AIR PEDVALE (LETTLAND)
Pedvale Art Park in May 2023
„The concept of the Art Park is the integration of natural landscape, cultural heritage and art into a single environment. It is a place where a creative idea can both be developed and realized in accordance with the scenic environment and as a result can become an integral part of this environment. The artists participating in the museum’s creative projects are encouraged to get inspiration from the surrounding area and to use the natural materials available there.“
Project THE CYCLE
Susanne Kompast used clay found in the area of Pedvale. For many years she has been working with clay forming figures related to the term „fertility figures“, expressing the ambivalence of woman’s role in society. In Pedvale she decided to form 27 figures referring to the monthly cycle. By chance she found out that 27 is a special number for the Latvian people, 3 being the most stable number, by 3 and again by 9 – the figures had to be worked out.
She was also inspired to create the cycle in Pedvale seeing the chance to do a special sort of firing – sawdust firing. Therefore space is needed for the smouldering which takes 48 hours.
„A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence. (….) Rituals are characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism and performance.“ (wikipedia)
While the sawdust firing took 48 hours the basket for the carriage of the figures was prepared with the help of Ojars Feldbergs.
Sabile, the town close to Pedvale Art Park is located in the valley of the Abava River in the southern part of Talsi region. In 1890 a synagogue was built for the Jewish community of Sabile which could be used for service until World War II. Nowadays the building is a centre of art and cultural heritage.
https://visittalsi.com/en/where-to-go/abavas-senleja-en/sabiles-sinagoga/
„Sabile Wine Hill is unique, because it has been registered as the most northern open-air vineyard in the world.“
Susanne Kompast’s work refers to wine by her use of wine cork as a medium for painting, making round stamps of it. The corks she used at the residency were bought at Sabile tourist office. The next step for preparing the performance „Cycle“ was to paint four white overalls for the porters of the carriage. The acrylic colour was put on by the stamps made out of the wine corks.
Finally Installation at the studio
The Presentation
The Performance
