Made in Kent - Tuesday 11th September 2023
This week, Sofia is joined on the sofa by the Coordinator of DUENDE, Edwina Jaques to discuss the Swale Media Arts Centre's latest exhibit inspired by dreams.
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00:02 - Hello and welcome to Made in Kent live on KMTV.
00:22 I'm Sophia Aitken and in this show,
00:24 we travel around the county to discover Kent's
00:26 tastiest treats, most delicious drinks and artisan goods.
00:30 Well, in today's show, we'll be talking all about dreams
00:33 as a sitting born art centre has opened a new exhibition
00:37 dedicated to sleep and dreams.
00:39 Plus I visited a Tunbridge cafe and taken up a new skill.
00:43 So stick around to find out what that is.
00:45 And we'll be taking a peek into what events
00:47 are happening across Kent.
00:49 But first, dreams can often lead to some incredible pieces
00:53 of imagination.
00:54 And that's why the Swale Media Art Centre in Sittingbourne
00:57 has opened their latest exhibit inspired
01:00 by our nightly hallucinations.
01:02 Whether it be paintings, sculptors, fabrics and more,
01:05 the display offers a dive into what some of the areas
01:08 artists say they experienced during a deep sleep.
01:11 Well, our reporter Henry Luck went along to capture us
01:14 some of those stories.
01:16 - What do you often see in your dreams?
01:19 Swale Media Art Centre in Sittingbourne
01:22 offered the public the chance to witness art inspired
01:25 by the dreams of their artist.
01:27 It's all a part of their latest exhibition named Dreamscape,
01:31 which featured an array of pieces made from paintings,
01:35 sculptures, glass, photography, and fabric.
01:40 The art centre even received the visit
01:42 from the Mayonesse of Swale when the artwork was put up
01:45 on the 2nd of September.
01:47 With all this amazing artwork on display at this exhibition,
01:51 I've got to say I'm especially drawn to this one
01:53 by Julie Bradshaw, Guardians of the Sea.
01:57 I absolutely love its bold use of dark colours
02:00 and there's always something so fascinating
02:02 and calming about the ocean.
02:05 The display was created by the group Duende,
02:08 who are also celebrating their fifth anniversary.
02:11 - I went to Venice in 2018.
02:14 And while I was there, I went to an exhibition
02:16 of female votive prehistoric little statues.
02:21 And when I came out, I had an epiphany and I thought,
02:24 I want to start a women's group.
02:27 Because for centuries, there have been men's groups
02:29 of all sorts.
02:30 And I thought, women need an opportunity
02:33 just to be able to talk amongst themselves
02:37 and to think about themselves.
02:39 - Dreaming has no doubt been a powerful source of inspiration.
02:43 - Me personally, I mean, I love working around fantasy
02:46 or dream-like.
02:48 So this fitted in really well with, you know--
02:51 - And the work that Wina and her fellow artists
02:55 have put into this has been great.
02:58 - Yeah, yeah.
02:59 We love hosting it, you know, as we do a lot of groups.
03:02 We've got Swell, we've got Sheppey Art Society coming in,
03:07 lots of different people as well.
03:09 So yeah, it's great.
03:09 - There's always something, there's never a week,
03:12 except for perhaps when the snow's around.
03:15 - Yeah.
03:16 - Most weeks, it's only here.
03:18 - Yeah, yeah.
03:20 - I was also lucky enough to speak to another artist
03:22 involved in the project.
03:23 - My glass work is actually inspired by sort of
03:28 loving yourself and treasuring yourself.
03:31 I lost my grandparents earlier this year,
03:34 two of them in quick succession.
03:35 So the dragon sort of symbolise, you know,
03:38 learning how to love yourself after loss.
03:41 And the mirror's placed in there,
03:42 so you can put yourself in the position of being,
03:44 you know, embraced or hugged by a dragon almost.
03:48 - Next time you dream,
03:49 has this exhibit tempted you to recreate what you see?
03:52 Henry Buck for KMTV in Sittingbourne.
03:57 - Very interesting piece.
03:59 And we're now joined by Edwina from the piece
04:01 to discuss a little bit more.
04:02 Now we heard from you with Bartholomew in Kent tonight,
04:06 but we're gonna go into it a little bit further.
