SKYLINES 5

 

   sky sea soft steel
   stillness broken
   by whale breath

    Michele Elliot 

under the stars
a right whale breaches

in the moonlight
blossom clusters
the sky is whale skin

Lizz Murphy

 

SKYLINES 4

Handkerchiefs 
over noses mouths

above is umber
the sun a burn hole
moon a light stain
one breakthrough star

black-faced brown crows
line the bridge  men below
deal their hands

Lizz Murphy

 

who left this

leaf trick

disguise over eight

letters wait

a hand held still

inside a full house

Michele Elliot

Skylines is a collaboration between Michele Elliot and
Lizz Murphy which has grown out of the One Sky Many Stories exhibition 

at Belconnen Arts Centre ACT 2018.


 

POSTCARDS FROM THE SKY INVITATION

Writers and artists are invited to participate in Postcards from the Sky a 5-week living studio in the Belconnen Arts Centre (BAC) which has grown out of the recent One Sky Many Stories: What the Stars Mean to You exhibition.

Dates:     Thursdays Nov 15-Dec 13

Time:     10.30 am-12.30 pm

Address: 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen, ACT

The emphasis is on art & text including cross-art, ekphrastic works, artists books etc — whatever you are inspired to do — the sky’s the limit. Work in situ independently or potentially in collaboration with other practitioners, generate new ideas, display work/in progress created during the living studio. Enjoy the space offered in the BAC foyer and meeting others interested in investigating the theme.

The first week will include a meet & greet, guidelines for working together and some discussion on what the stars mean to you. Bring your own research materials (maybe some to share) or prompts; bring your own writing or/and art tools and materials.

One Sky, Many Stories explores western and Indigenous conceptions of the night sky. The Griffyn Ensemble, directed by Michael Sollis, has been asking ‘what the stars mean to you’ since they first performed Southern Sky in 2012, and recently travelled to Tennant Creek to discover and create some more stories and songs about the stars.

In recent months BAC has hosted a One Sky Many Stories live concert by the Griffyn Ensemble and Living Studio in the main gallery with several artists developing new work. Postcards from the Sky is the latest activity at BAC exploring One Sky Many Stories: What the Stars Mean to You.

See the BAC website for more information on One Sky Many Stories:

https://www.belconnenartscentre.com.au/exhibitions/one-sky-many-stories/

View Southern Sky at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdcLh_lbil0Enquiries

RSVP would be helpful — cheers.

lizzmurphy7[at]gmail[dot]com 

Image: Postcard #1 by Chris Mansell who visited during the living studio in the main gallery. She responded with a series of postcards which were displayed until November 1 when we all bumped out to make way for Lucy Irvine's large-scale woven sculpture Made of Holes — part of the Design Canberra Festival.

SKYLINES 3

Remembering the moonlight   drawing on sea blanket

Michele Elliot

 

I travel

for the skies

draw stars

Lizz Murphy 

SKYLINES 2

out of weather grey   creeps night

                     Lizz Murphy 

out of night sky   awash blue

Michele Elliot 

 

ONE SKY — SKYLINES 1

Wollongong-based artist Michele Elliot said recently let's indulge in an online collaboration of words and images. Oh joy said I!

So why not on the theme of One Sky Many Stories for the Belconnen Arts Centre (BAC) — many thanks to Moni McInerny for inviting us to join in. Over the next few weeks we'll periodically post Skylines here, at Project 366 and on Instagram @michele_elliot_artist. It's a bit random — we're doing what we can when we  can and it's up for grabs who provides images or/and words at any time but there is a commitment to responding to one another's work somehow. Michele kicks it off beautifully:


 SKYLINES 

1.

 

Photo by Michele Elliot

 
 
skylines treetops
clouds scratch flag

Michele Elliot




 
scratch


a stellar creature
rubs its back
against the sky


Lizz Murphy

ONE SKY — ADD A POSTCARD

This is where my One Sky Many Stories is up to (at October 12). Some of the early puddles have come down, and the micro poems and found text now make up a second arc (reminiscent of The Milky Way from above). There is quite a bit of reading (about 15 poems of one kind or another). I think I might aim longer term for one strong poem arranged in a similar way but line by line in large text. 

Meanwhile a trickling in of delicious 'Postcards from the Sky' to add to the wall (far left): poems by Kathy Kituai and Sarah St Vincent Welch. More to come in including images by Deborah Faeyrglenn. See also a close-up of another art & text piece below.

POETS & ARTISTS DROP OUT OF THE SKY

A spirited morning of discussion on the skies, poetry and visual art in the One Sky Many Stories Living Studio at Belconnen Arts Centre, with good friends and colleagues Sarah St Vincent Welch (writer and photographer) on the left, Deborah Faeyrglenn (installation artist and writer) and Chris Mansell (poet and publisher). Sarah and Deborah have been hoping to drop in for a while and Chris who lives in Berry NSW happened to be in Canberra — serendipity — they all dropped in as if from the sky. (Not quite.) Add to that the Highly Creative Moni McInerney, Creative Director, who of course is never far away.

It was a quietish day until they got there. So many personal stories about constellations, mythologies, other works on the theme. Inspiring. Passionate. Much laughter.

And below is another found poem/micro poem from my growing installation (as it's shaping at the moment). 

One Sky Many Stories has been extended until late November. Thursday morning is my most regular time if you want to say hallo or to add something to the project.

