Fieldfaring Projects
The fieldfare is a large colorful thrush that stands upright and has a purposeful hop. They are known as nomadic and social birds, wandering wherever there is an abundance of berries and insects often in woodland areas spending their winters in large flocks. They travel from northern Europe to the British Isles. The English common name “fieldfare” dates back to at least the eleventh century, and perhaps meant “traveler through the fields”.
Since 2005, I have collaborated under the rubric of Fieldfaring Projects predominately with my creative partner and late husband Ted Purves (d. 2017). In the early days, we were interested in the overlay of urban and rural systems upon the lives of specific communities, such as the neighborhood where we lived in Oakland. We studied the nature of people and place as seen through social economy, history and local ecology, exploring how symbols and customs that are stereotypically “rural” migrate to urban settings. Our projects were aligned with the emerging field of art and social practice in the early 2000’s amplifying local experiences and traditions through communal forms as simple as picking leftover backyard fruit, preserving it and giving it away i the neighborhood. Though we had lived in cities for most of our adult lives, we both have rural roots that influenced how we framed our projects, uncovering and playing with the persistence of the rural in daily life. It is possible to see this complex, socially shared conception of the “rural” as a part of a larger social imaginary, one that collects a set of symbols, histories and values together in such a way that common expressions and practices emerge in its wake.
This “idea of the country” was tangible living in the Bay Area as we witnessed the growing number of farmers’ markets, the advance of the Slow Food and farm-to-table movements, backyard and collective farming and the re-emergence of community gardens. The ever-present critical dialogue around ecology, climate justice, and the rapid returning of land to local indigenous peoples shape the ethos of northern California lifestyle, politics and scholarship.
Ted Purves pictured facing a thrush. Below one of his daily bird lists postcards from 2001.
