Project Partners
Bath & North East Somerset Council, Hydrock, Provelio, Combe Down Stone Mines Community Association
Funded by Homes and Communities Agency

Public art consultancy
by Frances Lord and Steve Geliot

“Experience in community consultation was an essential part of the project managers’ brief, and Steve and Frances were appointed because of their track record and sensitive approach.”
Ann Cullis, Senior Arts Development Officer, Bath and North East Somerset Council

www.englishby.com
www.nevillegabie.com
www.axisweb.org/artist/
christophertipping
www.stevegeliot.com
www.combedownstonemines
project.com

Performers from Fireworks composed by Paul Englishby at CELEBRATE! Combe Down, September 2009.
Photo: Vik Martin

Combe Down Stone Mines Public Art Project, 2008 – 10

To celebrate the end of the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) granted £250K funding for commissioning public art. The Combe Down Public Art Project was the result of two years of activity, events, residencies and commissions.

The commissioned artists - Andy Croft (poetry), Paul Englishby (music), Neville Gabie (photography), Chris Tipping (ceramics) and Simon Whittaker (film) – brought considerable energy, enthusiasm and skill to the project to create a collection of temporary and permanent artworks and, in the process, worked closely with many residents of Combe Down who helped shape ideas for artworks, ensuring that the works created reflect the rich and fascinating history of this unique village.

CELEBRATE! A multi-media event featuring Fireworks, composed by Paul Englishby and performed by Combe Down residents and professional musicians, Andy Croft’s pageant ‘The Hole Story – An historical pageant’ performed by Combe Down school children, poems from ‘Time in the Shape of a Mine: Poems from Combe Down’ and  ‘Under Combe Down’, a 3D underground flythrough by Steve Geliot marked the culmination of the Stone Mines stabilisation project.

Further information
Arts at the Heart issue 26 Nalgao Magazine, autumn 2010 –  a case study of the project

Publications
The Stabilisation of Combe Down Stone Mines: the saving of a village, edited by Frances Lord, 2010
ISBN 978-0-9563829-3-4
£10

Time in the Shape of a Mine: Poems from Combe Down, edited by Andy Croft, 2009
ISBN 978-0-95638290-0-0
£4.95

Andy Croft, Combe Down: The Hole Story - an historical pageant, 2009
ISBN 978-0-95638290-1-7
£3 

 

Neville Gabie's joiner images juxtapose village life above ground with the work of the stone mines just feet away underneath
Photo: Neville Gabie