Turn Words Into Art for Wigtown Ounce Dice Trice Poetry Trail
Call for artists and makers to help festival celebrate great Galloway poet’s centenary
Artists and craft makers are being called on to come up with creative ideas for a new Ounce Dice Trice Poetry Trail to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the great Galloway poet Alastair Reid.
A separate initiative, also being run by the Wigtown Festival Company (WFC), is inviting writers to share their favourite walks with the idea of inspiring festival visitors to explore more of the region.
Reid, from Whithorn, adored playing with words and his book Ounce Dice Trice is a delightful exploration of sense and nonsense, sounds, meanings and quirks that’s a joy from start to finish.
Petticoat, blunderbuss, mugwump
The idea of the trail is to take words from the book – whether it’s “petticoat”, “blunderbuss” or “mugwump” – and turn them into artworks that will be displayed in Scotland’s National Book Town during the festival, from 25 September to 4 October.
To be considered, an artist or maker simply has to contact Project Co-Ordinator Jacqueline Ross for an application form and the “word inspiration sheet” (the list of words to be included in the trail).
Financial support available
Financial support of up to £200 is available for Ounce Dice Trice Poetry Trail artworks. Applications for both initiatives are open until 13 July.
Jacqueline said: “This is a fun way to give visitors even more to do when they visit the festival – as well as to mark the birth centenary of one of Scotland’s truly great poets.
Open to ideas
“Your word interpretation can be anything it’s possible to display at the festival. It might be made from balloons, bricks, flowers or Lego. It could be giant or tiny. Your word might float, swing or jump, it might be animated, handwritten, knitted, projected, a painting or a cake. It might not even be a word - it might be an object or a performance that makes you think of that word. We are super open to ideas.”
The Writers’ Walks are a chance for adult writers of all genres to use their own words and pictures to describe a walk they love and what makes it so special.
The collection will be available to download from our website during the festival.
Share your favourite D&G walk
Jacqueline said: “Creative people often have their favourite place to visit and many a good story has been inspired by nature, a walk or taking a moment to lose yourself in a view.“
We want to share that moment, allowing our festival attenders the chance to experience these walks first hand and our international audience to find out more about the area, whether considering a visit or enjoying these works from home.”
Both projects are possible thanks to a £50,000 award made to WFC by the Best of British Fund to fuel local hospitality, boost tourism in communities across the UK.
For further information on Ounce Douce Trice and Writers’ Walks visit www.wigtownbookfestival.com/visit/trails-and-tales or contact projects@wigtownbookfestival