04:09 So this exhibition, it's a really interesting idea,
04:12 I guess, because dreaming is something
04:14 that all of us or most of us do most nights.
04:16 So why did you want to sort of incorporate that into art?
04:21 - Well, I felt it was very important
04:22 in its way of using art again
04:24 as a creative therapy for people.
04:27 And I had made up a questionnaire
04:30 that when people come in to visit,
04:31 I ask them to put down a dream or dreams
04:34 that have affected them or anything they wanted to say.
04:38 And then we talk about it a bit.
04:40 And I'm also doing a workshop this Saturday
04:43 for people to come in and talk about dreams.
04:45 And then we're going to do a hands-on artwork
04:48 that will explore this.
04:50 But I feel that in most cultures,
04:53 or other cultures, I should say,
04:55 dreams are very important.
04:57 I have a Native American friend,
04:59 and she always discusses her dreams with her children
05:04 in the morning at breakfast.
05:05 And they all go around,
05:06 and everybody tells what dream they had the night before.
05:10 And she said, "This is a wonderful way
05:12 "to find out what's happening in your children's lives,"
05:16 which makes perfect sense.
05:17 If they're having a dream of anxiety,
05:19 she wants to know, find out what it is.
05:21 And it's a tool for her to use.
05:24 And that's what we should be using.
05:26 Everybody dreams, except for people
05:28 who have been affected with strokes and what have you,
05:31 but they just don't remember them.
05:34 But you can learn how to access your dreams better
05:39 by writing them down,
05:40 even if it's little bits and pieces.
05:42 'Cause sometimes you wake up after a dream,
05:44 and you'll think, "Oh my God, that was a bit weird."
05:47 And if you get up and write it down then,
05:49 I know it's a bit of a hassle,
05:50 but eventually you'll remember more and more.
05:54 And now I remember practically all the dreams that I have.
05:58 - I guess it'd be quite interesting
05:59 to look back at a dream you had a year ago,
06:02 or even a month ago.
06:03 I probably don't even remember a dream
06:04 I had a few months ago.
06:05 So I imagine people are forgetting their dreams,
06:07 as you say, it's quite a good way of getting people
06:09 to remember them through art.
06:12 - Absolutely.
06:13 And the thing about dreams is that they are very relative
06:17 to what's happening to you in your life.
06:19 So for artists, we're kind of one step ahead,
06:22 if we're interested in this type of thing,
06:26 that we can express ourselves in our artwork.
06:30 And so you have an ongoing,
06:31 it's a great way to know more about yourself
06:35 and about other people in your environment around you.
06:38 - And 'cause I was just discussing with you
06:40 some of my dreams,
06:41 which I probably won't share with our viewers,
06:42 but how much do dreams actually mean?
06:46 I mean, could you, are some of them random,
06:48 or do they all have some sort of symbolic meaning
06:50 to your life?
06:51 - Well, dreams come across as being chaotic,
06:55 weird, strange.
06:57 Part of that, I think,
06:58 it's the unconscious trying to tap you on the shoulder
07:01 and say, "Pay attention, pay attention."
07:04 If it was just,
07:05 if we were just running through a script
07:06 of the day's events, you wouldn't,
07:09 you could have cared less, really.
07:10 But because they're almost attacking you
07:13 with something strange, you remember it,
07:16 and you then begin to pick apart the pieces
07:19 because all of that is relevant to you,
07:22 and that's how you should look at it.
07:24 - Now, let's go back to the gallery.
07:27 We've seen sort of a range, I guess, people,
07:29 it will all be different in the art
07:31 because everyone's dreams are so different, aren't they?
07:33 So tell me, how did you sort of select the guest artists
07:37 and the ones you wanted to include?
07:39 We're gonna see some pictures popping up now on the screen
07:41 as you talk about it, so.
07:43 - Well, the people, and they're all women,
07:46 who are showing at SWAIL,
07:49 we're part of the Duende group, which I coordinate.
07:52 And I started this, this is our fifth year of showing,
07:55 and these are all members of the group.
07:57 There are 10 artists altogether,
08:00 but we only have eight, two people we're not able to show.
08:03 And I asked them to try and do dreams.
