Back in September we caught up with Jonathan Baxter and Gerard O’Brien to take part in the concluding walk of Line Walk Mindful Drawing and to see publications made in response to the artwork. We shared our own publication, Off Track, to the group. It was fascinating to see overlaps and differences between the publications and also the interesting variety of visual responses.
In contrast to our post-lockdown version of the walk, Jonathan told me he had envisaged the walk for a group to be repeated together over weeks and months for the duration of one year. In contrast to our rather chilly February walk, the weather was now gloriously sunny.
As we set off, the first part of the walk took place in silence, a meditative walk to give space for reflection. Participants took it in turns to select a moment along the way to invite others to ‘Look at it / Listen to it / Taste it /’ setting a duration between 30 seconds and 5 minutes for a short drawing”.
I used these opportunities to make short static films with my iPhone, though most participants sketched. It was really nice to hear James Spence reading from his book of Haikus, called A Walk in the Park and see the beautiful postcards. In some ways, the group became the artwork as well. Crossing paths with afternoon dog walkers, how interesting/ strange a group walking in silence might appear, the act of stopping and paying attention interrupting the everyday narrative. I really enjoyed making these slow, even boring films, somehow the opposite of an attention-grabbing image.
Companionable walking, some silence and sketching along a line.
James’s Haiku book and the postcard set are available at https://www.artwalkporty.co.uk/publications.html
