Make Your Way: Journey Boxes, Stonehouse

Kate McAllan and Martyn McKenzie - artist residency

People in Stonehouse were invited to create their own artworks inspired by the landscape, as part of the Make Your Way Stonehouse, arts, heritage and active travel project.

Kate McAllan and Martyn McKenzie, Artists in Residence for the project, came up with the idea of ‘Journey Boxes’, which people took with them as they explored new trails in Stonehouse. The boxes were filled with maps, inspiration cards focussing on artists who have explored landscape in alternative ways, blank watercolour paper and writing materials, and had special compartments for collecting objects along the way. The artworks and community discussions were used to inform the Stonehouse Journey Boxes art sculpture trail.

Look out for Journey Boxes along the Make Your Way Stonehouse trails, below and under ‘Other Resources’.

The idea of Journey Boxes was formulated after having explored Stonehouse and speaking to local residents. Kate and Martyn were keen to gather memories and use these to gather aspirations for local spaces from locals.

13 adults and children took part in the Journey Boxes workshop that took place on Sunday 5 March 2017. See the gallery below for pictures from the day and the wonderful creations.

Artworks created from the day were curated as part of a pop-up community art exhibition held at Violet Café, Stonehouse, 9 – 16 March 2017. The exhibition acted as a space to open up and continue conversations with the community about the Make Your Way project and development of an arts sculpture trail, whilst highlighting alternate ways of experiencing the local landscape.

Find out more by flicking through Kate and Martyn’s Journey Boxes case study below, or downloading it from under ‘Related links’.

Make Your Way is an arts, heritage and active travel campaign, focusing on the communities of Carluke, Glassford, Lanark, Larkhall and Stonehouse, in 2016 – 17. It was delivered by icecream architecture and SYSTRA, with support  from Smarter Choices, Smarter Places grant and is part of the Heritage Lottery Fund supported Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership scheme.