08:07 This one that just went by was a flying.
08:10 And there are, so they've either taken a dream of their own
08:15 or they've gotten it from someone else.
08:18 So it's quite varied.
08:19 We're getting quite a range of dreams
08:23 within lots of different disciplines.
08:26 - And we're seeing so many colors and such
08:28 pop up on the screen as well.
08:29 - That's right, and color's important as well,
08:31 because most people dream in color.
08:33 Very few people actually dream in black and white.
08:36 And I think people think it's the other way around,
08:38 but it's not.
08:40 Color is very usual.
08:42 That is something that, and again,
08:45 it's a way to help you to remember the dream better.
08:50 - So why do some people dream in black and white
08:51 and some dream in color?
08:53 - They don't really know.
08:55 They don't really know, it's just a preference.
08:57 - 'Cause they can see in color.
08:59 They don't see in black and white,
09:00 I imagine, unless they're colorblind.
09:01 - Yeah, it's interesting.
09:02 I suppose it's a bit like a photograph,
09:05 you know, that maybe they see in black and white
09:08 because that, for them, is more straightforward.
09:12 They can clearly see things.
09:15 Or there may be a reason that it's in that particular dream
09:18 that it's black and white as opposed to color.
09:20 - And I wanted to ask you about a bit of a mystery
09:23 that took place with a spider woman painting
09:27 that flew off the wall.
09:28 I mean, how can you explain that?
09:30 Has it got a mind of its own?
09:31 - Well, it's one of my paintings.
09:33 (laughing)
09:34 That's very possibly one of the reasons it flew off the wall
09:39 because I'm very interested in mythology
09:41 and spiritual things.
09:43 And people say to me, you know,
09:47 don't you ever get tired of living in another zone,
09:51 another world?
09:52 (laughing)
09:53 Because I do have a lot of strange things happen to me.
09:56 This happened a week on Monday
09:58 and it was a day that the gallery was closed
10:02 and it happened, we think, sometime during the night.
10:04 The painting literally came off the wall
10:07 and the persons who were in the next morning
10:11 found it on the floor.
10:13 And when I came and had a look at it,
10:15 which was the following day,
10:17 it was even more strange because you would have thought,
10:21 well, maybe the hanging mechanism
10:22 or the mechanism for hanging on the back of the painting
10:26 was funny, but the hanging mechanism was fine.
10:30 But on the back of the painting, the screw had come out.
10:34 - Right.
10:35 Oh, that's really strange.
10:37 - This is what's really weird
10:39 because I had just done that particular painting
10:43 two days before the exhibition opened.
10:45 So it was absolutely fresh and the screws are quite deep.
10:49 And when I tried to put the screw back in the hole,
10:53 it was too tight.
10:54 I would have only gotten it in with a screwdriver.
10:56 - Wants to be free then, it seems.
10:58 - Seems.
10:59 Well, the title of it, it was about Spider Woman.
11:01 - Yeah.
11:02 - And she has a raven on her head
11:05 and the spider web is in her body
11:07 and there are rays coming out,
11:11 which kind of indicate the kind of,
11:12 otherworldliness of the piece.
11:16 So whether she had, I think she just had a mind of her own.
11:19 - Perfect.
11:22 Well, we've run out of time, I'm afraid,
11:23 but just very quickly,
11:24 what time does this exhibition run until?
11:27 - It's on through the 16th, Saturday the 16th,
11:30 which is a Saturday, and it's open from 10 to four.
11:34 - Perfect.
11:35 Well, thank you very much.
11:36 It's been very interesting to speak all about dreams.
11:38 I'm sure people would love to come along.
11:39 So thank you very much.
11:40 - Thank you.
11:41 - Well, as I said, it's time for a break now,
11:44 but coming up, I've been getting crafty
11:45 and I've taken up a new skill.
11:47 Have a look at how I get on.
11:49 Gabriel Morris will also be joining us
11:51 to tell us what's going on in Kent
11:52 in the coming weeks.
11:53 I'll see you in a few minutes.
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15:04 - Hello and welcome back to Made in Kent live on KMTV.
15:11 Now a Tunbridge cafe which hosts weekly coffee mornings
15:14 for anyone and everyone is inviting more people
15:17 to come along.
