Installation (sound, glass, paper, sand, flint)

Artist Rowena Pearce
Composer Helen Ottaway
Sound designer Alastair Goolden

“Magical…light playing on drops of glass”
“Like walking through a minefield!”
Comments from visitors

Footprints is an exploration of music and visual art through movement. Rowena Pearce’s installation, composed of cast glass and rag paper hangings with boulders and pebbles made of paper pulp is inspired by tidal movement and the emergence of life from water. The sea, tides and coastline are also repeating themes in Helen Ottaway’s music. Footprints is the product of an organic collaborative process, with the plastic and aural strands of the work influencing each other on all levels from the structure to the material detail. The music is composed of fragments of found sound including those which result from the manipulation of the materials used for the sculptural elements of the piece sand, glass, flint and paper. Using recording and sequencing techniques along with other effects, Alastair Goolden combined and manipulated the sounds to achieve a transformation of the originals. By the use of sound technology involving Soundbeams and a digital sampler, a constantly evolving soundtrack is created through the movement of people around the space. People are invited to take a walk around the installation – each walk or combination of walks creates a unique piece of music.

Artmusic Education
The public open days of Footprints at Rook Lane Chapel in 1999 were preceded by two one day workshops for A-level and B-tech students. The theme was the relationship between the aural and visual in art and performance. The workshops were led by the three artists joined by artist Barry Cooper, video artist and educationalist Al Morrison, photographer and performer Sarah Beatrice and performance artist Tim Millar. Students and staff attended from Frome Community College, Departments of Art and Music; Trowbridge College, Department of Art and Strode College Department of Lens-based Arts.

Performance History
1999, Rook Lane Chapel, Frome, Somerset