Dave Wise

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Dave Wise is an English/Canadian photographer, ultra runner, author, film maker and travel writer. He founded Urban Fox Press in 2002 - producing more than 50 books in collaboration with artists working on The Medway Scene (including Billy Childish, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming, Karl Farrer, Lupen Crook, Wolf Howard, Zara Carpenter, Ann Welch, Philip Kane, and Philip Absolon) - and the running, travel and hiking website Trek and Run in 2005. He has participated in over 150 marathons and ultra marathons, winning the Canadian 24hr National Running Championship races in 2016 and 2017. In reviewing his book of pinhole photography produced in Egypt, Amateur Photographer Magazine said "...the shots have the same raw, brutal energy as the accompanying text - this, I believe, is one of the joys of pinhole photography. The energy that comes from reducing a scene or experience to its bare bones is captivating, and Dave Wise has it down to an art." Dave is a keen vegan chef, has practiced yoga and meditation since 2016, and took his teacher training course in Toronto in 2019.

Early Life

Dave was born in Maidstone, Kent, in 1968. His grandfather introduced him to photography at the age of 3 and, having developed a severe stutter at around the same age, making images became his main means of self expression. Later, when secondary school became a struggle, he started running as a further means of self expression, covering between 5 and 10 miles after school each night over the North Downs.

Upon leaving Vinters Boys School in 1984 he drifted between jobs and in 1986, unable to settle into regular employment, hitchhiked to Marseille in order to join the French Foreign Legion. Over the following few years he travelled around the world, visiting over 70 countries, mainly on public transport, canoe, horseback or on foot.

Photography

Having returned from travels he was advised to exhibit his most recent photos taken during a year backpacking from Cairo to Cape Town. This led to his first touring exhibition, with his images and stories being shown at public libraries in Maidstone, Medway and Gravesend, and at the Brook Theatre in Chatham. Inspired by this experience he began working with refugee groups in Dover and the soup kitchen in Rochester, producing a body of work using disposable cameras. The resulting exhibition toured 7 public libraries in 1998.

He discovered pinhole photography through Wolf Howard and has since exhibited his work in a group with Wolf, Billy Childish and Nhung Dang at Dimbola Lodge, as well as in solo exhibitions throughout England and in Turkey. He invented the Artistamp process in 2014, in which a paper negative can be solarized in-camera, and currently works in his adopted home of Toronto with a converted Box Brownie pinhole, making images straight onto photographic paper.

DTT

Dave formed the art group DTT (Dilute To Taste) in 1999. The first group exhibition - 'Legacy of the 20th Century' - was at the Brook Theatre in 2000. It featured a working soup kitchen, where the public could create art as well as getting a bite to eat, and the work of 2 other artists. There was also a mini millenium dome made from soup cans and old clothes, and a busker playing during the course of the 3 day show.

The second DTT project was made in collaboration with terminally ill children at Demelza House Hospice. The body of work created here was exhibited at various galleries, and in the foyers of Tesco shops throughout Kent.

The third DTT project saw Dave working with Bill Lewis and the textile artist Cas Holmes, producing work in residency at the Medway Soup Kitchen. After working succesfully on this project Dave and Bill went on to form the Urban Fox Press in 2002.

Urban Fox Press

The press was operated out of Dave's front room in Chatham. The first publication was 'The Arts in Medway; The Medway Scene', a history of creativity in Medway. The pre-launch exhibition was at the Brook Theatre featuring visual work by several artists, and an accompanying live happening on 1st June, 2002, with performances from Bill Lewis, Joe Machine, and Medway Opera. The book was officially launched 5 months later with another exhibition at the Space Frame Gallery in Gillingham, where there were performances from Bill, Joe, Wolf Howard, and Chris Broderick. The 1st run of 400 books sold out that night.

After this Dave began working closely with Billy Childish, who designed the Urban Fox logo and helped out with book design and inspiration.

The press founded the Independent Medway Arts and Music Festival in 2004 and subsequently published over 50 books, including work by Katherine May, The Medway Mermaids, Michael Curtis, Billy, Joe, Zara, Wolf and the company Art Safari, the proceeds of which funded the building of a day care centre in Malawi.

Creative Adventures on the Medway Estuary

Since 2003 Dave has been canoeing the River Medway, and in 2012 he camped on Darnet Island for 6 weeks, documenting his stay in the book and film 'Otherness, 42 Days on the Isle of Beauty' (the Isle of Beauty being the name of the old pub on nearby Bishops Ness). His journeys have been made predominantly in the company of the artists Karl Farrer and Martin Booth. The three have became known interchangeably by interested dry-footed observers as 'The Isle of Beauty School', 'The Medway Marshland Movement', and 'The Medway Delta Three'. They spend their time creating pinhole photos, solargraphs, sketches and poetry, and collecting local legends. Other artists to have been involved in the artistic adventures include James Hill, and Chris Norman.

Travel Writing

Dave began writing freelance for Adventure Travel magazine in the late 1990's, covering destinations including Svalbard, Malawi, Finland, Italy, and Sri Lanka, and interviewing figures such as Wilfred Thesiger, Ranulph Fiennes, Christina Dodwell, and Tim Mackintosh Smith.

