Linda Ravenscroft,
“Mistress Winter and Jack Frost”
How important do you feel the artist’s role is within the Faery community?
Well, I think it really is important. People have their own ideas about faeries, perhaps what they are brought up with, Disney and things like that. As they get older, perhaps they still adore the idea of Tinker Bell, but when they can see it from a more practical perspective as well, this is a good thing. It’s about looking after our beautiful world that we’re all living in, looking after each other. So it’s great for us to show them things that they might not have the ability to imagine themselves or see for themselves. They can see it in our artwork.
I’ve had people create outfits based on my faeries. I had a phoenix turn up at one of the lovely events, she made the whole outfit of the phoenix. I thought, she’s been inspired to create this from my creativity! Things like this are just irreplaceable. So, yes, the artists have to be here. Not just myself as a visual artist from the point of view of being two dimensional, there’s the three-dimensional crafts and things as well. You can’t buy things like this on the street. I feel very passionate about it!
Where do you draw inspiration from?
It’s all to do with what’s going on in the world, I think. It’s the way I see things. The last thing I want to do is to start saying to people, “You should do this, you should do that”—you don’t want to start preaching to people. I can emit my personal feelings into my artwork very personally, very quietly, and then I can show people, and they usually get the message without me needing to say a word.
People as well—people that you meet at festivals. Also, I love getting together with other artists and chatting! I’d love to do an exhibition on a subject, with every artist invited to produce one piece, and I’d love the public to go round and try to guess which artist produced which piece! Everything is so individual, that’s why there’s no competition between us, there’s no animosity or anything like that, because we know that even if we produce the same idea, it will be so different.
What do you like about the Faery festivals?
Before we had the festivals we had no way to show our art. We were fortunate enough to have the Internet, but you want to share it with people. We’re never taken seriously in the art world, so finding a gallery in London or somewhere like that that’s likely to take your work is really hard, and it’s not treated as a serious form of art. But when you can have a festival like this, it’s encouraging for us to know that there are people out there who really do need and want this art. I think that is important—we’ve just got to share it with people. The more people we can introduce to it, I think the better the whole world’s going to feel, don’t you?
For more information, visit www.lindaravenscroft.com.
Linda Ravenscroft,
“The Queen of Leaves”
The Musicians
Where would all the Faery balls and festivals around the world be without the musicians and bands to dance our hooves off to? There are many wonderful bands and musicians in the Faery community, playing everything from gentle classical harp to heavy rock!
The Dolmen
The Dolmen are a familiar and welcome sight at most Pagan and Faery events throughout the UK and Europe, and they are also starting to become known in the US. They are famed for their driving rhythms and wicked piratical flair, playing an irresistible blend of folk and Celtic themes and original material with a hard-rock edge. The Dolmen consist of Tony “Taloch” Jameson on lead vocals and guitar (he’s also the songwriter); Keri Pinney on flute, whistle, and vocals; Kayleigh Marchant on bass guitar and vocals; Josh Elliot on guitar, mandolin, and vocals (he’s also a songwriter); and Chris Jones on drums. I caught the band after an exhausting night playing at the Three Wishes Faery Fest in Cornwall to find out what makes them tick. Though all the band were present, Taloch did most of the talking.
The Dolmen
How did you get started?
The original concept of the Dolmen was started a couple of decades ago, but it’s only in its current strength in the present lineup that we have now, because for the first time the whole band is gelling. The unison where everybody thinks together has brought the Dolmen back to a very organic performance onstage, which means that we don’t actually rehearse our songs. They happen live. Because the band has gelled in that way, we’re able to work it out as we go. That’s what the Dolmen is about.
Do you all share similar spiritual beliefs?
We’re very, very spiritually involved and always have been. We actually put on two of our own spiritual festivals per year—the Beltane Spirit of Rebirth and the Tribal Dreams Gathering. It’s a nice time at the moment, actually, especially in the UK, because you have this wonderful energy of Faery magic and the whole Faery spirit, which is a big part of what the Dolmen is about. The girls are very much into the Faery line, whereas on the male side, we’re pirates in a very spiritual way. These two things work brilliantly. Also, we’re allowed access once a year as the Dolmen into Stonehenge. They allow us to have two hours where we take in many members of mixed spiritual paths within the Faery Pagan concept…free thinkers.
Do you play all over the world?
We basically go anywhere! We have an extensive tour coming up next month, which takes us into Europe. Also, next year we have lined up some tours into the States, and we have a gig in Iceland, which is going to be quite nice, lined up for
