The circle of life

No, not the song, but a seemingly circular process I witnessed this evening.

A young and hirsute man sat in a circular moulded plastic chair in the courtyard of Stroud Valleys Arts collective. He was heating an aromatic substance on a camping stove. Various tools and objects were laid on a table in front of him. I wondered what on earth he could be doing.


When I found him still there two hours later, I asked him, and he replied
" casting ammonites from tree resin".

Why, of course! He has an exhibition coming up in August. That's why he was working so hard.

He held up the large ammonite form, he has made, explaining that it was still fragile and brittle. The resin is poured into a mould, and the form extracted when cooled and set.

The man's name is Adam Whites. I will look out for his exhibition next month.