Trading Wisdom: Afternoon Tea on 15th October 2015 was a chance for all those involved in Rosie Gibson’s Trading Wisdom Art Event to come together and celebrate as part of the Scotland-wide Luminate Creative Ageing Festival.
Rosie gathered ‘nuggets of wisdom’ from local people born between 1925-35, her mother’s generation, celebrating…
“..both the grittily lyrical wisdom of my mum’s generation and also the shops and businesses in the High Street. I was curious about what happens if you put the two together’
Each of the participating trading places (pub, locksmith, hairdresser, cafe etc.), had a nugget of wisdom interwoven into their trading practice, embedding them into the daily life of Inverkeithing. Rosie and Luminate are delighted to say that every one of the shops have decided to keep their nuggets in place until the end of October 2015.
At the Afternoon Tea Rosie welcomed some of the sources of the nuggets of wisdom, the participating tradespeople, and anyone else who was interested in this fascinating project. She provided hand-made chocolates to delight, and lovely cakes made by local bakers. Bristol Branch provided the music, which was much enjoyed by all and inspired some joyful dancing!
Inverkeithing Arts Initiative were delighted to be invited to create the the setting for the event, based on the core idea of a drying green on a summer’s day, with the nuggets interwoven between familiar items of everyday washing; baby clothes and men’s shirts, pinnies and football boots, pillowcases, negligees and washing baskets.
The theme of work threaded through the whole event. From Grace’s working days at the Paper Mill, (not to mention her mother, providing frequent meals for her children), to the hope that new technology will free us from work to spend more time with our families, to the participating tradespeople, working to provide Inverkeithing with a functioning and lively high street. In IAI’s design for the event, the drying green seemed to capture this sense of working to support each other, with more than a hint of play and pleasure. Hopefully, we can all imagine taking a moment from our work to stand on the green, enjoying the sunshine? And perhaps we can all “work and play as if you are living in the early days of a better nation.”
Nuggets of Wisdom: ‘I’ve been walking a long time’
‘Podemos! Yes we can!’
Nugget of Wisdom: ‘Some people think the good old days are a joke, but it isn’t.’
Nuggets of Wisdom: ‘When washing machines came out we thought we would have more time to spend with our families’
‘Keep moving’
‘Work and play as if you are living in the early days of a better nation.’
Nugget of Wisdom: ‘My mother’s hoose was like a canteen. We went hame fae the mill for breakfast, lunch,, then hame for the tea!! And my brothers were on different shifts so they went hame at different times tae!’ (3D maps of Inverkeithing created by p4 pupils of Inverkeithing Primary School)
inverkeithingarts.org 