Following the latest update to the Government’s Winter Plan for managing COVID-19 and the new regional tier system, our award winning In Steps of Sundew exhibition at The Arches at Fineshade Wood will now be closed, as Northamptonshire enters Tier 3 local restrictions.
In Steps of Sundew is an exhibition focussing on our experience of landscape, exploring the push and pull between nature and human presence and the effect that extracting resources from the landscape has upon those living within it.
Open Daily 10am – 4pm
Ikran Abdille
Tom Baskeyfield
Sarah Gillett
Ellie Harrison
Liz Lake
Onya McCausland
Sundew was the name of the largest walking dragline excavator in the world, used in mining operations in Rutland and Northamptonshire between 1957 and 1980. In 1974 plans were devised to relocate the machine to a recently opened British Steel Corporation quarry near Corby. As moving and reconstructing the machine was not viable, Sundew walked 13 miles over an eight-week period. During the walk Sundew carried the message on her rear of “EXCUSE ME, I’m walking to Corby”, crossing three water mains, four watercourses, 13 power lines, ten roads, a railway line, two gas mains, seven telephone lines, 74 hedges, and the River Welland before reaching its new home.
Sundews are also species of carnivorous plants, which digest insects through the glands on their leaves in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which they grow.
In Steps of Sundew retraces the movement of people and resources from the landscape as well as the dragline excavator’s Great Walk, posing questions about the relationship between the natural and the industrial and how these might coexist whilst avoiding climate breakdown.
Image © Anna Elizabeth, except Kenya (still), Ikran Abdille, 2016
This exhibition marks the reopening of The Arches, endorsed by the Visit England’s We’re Good To Go Industry Standard consumer mark to reassure visitors that we are adhering to current and ongoing Government and public health guidance.
A one way system with a hand sanitising station and social distancing signposts is in operation. Advance booking is not necessary and we will be monitoring visitor numbers electronically. Please familiarise yourself with the space below before your visit please. You can read our full Risk Assessment here.
Funded by Arts Council England, this exhibition is part of the Northamptonshire Surprise 2020 celebration of arts and culture in Northamptonshire.