15:18 Whether you want to take up a new hobby
15:19 or simply meet new people and have a natter.
15:22 Well, I went to one of the mornings
15:24 and even learnt a new skill myself.
15:27 A safe space, a place to chat, learn new hobbies,
15:32 and have a morning coffee.
15:34 But for gorgeous George in Tunbridge,
15:36 it's much more than just a weekly meetup.
15:39 More than three and a half million people in England
15:42 reported feeling lonely between November last year
15:45 and February this year.
15:46 And for those here, combating loneliness is not only vital,
15:50 but pretty close to home.
15:52 - I was poorly during lockdown
15:55 and I got pancreas failure and type 3C diabetes
15:59 and I was very isolated.
16:01 When my friends returned to work,
16:03 I couldn't return to work.
16:05 And I felt really abandoned and alone.
16:08 So I started coming into the shop
16:10 and gradually got talking to other people
16:12 and now we've got a great support network
16:14 and a band of friends.
16:17 - For those who come along to these sessions,
16:18 there's lots to do, whether it's making a brand new bag,
16:21 doing some needle felting,
16:23 or for some who just want to come along to have a chat.
16:25 - Before, obviously this group on a Wednesday
16:27 when we used to pop in for coffee and stuff,
16:29 and it was often like little old ladies on their own
16:32 having a coffee and we'd always have a chat to them.
16:34 It's really nice.
16:35 Yeah, there is quite a few that just come in on their own.
16:37 - I've got girls with special needs,
16:39 so I tend not to make myself go out very often.
16:43 - I had to force her to come today.
16:45 - Karen's very good at making me come
16:47 and I feel better for coming.
16:49 - I'm an only child, okay,
16:51 so I don't have to sit on brothers.
16:53 I live with my nan.
16:54 Love my nan dearly.
16:56 But you do feel quite alone.
16:59 If I get stuck indoors,
17:01 I feel like it's just too much for me,
17:03 so I have to get out and about.
17:05 - And now, what's going on in Kent
17:08 across the next few days and into the weekend?
17:10 Well, our producer Gabriel joins me on the sofa now
17:13 to tell me just that.
17:14 So, Gabriel, what can we expect in the next few days?
17:17 - Well, there's lots going on across the county
17:19 in the coming week.
17:19 I'll come to that in just a second.
17:21 It's great to have you back on the sofa.
17:22 You were away last week.
17:23 - Yeah.
17:24 - But a bit of a busman's holiday.
17:25 You went on holiday to Kent.
17:26 - I know.
17:27 I could not get away from Kent, clearly,
17:29 but it's lovely to be back.
17:30 Yeah, as you said, I couldn't escape Kent, clearly.
17:33 - You saw some sights.
17:33 Tell us, where did you go?
17:35 - So, I went to--
17:36 Well, I stayed in Canberra Sands,
17:37 which isn't quite Kent.
17:38 It's actually in East Sussex,
17:39 but as our viewers might know,
17:41 it does border Kent.
17:42 So, this is Kent's longest church.
17:45 As you can see, it's pretty long.
17:46 That's in Rye, which is just on the outskirts of Kent.
17:51 It's pretty tall as well,
17:52 but it's not quite the tallest church.
17:53 It was about 60 metres long,
17:55 so that was really interesting.
17:55 - It's pretty impressive.
17:56 - It was pretty impressive.
17:57 It was the first time I've ever been to Rye.
17:59 Now, I also went to Dungeness.
18:00 This is the nature reserve there.
18:02 They had, I think off the top of my head,
18:04 600 species of plants and insects.
18:08 That was interesting.
18:09 Also, couldn't go to Dungeness
18:10 without seeing the lighthouses they have for there,
18:13 which is incredible.
18:14 This is the old lighthouse,
18:15 which they actually had to replace with the new one
18:18 because the view of the old one was blocked
18:20 by Dungeness's power station.
18:22 So, yeah, there you go.
18:23 There's your little history trip.
18:25 It was a great holiday.
18:26 - I've been down to Dungeness a number of times
18:28 to report on, but also to visit.
18:30 I'll tell you what, it is a really amazing place.
18:33 Pretty abstract place.
18:35 Lots going on down there
18:36 from the power stations to artists.