It was whilst on assignment in Sri Lanka that he was introduced to marathon running in 2006. The national marathon organisers offered him a 3 week trip to cover the race. Dave felt that a journalist shouldn't write about something unless they have experienced it on their own skin, so he decided to run the race himself. His training was interrupted after being beaten up by English football fans and given a ruptured spleen and little chance of survival, but in 2008 he finally got to take part in and finish the Sri Lankan marathon.

Running

Dave ran a number of marathons and ultras in various cities, including Athens, Rome, Budapest, Paris, and Toronto, reporting on them for Trek and Run, before getting more serious and taking part in the Canadian National 24hr Championships in 2016. He won the men's race over a field containing 5 previous champions with a distance of 194kms. He couldn't claim the title as his immigration status at the time was permanent resident, not citizen. The same was true the following year when he won the same race. He has twice finished the Marathon des Sables and currently runs purely for fun. Selected race placings;

• 2nd Place - Stavely 18km, Lake District, England. 2012
• 8th Place - Karrimore Great Trail Marathon, Keswick, England, 2012
• 3rd Place - Endure 24, Reading, England, 2014
• 1st Place - Eirinodromia 10km, Athens, Greece, 2016
• 1st Place - Canadian 24hr Mens Championship, London, Ontario - 2016
• 1st Place - Canadian 24hr Championship, London, Ontario - 2017
• 3rd Place - Sri Chinmoy 24hr, Ottawa, Canada - 2017
• 2nd Place - Conquer the Canuck 2 day event - 2018
• 3rd Place - Malta Marathon, Malta, 50+ age group - 2018
• 1st Place - Missisauga Half Marathon, Canada, 50+ age group - 2018
• 1st Place - Run for the Toad 50km, Canada, 50+ age group - 2018
• 2nd Place - Sunburn Solstice 15 hour trail race, Canada - 2019

Books

• The Arts in Medway (with Bill Lewis) - 2002
• The Arts in Medway vol 2 (with Bill Lewis) - 2003
• The Seeker - 2003
• Scatterlings - 2004
• The 1st Medway Music and Art Festival - 2004
• Walking to Trafalgar - 2005
• River (with Karl Farrer) - 2005
• Memories of a Medway Tug Boat Captain (with Billy Childish) - 2005
• Somewhere Else (with Wolf Howard, Karl Farrer, Billy Childish, and others) - 2005
• A Velvet Silence - 2006
• England! England - 2007
• Pinhole Dreams - 2007
• The Smoking Dog (with Wolf Howard and Billy Childish) - 2007
• Dark Chamber (with Wolf Howard, Nhung Dang and Billy Childish) - 2007
• Siam through a Pinhole - 2008
• At the Villa Melzi - 2008
• The Band of Historical Hillwalkers Trip to Krakow/Aushwitz (with Billy Childish) 2008
• The Band of Historical Hillwalkers Trip to High Atlas/Marrakech (with Billy Childish) 2008
• Carnet de Stenope Vol I, Morocco - 2009
• Carnet de Stenope Vol II, Sri Lanka - 2010
• Carnet de Stenope Vol III, Turkey - 2011
• Carnet de Stenope Vol IV, India - 2011
• Otherness, 42 Days on the Isle of Beauty - 2012
• Zen World Cuisine - 2020

Books Edited/Published

• The Book of Misplaced but Imperishable Names, by Bill Lewis - 2004
• Blackberry Ghosts, by Bill Lewis - 2004
• The Mermaid, Women's writing from Medway - 2004
• Chatham Girl, by Zara Carpenter - 2004
• The 1st Green Horse, by Billy Childish - 2004
• Journals of a Jobseeker, by Wolf Howard - 2004
• Failed Intellectual, by Sexton Ming - 2005
• Riding the Tears of Everest, by Darren Clarkson - 2005
• The Chatham Ultramarine, by Joe Machine - 2005
• Photobooth, by Billy Childish - 2005
• The River be my Blud, by Billy Childish - 2005
• 9 stories of the River Medway, by Billy Childish - 2005
• The History of the Sunlight Centre - 2005
• A River Anthology - 2005
• New Medway Outlook - 2005
• Ghosts and their Uses, by Katherine May - 2006
• Hauntings, by Katherine May - 2006
• The Spirit Cabinet, by Katherine May - 2006
• Transitions, by students of New Brompton College - 2006
• Tara, a Witch of our Time, by Jackie Hopkins - 2006
• The Medway Fringe Festival - 2006
• Art Safari Sketchbook - 2006
• A Medway Sanctuary - 2006
• Reflections of a Dancing Bear, by Zara Carpenter - 2007
• Sadness sits Waiting in the Strangest of Places, by Wolf Howard - 2007
• Weeks, by Michael Curtis - 2007
• Eggs for the Soul, by Maureen Norris - 2007
• Where the Forevers Become, by Tina Lawlor Mottram - 2008

CD's

Urban Fox Press worked with Medway bands and musicians including The Solarflares, The Len Price 3, The Long Weekend, Tom Hull, The Buff Medways, whilst putting on gigs in the area. Several lives performances were taped and put onto CD.

• The Smoking Dog presents...with Billy Childish, Tom Hull, Pete Molinari and more
• Urban Fox 1
• New Voices, with New Brompton College
• Rock Box, with New Brompton College
• Collaborations, with New Brompton College
• Urban Fox Bootleg
• The 1st Medway Music and Art Festival, 3 CD set
• The Medway Fringe Festival, 2 CD set

External links

• https://trekandrun.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/davewiseto

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