Five minutes with Doc Rowe and Anna FC Smith

English Dance and Song Spring 2019

This article was published in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts. 

Five minutes with Doc Rowe and Anna FC Smith

In the September 2017 edition of EDS, we featured the embryonic collaboration between folk documentarian Doc Rowe and Anna FC Smith, Bryony Bainbridge and Natalie Reid, three artists commissioned to create works responding to Doc’s material. The resulting exhibition has since been to Touchstones art gallery in Rochdale and is now showing at Cecil Sharp House. We catch up with Doc and Anna to find out about the Lore and the Living Archive exhibition.

We last spoke to you when the exhibition was in development. It’s now up and running. How’s it going?

D: After the initial shock – and embarrassment – of seeing Bryony’s creation of myself larger-than-life size, and being immortalised as a hobby horse by Anna, it was exciting to see how the three artists had drawn inspiration from the collection.

A: It’s been going brilliantly!

How have the two shows differed in their presentation?

D: It had to be downsized a little for Cecil Sharp House as it does not have the same ‘gallery space’ as Touchstones. The three video screens of my work have been reduced to one and some editing of content has also been requested by the Society for this showing.

A: The Touchstones exhibition was in a purpose-made gallery, so we were bringing the Doc Rowe archive and customs into a peaceful, fine art space, set apart from the activities that inspired the works. In the Cecil Sharp House exhibition, the works are amongst the hubbub of research and dance activity, a part of the flow of the venue and right at the heart of the folk community.

How have they differed in terms of audience reception?

D: I’d anticipate that the majority of the audience at Cecil Sharp House would be already be sympathetic or familiar with some aspects of the seasonal events shown.

A: Both shows have had an incredible reception. Doc and his work inspire respect and adoration and so part of this reception is down to his longstanding reputation. The folk community at the Cecil Sharp House exhibition seems to love how we brought the archive alive and the conversations have been really animated about the customs from a place of prior knowledge. At Touchstones, the buzz was about learning something new about the existence of the varied customs and an appreciation of the forms of all the works.

What kind of feedback have you been receiving from audiences?

A: People want to know more about Doc and his work, and personally there seems to have been a lot of joy about my hobby horse sculpture.

What sorts of audiences have seen the show?

A: We’ve had a real mix of ages; members of the folk song and dance community, curators and art audiences and general members of the public, too.

What would you like people to take away, learn and experience from the exhibition?

D: Foremost, I see it as a celebration – albeit a tantalising glimpse – of some of the extraordinary and diverse events that take place around the British Isles. One would hope that people would want to seek more information and be able use the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library – ready to hand! A: First and foremost, to learn about the existence of the Doc Rowe archive and to support his work to preserve the archive and make it more accessible. But also to see how our customs are themselves living, breathing and evolving archives that develop with time but give us a connection to our landscapes and our past, and that they are for everyone.

What are your most memorable moments so far?

D: The initial meeting with the three artists in the archive itself. Anticipating an impartial reaction, I was astonished by their response – in their words ‘like children in a sweetshop and spoilt for choice’ – being excited and absorbed by labels, folders, files and archival boxes of recorded and filmed material. Similarly, them joining me ‘in the field’ a number of times was mutually rewarding and entertaining. A: My greatest moment was seeing the smiles from men who dance hobby horses and watching them taking ‘selfies’ with my sculpture.

What have you learnt from the experience?

A: I have learnt so much from the research with Doc and the other artists about our folk heritage, and I have met some incredible people through the project.

What’s next in term of the exhibition – will it go on tour, or are there any plans for it to be shown elsewhere?

D: It’s a touring exhibition funded by The Arts Council and plans are there for future shows around the country. It will certainly be in Whitby at the art gallery in time for Whitby Folk Week in August.

A: There are discussions about where it will go after Whitby – so watch this space. I’m also hoping to be able to dance the hobby horse at Whitby Folk Week, taking it to the home of the archive it represents.

What about future collaborations?

D: It would not surprise me at all!

A: I’ve been working on an Arts Council-funded projected with artist Faye Spencer called Reason Is An Impasse, Reason Is Damnation, considering the fool archetype and what his folk wisdom offers us. I took some photos of the beautiful frieze around the Cecil Sharp House entrance as it features a relief of a fool with his bladder. This has inspired some of the works I’m making for this show. Faye and I are also planning a trip to Manchester for the JMO day in March.