We’ve had a couple of fact finding tours around the mind blowingly huge Sunderland car plant in which we took over 3 hours to walk 3 miles and even then we didn’t see everything! Accompanied by a guide, who was a retired employee, I looked for things to explore through writing.
Rachel in Reception at Nissan Sunderland
Aerial View of Nissan Sunderland Plant
Cutaway Nissan Leaf model
Robot Nissan Sunderland
Manufacturing Nissan Qashqai Sunderland
James Sebright at Nissan Sunderland
With all the activity and bustle and the sheer scale of the place, it wasn’t hard to find plenty of inspiration, in fact I was in danger of sensory overload!
There are 5 areas in the building of a car: Press, Body, Paint, Trim and Chassis. To enter them is like stepping into another world: dancing robots, miles of cables, gigantic machines with foundations as deep as a 3 storey building, a constant stream of part built cars floating above your head. With all systems planned to the last microsecond for absolute efficiency, it would be easy to see the workers almost as robots. And this is where our project comes in – to look at the humans and the humanity behind the machines. In the coming months, I’m looking forward to what unfolds.
https://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Nissan-ext-night-400.jpg300400Rachel Cochranehttps://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Rachel_cochrane_logo_hori_2.jpgRachel Cochrane2015-01-15 15:05:362015-06-26 12:06:48Fact finding and inspiration at Nissan
Just back from holiday – a week of long walks on vast empty beaches and on hills where we never saw anyone else all day. But then, that’s Northumberland for you. We had a cottage in Embleton which had neither phone nor wifi signal so this was definitely a good time to reconnect with my creative flow and Get Writing! Rather than tie myself to a longer piece such as the WW1 drama I seem to be have been writing for ever, I embarked on a series of observations, tuning in to finer detail.
If anyone is familiar with Holy Island, they will know that looking South across to the mainland you will see the remote Ross Sands with Ross Island and it’s two navigation towers used to guide boats into Holy Island harbour. This location has always fascinated me and it is where we spent a bright chilly day with a 6 mile round trip to walk from the nearest car park.
Well worth it and I’d like to share a few creative thoughts I had along the way:
Postcard from Ross Island 5th December 2014
On the shoreline of Ross Island I found:
Anxiety
A copper beech leaf
A foam meringue
A Betty Boo balloon, bright pink, punctured
A Mercedes Benz hub cap, model not specified
A tangle of blue frayed rope
Long shadows
A red plastic fuel container with a black cap
Scatterings of exoskeletons from lives long gone
The camauflaged cry of a curlew
A wam hand (to hold mine)
Reassurance
https://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Lindisfarne-from-Ross-Sands.jpg240320Rachel Cochranehttps://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Rachel_cochrane_logo_hori_2.jpgRachel Cochrane2014-12-07 09:58:452023-03-09 17:53:26Postcard from Northumberland
Recently, I have had the great pleasure of preparing 3 creative workshops for Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums to reflect their current ‘Wor Life’ series of exhibitions. The first one I delivered was at South Shields Museum where curator Adam Bell has put together the remarkable Home of Heroes: South Tyneside in the First World War which runs until 24th January 2015.
I have learnt so much preparing for this workshop, not only about bravery of local decorated military heroes but also the bravery of local people who did not go to war. This includes the Merchant Seamen and Fishermen, who were in a non-confrontational role but nevertheless risked their lives during WW1 to bring back food and supplies.
In the workshop we looked at heroes in the wider sense and also how communities remember their heroes. Although only a small group of participants attended, they produced some fantastic work further inspired by a tour around the exhibition by Curator Adam and handling some genuine WW1 artefacts such as letters and diaries.
There are 2 further workshops to run in this series When the Lamps Went Out at The Discovery Museum on 12th November and also Coal, Ships and Zeppelins at Segedunum Museum on 19th November. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
https://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/South-Shields-Museum-400.jpg300400Rachel Cochranehttps://rachelcochrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Rachel_cochrane_logo_hori_2.jpgRachel Cochrane2014-11-02 14:50:352014-11-02 14:50:35Past Workshop Feedback: 'Home of Heroes' at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
Fact finding and inspiration at Nissan
/in Exhibitions, Nissan, Nissan, Rachel Cochrane Writer /by Rachel CochraneI am very pleased to report that photographer James Sebright and myself have begun working creatively on our project with the Oriental Museum and Nissan Motors UK.
We’ve had a couple of fact finding tours around the mind blowingly huge Sunderland car plant in which we took over 3 hours to walk 3 miles and even then we didn’t see everything! Accompanied by a guide, who was a retired employee, I looked for things to explore through writing.
With all the activity and bustle and the sheer scale of the place, it wasn’t hard to find plenty of inspiration, in fact I was in danger of sensory overload!
There are 5 areas in the building of a car: Press, Body, Paint, Trim and Chassis. To enter them is like stepping into another world: dancing robots, miles of cables, gigantic machines with foundations as deep as a 3 storey building, a constant stream of part built cars floating above your head. With all systems planned to the last microsecond for absolute efficiency, it would be easy to see the workers almost as robots. And this is where our project comes in – to look at the humans and the humanity behind the machines. In the coming months, I’m looking forward to what unfolds.
Postcard from Northumberland
/in Get Writing!, Rachel Cochrane Writer, Uncategorised /by Rachel CochraneJust back from holiday – a week of long walks on vast empty beaches and on hills where we never saw anyone else all day. But then, that’s Northumberland for you. We had a cottage in Embleton which had neither phone nor wifi signal so this was definitely a good time to reconnect with my creative flow and Get Writing! Rather than tie myself to a longer piece such as the WW1 drama I seem to be have been writing for ever, I embarked on a series of observations, tuning in to finer detail.
If anyone is familiar with Holy Island, they will know that looking South across to the mainland you will see the remote Ross Sands with Ross Island and it’s two navigation towers used to guide boats into Holy Island harbour. This location has always fascinated me and it is where we spent a bright chilly day with a 6 mile round trip to walk from the nearest car park.
Well worth it and I’d like to share a few creative thoughts I had along the way:
Postcard from Ross Island 5th December 2014
On the shoreline of Ross Island I found:
Anxiety
A copper beech leaf
A foam meringue
A Betty Boo balloon, bright pink, punctured
A Mercedes Benz hub cap, model not specified
A tangle of blue frayed rope
Long shadows
A red plastic fuel container with a black cap
Scatterings of exoskeletons from lives long gone
The camauflaged cry of a curlew
A wam hand (to hold mine)
Reassurance
Past Workshop Feedback: ‘Home of Heroes’ at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
/in Uncategorised /by Rachel CochraneLetter from POW Fisherman Captain Culling
Recently, I have had the great pleasure of preparing 3 creative workshops for Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums to reflect their current ‘Wor Life’ series of exhibitions. The first one I delivered was at South Shields Museum where curator Adam Bell has put together the remarkable Home of Heroes: South Tyneside in the First World War which runs until 24th January 2015.
I have learnt so much preparing for this workshop, not only about bravery of local decorated military heroes but also the bravery of local people who did not go to war. This includes the Merchant Seamen and Fishermen, who were in a non-confrontational role but nevertheless risked their lives during WW1 to bring back food and supplies.
In the workshop we looked at heroes in the wider sense and also how communities remember their heroes. Although only a small group of participants attended, they produced some fantastic work further inspired by a tour around the exhibition by Curator Adam and handling some genuine WW1 artefacts such as letters and diaries.
There are 2 further workshops to run in this series When the Lamps Went Out at The Discovery Museum on 12th November and also Coal, Ships and Zeppelins at Segedunum Museum on 19th November. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS