Jessica Rost

As Artist in Residence for Left Coast since April 2025, I’ve been working in Revoe, Blackpool on and around the site of an old pub which was demilished a few years ago.

The residency is in an area designated for redevelopment and there is a great deal of uncertainty about the future  and feelings of despondency among some local residence.

The area where the George Hotel once stood has now become a community green, a common space for people to meet and come together.

Over the first part of my residency I have been looking at the pioneer plants which have established themselves in this rubble ground.

The precariousness of the area means that art-making is challenging but also that the community is very open to, and interested in the project.

As I began to survey the rough ground and engaged with people there, I realised that there was a real interest in the medicinal qualities of the so called ‘weeds’ growing there.

I ran simple sessions making seed bombs, calendula cream, sleep pillows and even strawberry jam and jam tarts! I also let a forage walk around the local area.

All of this then led to the creation of a zine, ‘Pioneers of Revoe’, which told the story of the plants with recipies and drawings of the seagulls, pioneer plants and the old pub.

As my initial Residency came to an end I made a proposal for the community to create a Medicinal garden in Revoe, on the site of the old pub, and I was invited to continue the work, which felt as though it had only just got started!

‘Medicine from the Rubble’,  the second phase of my Residency with Left Coast is now four or five months in. There has been lots of activity with monthly Plant Medicine sessions, Seed Planting and woodwork sessions to build the planters and even a ‘Nettle Soup making’ demonstration for Blackpool Restaurant week.

There are now ongoing discussions and thoughts around re-opening the pub / botanical bar for a special event in early June so there’s more medicine to come.

This was a commission from Emergency Exit Arts to work with Colours of Redbridge, Ilford. What an amazing project to be invited to be a part of.

The co-commissioning by the community members was a lovely process. The group were quite an ambitious group and clear that they wanted a cycle-powered, kinetic sculpture, celebrating small things in nature and inspired by ideas around rebalance. They had visions of a colourful abstract contraption; friendly, joyful and with lots of moving parts.

The commission was for the Big Small Wonders street parade. The parade itself featured many community members carrying items they had designed and made. It brought together designers from across the UK and abroad and included work from Kinetika and an artist from STOMP!

Having gathered all the design ideas together, I began to sketch ideas and created a maquette which I presented to the group before I began the build.

The creation time was very short – just under a month (with only a couple of rest days).

I’ve discovered over the years that it’s useful to get the bike frame and main mechanism created early, as the moving parts often need to be running and tested a lot to find all the tweaks and changes that need making. The fabrics, skins, soft fittings always take longer than anticipated and usually end up getting squeezed and get added to in future additions!

This was the first time I had used a combination of steel and bamboo parts. Aesthetically a good decision but the joining parts definately need more testing which time didn’t allow this time around unfortunately.

As the days went by I added more moving parts; legs, wings, tail and I would have liked to have more time to test and improve these but the date of the parade couldn’t be changed!

I had help with sewing the silk parts from artists Katherine and Ellie at Ashbank Arts (where I had my workshop). The silk was hand painted by Kinetica who were also working on a different aspect of the parade project. The combination of Taravanya and Kinetica’s giant fans was fabulous.

Have a look at the film below to see Taravanya being cycled around!

Every year Rost Productions coordinates an area at the Green Gathering Festival in Chepstow on the Welsh borders. This years festival runs from 30th July to 2nd August 2026.

Tucked into the trees by the ruined mansion house there’s participatory workshops for all ages, street theatre, art installations, storytelling, open mic, live music (with a punk / protest / experimental vibe), and a fantastical night-time dance space.

Our Uncommon theme this year is Underground: the story of joyful resistance, bog witches, burrowing creatures and living networks.  It may be anarchic, it could get rather surreal, it will definitely be thought-provoking.

The Uncommon area brings together artists and production specialists from across the UK to make new work, experiment and play in a hidden corner of the festival every year.

The UNCOMMON STAGE is in a beautiful woodland setting and we host an eclectic line-up.

POWERED by the SUN all our mobile solor power, sound system and lighting is provided by Kit n Kaboodle Sounds 

This years artists are still to be announouced but we have previously hosted The FOSSILHEADS, Maz and the Phantasms, Menstral Cramps, Harpmonix,  Mara Simpson, Matthew One Man and many others.

THE NEST is a home for storytelling, puppetry, and acoustic jams.

PARTICIPATORY ARTS & PARADE  We host daily workshops for all ages and abilities. This year we are focusing on printmaking.

Together we create a giant puppets for the parade that we organise too. The parade leaves the Uncommon at 12 noon on the Sunday.

DJ NIGHTS From around 10pm until 2am each night, we’re on the decks, dusting off the vinyl and hosting a banging dancefloor with an eclectic mix of the finest dance music.

ART PERFORMANCE
This year you could find yourself getting swept up in the Vote Conform rally, get a prescription from a Nature Doctor, be pulled into the Pockets of Resistance protest, watch a performance of Smart Device or any number of other one-off happenings curated by Rost Productions!

