Water Histories

A Culturally Chard community project coordinated by Somerset Art Works, April 2022 – May 2023 Lead Artist: Anna Chrystal Stephens Somerset Art Works Project Manager: Beccy Swaine Culturally Chard is the Chard High Street Heritage Action Zone cultural programme, funded by Historic England, Arts Council England and the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Somerset Art Works is lead arts partner. https://culturallychard.org/ During a series of workshops at Holyrood Academy, Anna Chrystal Stephens and a group of students explored water within the land beneath our feet. Learning traditional water divining techniques with tuition from professional dowser Jon Warfield, interpretations of the landscape shifted after the re-examination of known ground and attempts to imagine hidden flows beneath. In collaboration they made the video piece: Mystery Rain Rods. Questioning knowledge, truth and fiction the group recorded their strange and free explorations of water around and under the school grounds, creating music, a co-written text and film footage which Anna later edited. The film plays on a loop alternating with a slideshow of the learning and production process. The 3D works displayed included a structure with an image of a crinoid fossil, an ancient animal which looks like a river; this was alive when the Chard area was underwater and is now housed in Chard Museum. The photograph of the crinoid is printed on a soft surface stretched over a frame. The second fabric print shows hands holding dowsing rods loosely, ready for an expedition around the town. These sit alongside a rail of costumes used in the film, designed and made by the students with Anna, during the Holyrood workshops.