As part of the Bradwell Windmill Project, Milton Keynes Arts Centre will be bringing to the site, Crop Circle. A collaborative growing project to create a living, time-based artwork that celebrates the heritage and history of the Bradwell Windmill in Bradville, Milton Keynes, that aims to build deeper connections between the local community of Bradville with the heritage of the area, the natural environment and food heritage.
Crop Circle in its most literal sense will be a growing wheat circle installation on the grounds outside Bradwell Windmill.
Bradwell Windmill was built in 1805, milling barley and wheat up until 1876 when it ceased operating due to industralisation. However, the mill continued to be an important landmark for Milton Keynes and in 2014 it was restored to full working order and is now open to the public on certain weekends over the summer for demonstrations and is managed by Milton Keynes Museum.
Before the building of Milton Keynes, the whole of North Buckinghamshire was primarily an agricultural area, made up of villages and farming land. Straw plaiting for the hat industry was a major craft within the county during the 19th century, and an important source of financial independence for the largely female workers.
We will work together with local volunteers, and artist and project manager Roisín Callaghan, to plant and tend to the hand-growing and cultivation of the wheat - drilling, growing, harvesting and eventually processing the crop.
As one of the first crops to be cultivated on a large-scale, wheat has a cultural significance across cultures, where our collective ancestors would have been led by the farming year. From sowing seeds in the late Autumn to allow for a dormant, fallow stage, and nurturing the new growth through spring and summer, to harvesting the crop in the Autumn before beginning the process all over again.
It is ingrained within our histories, our stories and folklore. Festivals such as Lammas Day or Lughnasadh celebrate the start of the harvest season, with harvest festivals continuing to be celebrated in churches and village fetes today. However outside of the rural setting we rarely celebrate these events which were as much about coming together as a community as they were about the yield itself.
Acting as a site for enquiry for artist workshops and events, we will offer the opportunity for the local community to engage in a number of activities, including learning about the unique and endangered, red-listed heritage crafts; straw working, corn dolly making and straw plaiting. The Crop Circle will be activated throughout the year by artist led workshops exploring the themes of heritage, ritual and storytelling
The project looks to explore how we can reconnect ourselves to the process of field to table and our relationship to food, effectively restoring our relationship to the land, and encouraging stewardship and care.
Crop Circle aims to people together socially and explore our relationship to land, food and heritage, as well as how historically we once worked together in wheat production as an entire community. It looks a relearning skills, which were once commonplace, adapting them to make them relevant for today and exploring how heritage and knowledge of heritage practice has evolved, ensuring the preservations of important cultural identity and community pride.
Go to Bradwell Windmill Project Website for more information and upcoming events.
