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Untold Skies
Myself and poet Jen Green created Untold Skies as an artist commission for the Promenade Weekender, 15-17th September 2023. Although Untold Skies was created with Weston’s seafront in mind, it can be enjoyed from any location.
Untold Skies is an immersive soundwork offering a creative perspective on the landscape and the sensory experience of Weston’s edgelands. It features the musical and spoken word contributions of workshop participants from Humans of Weston Creative Recovery Group and Weston Artspace woven with the artists’ new work. During the Promenade project, a workshop on the seafront involved deep listening exercises and participants made field recordings along the way from bandstand to Birnbeck pier viewpoint, where we talked about the old pier and did mindful writing. Tina then led music improvisations with a group in Weston Artspace, drawing inspiration from sea and seafront, and Jen led a workshop on writing about what makes Weston unique, the edges, and what the sea brings us.
Additional words by Jen Green. Field recordings, music composition and production by Tina Hitchens. A booklet with writing from the project is available digitally here.
Solo work
Right Into the River – released by TBC Editions in November 2021:
Flute & electronics livestream for Fuzz Bat, May 2020:
High Tide
Myself and artist Sam Francis were recipients of an Interpreting Isolation grant from the British Music Collection and Sound and Music for new works that reflect on COVID-19 in a creative way in response to this unique moment in our history.
Drawing upon water as a source of inspiration and as a metaphor for the Covid 19 situation, Tina Hitchens based in Bristol and Sam Francis in Weston Super Mare met virtually over two weeks to connect their separate locations through different water sources – the WSM coast and the River Frome in Eastville, Bristol that both conjoin with the Severn Estuary. At the changing times of high tide they met virtually to observe, listen, look, meditate on and respond to the connecting pull of the water, the environment and surroundings to connect creatively and personally as a lifeline during these uncertain and disconnected times. This work is a montage of material gathered during these outings and a reminder that flow and continuity will always be present and can close the space between us as the space between us all widens.
The film has had further screenings:
BEEF Showreel; Sound Around Festival; Kaliningrad, Russia; ‘All at Sea’ programme for Art Walk Projects, Edinburgh; Bluescreen, Cube Cinema, Bristol.
Tisla
A solo writing / recording project of Tina’s
CANOPY Commission
I was a commissioned artist for CANOPY’s Phone Box project 2019-2021. I explored underground in the Forest of Dean area, recording sounds, stories, and capturing the history of the caves and mines. The project was due to culminate in a 10 mile trail across phone boxes in the Forest, where artists would place their pieces. I had intended to compose a sound piece using field recordings, instruments, voices – as visitors picked up the phone they’d be given an opportunity to pause and be taken into an intimate underground realm, expanded with stories and the music inspired by them. Sadly the project has been placed on pause due to COVID, but ‘Caves’ is a work in progress:
Harpoon
Viridian Ensemble
Viridian Ensemble respond to the events of 2020, inspired in part by Wordsworth’s epic poem The Prelude. Commissioned by The Quietus and Aerial.
Halftone
A previous discussion about making an object. Recorded in 2019 and released in November 2020
Pigeon
‘At the Well’, recorded live 15th November 2019. Released January 2020.
Hokkett
rat was recorded in 2018 and released in September 2020
Grass Sends Out Runners
A distanced collaboration made during 2019 with drummer Matthew Lovett, via file swapping and recording improvised responses to each other’s sounds.
Amalgams
A M A L G A M S Short event document by Onomato
Goldfinch film events
Benjamin A Owen’s Goldfinch performance event – Spike Island Open 2015
Hengrove Wassail
A song composed by Tina for Freya Gabie’s Grafted Chorus, a project for Future Perfect public arts programme. Words by Holly Corfield-Carr. A performance at Spike Island Arts Centre in Bristol, 30 April 2017. Performed by Leila Gamaz, Phil Owen, Ellen Southern and Rosena Wenonoah.
Dots.filmband
1. Dots.filmband performance at Chapter Arts Centre
2. Dots.filmband performance at Chapter Arts Centre
Tina Hitchens 