18:39 Now, what's going on in Kent this week?
18:41 There's plenty going on.
18:42 We're hoping that the weather will stay nice and warm
18:44 for the weekend.
18:45 It repeats, maybe hopefully a little bit cooler
18:47 than last weekend.
18:48 But on Friday this week,
18:52 Rubber Biscuit at Whitstable Castle.
18:55 Now, they'll be performing a fabulous mix of rhythm
18:58 and blues and soul.
18:59 You can see some pictures on the screen now
19:02 of what you might expect.
19:04 Although that's in a theatre or in a concert venue
19:07 somewhere in the UK,
19:09 they'll be performing at the Whitstable Castle.
19:12 So a little bit of a nice backdrop to that.
19:14 So hopefully there'll be good weather.
19:15 They were established back in 1992
19:17 and the band has worked hard to create a big sound
19:20 to its audiences across Kent and the South East.
19:23 Now, you're thinking the likes of R&B, soul,
19:25 Northern soul, Motown, ska and pop.
19:28 And it is an interactive show
19:30 with audience participation, humour and professionalism.
19:34 They do say.
19:35 Tickets are, you need to put them in advance
19:38 at £20 per person.
19:39 That's at Friday at seven o'clock.
19:41 Interesting.
19:42 Sounds like I'll have to go along to that.
19:44 Now, if music isn't your thing,
19:46 perhaps art and craft might be more of that.
19:49 Now, to keep it local,
19:50 Craft Show features lots of handmade gifts
19:53 from across the South East,
19:54 including lots in Kent.
19:56 That will be taking place this Friday,
20:00 Saturday and Sunday.
20:03 And it will be, they provide,
20:07 they'll be taking place at,
20:09 they'll be keeping the shopping experience,
20:11 which is all the more besides.
20:12 And there'll be featuring local handmade products as well.
20:17 And it's definitely one you don't want to miss there.
20:20 And finally, one of the other ones you won't want to miss
20:23 is the Green Hop Day.
20:24 Now, you can enjoy a pint of deliciously fresh
20:28 green hop ale with live music.
20:30 That will be taking place at the tap,
20:33 at the taproom in Kent.
20:35 It starts at 12.30.
20:38 So you don't want to miss that on Saturday the 16th.
20:42 And the hops come from Sindale Farm.
20:44 So there'll be also Morristonsers music from the Gadzooks,
20:48 food from a local vendor alongside plenty of other festivities.
20:52 Now, I actually went along to a Green Hop Day last year.
20:56 Essentially what green hops are, are fresh hops,
21:00 essentially, which have been freshly picked.
21:02 You can only get them for a few weeks,
21:05 around about a month of the year,
21:07 because they have to be fresh.
21:08 Let's have a look at a report from last year
21:10 where I found out all about green hops.
21:13 These hops are just about ready to be harvested.
21:16 And as picking only takes place over a couple of weeks,
21:19 it means it's nearly time for Green Hop Day.
21:22 But what is that?
21:24 Yeah, so at this time of year, it's the end of the hop harvest.
21:27 So traditionally when everyone used to celebrate
21:31 the end of harvest and picking those hops at the end of the year,
21:34 brewers would be using those freshest hops in their beer
21:37 for us to enjoy in pubs and at beer festivals
21:40 in the next month or so.
21:42 Because they need to be brewed fresh,
21:43 the hop farm has to process them quickly.
21:46 They will go and be hooked onto the hop picking machine
21:49 and then make their way inside,
21:51 where there's hooks in there which kind of act as those hop pickers' hands.
21:55 But essentially, the hop picking machine is designed to take
21:58 as much of that leaf off so that we're left with the cone,
22:01 which is what we want. That's the fruit,
22:03 which has got all the things that we need in it to make the beer.
22:06 To keep the freshness, the hops need to be in the beer within 12 hours.
22:11 So with such a rush, why bother?
22:13 It's the one chance we get as brewers in Kent to brew with the fresh hops.
22:18 And we try and do that as fresh as is possible.
22:21 It's a really exciting time. The rest of the year,
22:23 like everybody else, we brew with dried hops.
22:26 And this has become a thing that has been sort of reinvented
22:29 in the last sort of 10, 15 years and is making a big thing of it in Kent.
