unseen works by all artists, accompanied by a new sound artwork by George Radford.
On Saturday 3 May, the Lore and Land III exhibition continues and you will also be able to experience Libby Bove’s Museum of Roadside Magic nearby.
Dartmoor spinner of stories, Lisa Schneidau, hosts a discussion on all things lore and land with the exhibiting artists (Libby Bove, Gemma Dunnell, Abigail Tinnion and Asha Uberoi) at Ashburton Arts Centre. This will be followed by a screening of Dartmoor Calling, the film about the folk who saved Dartmoor from the 1950s to the present day, made by the Clapham Film Unit and Dartmoor Preservation Association.
No fewer than three Morris-dancing ‘sides’ will be joining the festivities: Grimspond Morris, along with Molly No-Mates and MAYDAY Morris, who will be running workshops and dancing in the streets of Ashburton.
In the evening, the revels continue with the masters of broken folk, the Lunatraktors, performing at
Ashburton Arts Centre.
Tickets to all events are available here
Address: 13 West Street, Ashburton, Devon. TQ13 7DT
What3words: spreading.painters.wipe
Editor’s note: We all need the restorative power of the arts in these difficult times and worrying times. If you would like us to feature an event, exhibition or performance which could inject some joy into our lives, please get in touch!
NB: If there’s an election for local or county councils in your area, please do not forget to vote on May 1. If progressive voters stay away, we leave the field clear for the far right (reform UK). You have only to look to Trump’s America to see what this means for freedom of speech, diversity and inclusion and investment in, and regard for the arts. We have to show up, or we’ll ALL lose out.
