Creative works
Slovakia
from local sustainable materials in Slovakia’s Ipel’ river valley. • Words Martin Clark
The ‘willow ladies’ Serena Hodgson, Liz Balfour, Ruth Thompson, Paula Constantine Anna Turnbull & Charlotte Boxall ©martin clark
• Photographs Martin Clark, Helina Rääk, Coppice Association North West ©
Using local sustainable material is always satisfying but for ‘Green Village’ it is an essential element of all the actions that the nine partners undertake. In Slovakia, Ipel’ Eko, are engaged in creativity using local materials and they bring artists, artisans and craftworkers to the village of Ipel’ský SokoleČ to work with local people, to bring out their latent creativity. The venue has been the emerging eco-centre in the village, a traditional Pannonian plain longhouse, built from sun-baked clay adobe brick and having the typical structure of a settlers house with later generational houses joined on in a single-storey row, with a ‘cold roof’ for drying and storing corn. As this story will show, such actions press the button on more than one of the seven interlocking elements of our project.
Geoff Whitely from the UK is a skilled woodcarver who specializes in natural figures. His ‘Kingfisher’ is seen here The bird, quite common in the Ipel river valley, is carved in situ from the limb of a diseased cherry tree. Geoff carves first with a chainsaw and then works with chisels and gouges ©coppice association north west (left) ©martin clark (right)
Wood Products: material from trees has many diverse uses and trees are the lungs of our planet; they are long living and lock up carbon, at the same time as they emit oxygen. In terms of sustainability, replacing wooden things with plastic is an environmental tragedy, as well as having cultural and social implications. The scene regarding art from sustainable products was set before the Green Village project by two wonderfully creative people. 25 I Green Village
Slovakia
Empowering communities: Helina Rääk from Estonia (left) worked with young members of the Roma community. She drew inspiration from the similarities between her early life in rural Estonia and what she saw and experienced in the Slovakian village. This old lady is made from waste wire and the transparent faceless look ©Helina räÄk seems to suggest a spirit of someone who perhaps lived here in the past. The summer of 2012 opened with the same train of thought, creative people from the UK and Germany came to the village to use everyday materials to build and create art that makes cultural and environmental statements. First, the wood products; the ‘Willow ladies’ – basket-makers from Northumberland in the UK came and made a ‘village lady’. They used the pruned branches of ‘head willows’ in the village streets. The Ipel river valley is well known for willow species (Salix spp.). As well as traditionally providing material for baskets, fences and vernacular building – for example as ‘wattle’ gable ends to barns, stables and cellar head buildings, willow - along with poplar (Populus spp) was encouraged as a means of dropping the water table and allowing adjacent land to be farmed. First they visited a village museum and training centre at nearby Salka (it might be named from the Romanian name for ‘willow’ – something to investigate in the future?) and looked at costume in order to design an authentic female figure. At Salka, they also learned the local basket making technique. The eco-centre in the village has in storage a lot of traditional tools and pieces of equipment that were used in everyday life. In the store are also at least 10 different types of basket. The ladies also did some sorting, cataloguing and emergency restoration using local basketry techniques and materials. Deiter training students from the UK’s Duchy of Cornwall College students – spot Geoff’s (now weathered) kingfisher in the background ©martin clark
Clay can be molded into sculptural friezes. This ‘herblore lady’ has her knowledge of medicinal plants flowing from her. ©martin clark 26 I Green Village
Sustainable building: clay is the second sustainable local material and literally makes up the fabric of most of central, eastern and southern Europe’s vernacular rural buildings. Local, cheap, insulating and durable, the perfect building material but the skills of using it are fast disappearing. As part of Ipel Eko’s ‘Sustainable Building’ interactive action, clay-master Deiter Kotras from Germany came to the village to demonstrate and train locals and visiting teachers and students from the UK in the use of clay for making adobe bricks and rendering walls. Deiter runs a company called ‘BauArt’ and specializes in working with natural materials. He gave instructions for different mixes of material – clay, sand, cow manure, for different purposes. These mixes and the training will later be captured in a sustainable building training module for transference to other European locations. ■