22:32 And now the green hops are here at the brewery.
22:34 They're being covered by this liquid called wort.
22:38 It's barley and oat, which have been boiled for a couple of hours this morning.
22:42 And if you taste it, it tastes a bit like morning cereal.
22:47 Quite nice, actually. After being boiled for an hour,
22:52 it's sent to the fermenters, but more ingredients are still needed.
22:57 Once the wort is in here, or what will become the beer,
23:00 we'll then add the yeast through this door here at the front.
23:05 That will go in and then the fermentation will occur.
23:08 Hopefully within about eight days that will be complete
23:11 and then the beer will be ready for packaging into carts.
23:13 After so much effort, how will the beer taste?
23:16 There is an earthiness to it. There is, yeah.
23:21 That's really refreshing. It's super soft.
23:22 It really is. And that is the green hop difference.
23:26 There's a lot of essential oils in that.
23:27 It's very much sort of evoking late summer afternoons, end of harvest in the fields.
23:33 So that's how you get green hops to the keg and it tastes pretty nice too.
23:39 Gabriel Morris for KMTV.
23:42 Seems like it was only yesterday you were there, but that was around a year ago now, wasn't it?
23:45 It was. And this time of year as well is obviously the Green Hop Day
23:48 and that's taking place at the tap room this Saturday.
23:53 So you don't want to miss that from 12.30.
23:55 Just a quick round up of the other events that I said.
23:57 Rubber Biscuit Friday at 7pm at Whitswell Castle
24:00 and a Keep It Local craft show at Corning's Garden Centre.
24:03 Lots going on, Gabriel.
24:05 Lots of other people to enjoy.
24:07 Very exciting, I'm sure. People will be kept busy over the next few weeks.
24:10 Thanks very much, Gabriel.
24:12 Next, from generous donations in Dover to trains off track in Ashford,
24:16 many businesses in Kent are building up their budgets and perfecting their profits.
24:21 Sheldon Dragwich has this week's Business Roundup.
24:28 Hello and welcome to this week's KMTV Business Roundup.
24:32 First tonight and house builders Barrett Homes have given Dover District Council
24:36 more than £200,000.
24:38 It was agreed as part of an ongoing development at Alesham Village.
24:42 The money will be invested into the local economy to improve social services
24:47 and help vulnerable people to improve independence.
24:50 Natalie Perry from Barrett Kent said they'll continue to work with diverse community groups
24:55 across Alesham as well as investing in the surrounding infrastructure.
24:59 Next, an international rail service, Eurostar, have said they want to bring back their services to Kent,
25:05 but they say Brexit and Covid still stand in their way.
25:09 The high-speed service has not had any of its trains pulled into Ashford or Ebbsfleet since lockdown.
25:14 Later, more than 30,000 people petitioned for the services to return to the county.
25:20 Gareth Williams, the firm's general secretary, said they are unable to commit to trains once again
25:25 stopping in Kent due to the after-effects of Brexit and hundreds of millions of pounds of Covid debt.
25:31 Eurostar have confirmed it won't be running services in Kent for the next two years,
25:35 with a review due in 2025.
25:38 Next, an afford dealership in Maidstone has applied to extend its premises.
25:42 Haynes Ford at Ashford Road want to add a new two-storey annex to its main workshop,
25:48 with the first floor housing a new reception area, offices and a call centre.
25:52 But in applying to Maidstone Council, the firm said no extra jobs would be created.
25:57 And finally, architects behind a controversial seafront development in Folkestone
26:02 say they'll refine plans after backlash from residents.
26:05 The criticism came after a new computer-generated image showed the entire seafront undergoing a massive change,
26:12 with flats and homes lining the beach.
26:14 A more recent consultation showed pictures of tar blocks destined for the harbour arm.
26:19 Residents were left horrified as they described the proposed blocks as something out of the Flintstones.
26:24 And that's your business roundup for this week.
26:28 Well, that's all from us here on Made in Kent.
26:30 But if you own an independent business in the county and you'd like to be a guest on our show,
26:34 you can get in touch at madeinkent@kmtv.co.uk.
26:38 I'll be back at the same time next week, six o'clock. I'll see you then.
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