BORDER CONTROL is our very own Uncommon sercurity team. Posted at the perimeter of the area the Border Control can be quite strict (depending on who’s on duty). It’s likely you’ll get held up in their antics if you try to enter the Uncommon area so please ensure all your paperwork is in order!

EATING, DRINKING & FIRESIDE This year Mead Hall is again at the Uncommon – run by Welsh beekeepers from Afon Mel (Honey River) farm, they’ll have ale, cider, spirits and soft drinks too. Evenings, join the cameraderie around the Uncommon fire.

Devised by composer Orlando Gough and produced by Artichoke, HERD took place around Kirklees during July 2023 as part of Kirklees Year of Music. The KYOM23 flagship project was a ground-breaking collaboration between artists, musicians and hundreds of schoolchildren and community members.

Early in 2023, I was asked by Huddersfield-based artist Dave Young, if I’d be interested in being part of a team of giant sheep makers!  The project was a commission by Artichoke for Kirklees Year of Music.

I was staying in my bender at Ashbank Arts at the time I began the job and had taken in a rather traumatised rescue cat, who seemed to be scared of absolutely everything!

So I left the terrified cat alone to get used to her surroundings, and began the first of several weeks working in Huddersfield. The sheep building project was based in a previously abandoned Victorian warehouse, right next to Huddersfield station.

Arriving in the enormous warehouse I found several artists at work: welders, makers, textile artists – many of whom, it turned out, I knew already  from other projects I’d worked on in the North West.

I was introduced to Dave, shown a pile of scrap metal and the largest sheep armature you could imagine, and I got to work. My sheep was Fethera, one of the 23 all design by Dave and Jane, and being created and covered in different ways by the artists, volunteers and students in the team.

The pile of scrap metal started to diminish fast as I began to weld, bolt, cut and transform the rubbish into a giant sheep fleece.

The following week I was taken to a scrap yard to collect more material. I’ve never seen so many discarded ironing boards!

I  was also given the work of fabricating the armature of Fethera‘s head for another artist to cover in scrap denim.

Over the weeks, travelling back and forth, staying in the lovely Premiere inn by the canal, I was given many different jobs on the project, including helping to fleece the big mother sheep Aina, with naturally dyed cloth.

On returning to my bender one weekend I noticed a rather handsome tabby cat hanging around. It seemed that the shy rescue cat that I’d taken in had been venturing out and about after all, and had got herself a boyfriend!

Back in Huddersfield, as a special treat, I was given a new job, this time in the textile area, building the features and covering another sheep using wool and hessian.

Due to the huge effort of all those involved, the herd of 23 sheep were all finished in time and transported on flat bed lorries to locations all around Huddersfield for the Kirklees Music Festival.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get there to see, and hear, the HERD finally gathered for the musical finale in St George’s square but what an amazing project to have been a part of. Thanks Dave and Jane from Rag and Bone. for you amazing vison.

The cat had her five kittens a few weeks later!!

A cosy space to laze and dream… a safe quiet space for whoever is in need of it…an artist designed temporary shelter, beautiful and practical.

– Wild Rumpus, 2023.

Originally created as a commission for Wild Rumpus, The Sanctuary was created for the National Memorial Arboretum.

The piece was installed from July to September 2023, providing a calm and reflective shelter away from the business of other summer activities. It was part of New World, a trail of adventure activity and  installations at NMA.

You can see film footage of The Sanctuary here

The design was inspired by a lotus flower and the steel and hazel frame took a couple of months to fabricate. The piece couldn’t have been finished without the expert sewing skills of Emma Garofalo and help from Emma Cole and Arianna Mengarelli. Also the beautiful meditation cushions made by Mary Eisenberg. Thank you team!

The Sanctuary is available to hire and makes a beautiful quiet space for yoga, story telling or acoustic music.

In June this year Jessica was commissioned by Wild Rumpus to create nine sets of ‘Ear Trumpets’, (27 altogether), as part of project called Pavilions of Play for the National Trust.

The Pavilions of Play were installed at nine different National Trust properties all around the country.

At each site, alongside three ear trumpets of varying sizes, was a giant periscope and three lookout viewing boxes. The project invited families to look, listen and to connect with nature in completely new ways.

The ear trumpets had tubes attached which wound around each structure and beyond, so that people could listen to the sound of the wind blowing through leaves, the rippling of water on nearby ponds, and the birds chirping in the distance.

The trumpet listening devices were made from thin sheet steel, cut into petal shapes, welded together and finished in clear lacquer. The rims were edged in scrap ply pieces which were rivetted on, and ducting tubes were attached to listen through too.

The Pavilions of Play were found at Attingham Park, Calke Abbey, Clumber Park, Gibside, Knightshayes, Nymans, Quarry Bank, Stourhead, and Wimpole Estate this summer.