 

PLUMWOOD POETRY SUBMISSIONS

Just a note to let you know that Plumwood Mountain journal is calling for submissions. Jill Jones is guest editor. Read her prompt here. She is interested in poems 'that look at matter beyond the human and the animal, that think about or do things with things.' Read the whole piece — there is much food for thought. Closing date: October 28.

Submissions for Cordite Poetry Review #89 close November 11. 'Use your words like a class action,' says guest editor Natalie Harkin. The theme is 'Domestic.'

The New Yorker accepts submissions on a rolling basis.

ONE SKY: FOUND POEM

Learning the night sky ... is one of a few found poems I've created as part of One Sky Many Stories. The main gallery in Belconnen Arts Centre has become a poetry refuge when I can steal a couple of hours from a busy schedule. Always hankering after something more in-depth I continue to scud through the topic and to write or make micro poems. So much fun though.

FROM WENCH WE CAME — POETRY

Here are more great poetry friends: myself looking a might pious (left) with Victoria McGrath, Jane Baker and Robyn Sykes.

I always enjoy reading with poet peers and friends — one of the best nights in a while was From Wench We Came at Smith’s Alternative in June (yes I am running behind). Jane, Victoria, Robyn and myself have known each other for a long time. We used to meet regularly to support and encourage one another as poets surviving in the regions. We have also performed as a group on a number of occasions, mainly at Yass events but also at Bungendore as part of the Weereewa Festival one year. 

Anyway, the Not Very Quiet team invited us into their monthly program which is part of ThatPoetry Thing that’s on Monday Nights at Smith’s Alternative, Civic, Canberra. ‘We don’t want just four poets getting up one after the other,’ they said, ‘we want a presentation.’ We tend to do that a bit anyway, but we did put extra thought into it and if we do say so ourselves … we were taut!

Our presentation ranged from ecopoems to refugee poems, tragi-comedy to bush humour, micro poems to rhyming metre, world conflict and women’s issues. Victoria’s are sharp and wry, Jane’s are world travelled, Robyn’s pack performance punch. We’ve arrived where we are in different ways from different places, and we selected poetry to demonstrate that and to reflect our diverse experiences and passions. 

It’s a fantastic audience at Smith’s — open to everything and generous with positive feedback. And then it was back to our individual life and poetry things ...

The Smith’s weekly poetry program continues with Emma Rose Smith and Clark Gormley on October 8 and Australian Poets: Japanese Influences (another Not Very Quiet event) on October 15. Starts at 7 pm.

Photo courtesy Kendall Kirkwood with thanks.

A BRUSH WITH POETRY'S NEW HOME

The former glass blowing studio behind Café on Queen

Hazel Hall from ACT & Wallendbeen

Lindsay (performer) and Gillian from ACT (left)

Greg Piko (co-MC) from Yass & ACT

Robyn Sykes from Binalong takes a break from her role as co-MC

A bunch of poets and poetry fans, a rustic former glass studio, views across to Balgalal Creek and beyond to bush and pasture lands, wattles in bloom — what more could you ask for? Café on Queen, Queen Street, Binalong is the new home for A Brush with Poetry. Jan Giles and Curly Sykes' hospitality includes an array of breakfasts, lunches and snacks, cakes, scones and cheese plates, a roaring fire in the back room, tables in sunny outdoor spots, plenty of space to stretch your legs, and currently, larger than life garden sculptures by Wayne Trethowan. 

Poets bask in the light pouring in through large windows, the audience is entertained by the performances and the wildlife outside and the stained glass window (designed by moi) casts its own colours. We were pleased to have over twenty regulars attend plus an extra half dozen café customers join us — excellent for a change of venue, on a long weekend (half the village is probably away), with major festivals in neighbouring towns! Today we heard free verse, bush poetry, performance poetry and haiku. It was sad, funny and dramatic. Congratulations to co-MCs Robyn Sykes and Greg Piko.

A Brush with Poetry is a Binalong Arts Group Inc (BAG) event coordinated by Robyn (also Pres of BAG). It welcomes poets and poetry performers of all styles, and sometimes singers and musicians, to its shared mike. They come from across the Canberra & Yass Valley region and from neighbouring regions. There are occasional featured poets. The next Brush with Poetry is on Sunday November 25. It kicks off at 2 pm but it's a good idea to arrive early and get your orders in ahead. Come for lunch. Bring a poem.

Meanwhile a huge thank you to the Black Swan Gallery (going through some changes) where Brush was hosted superbly for a number of years. 

(I'm a regular and also on the Brush working group.) 

 

ONE SKY — DOES THE SKY BLEED

Do stars tremble in the face of the wind

does the wind roar in the face of the star

if you fall upon a star

what if you land on a point

who decided a star had five points

who first drew a five-pointed star in one continuous line

do you remember how hard that was

what if the sky was granite

what if it was galvanized leaky tin

what if all the birds took to the sky at one time

would it just be a traffic jam or would they eclipse the sun

what if the sky was a crow’s wing

‘raven’ (it’s not the same bird) always sounds so much nicer

the sky would be a satin shelter

what if you dream your room has separated from your house and is spiralling  up into the black sky and now the walls are disappearing and your bed is going to slide  out into the night into space would you be singing twinkle twinkle little star

what if you are in your pyjamas on the stairs and they separate from everything

and fly up into the sky and you are sitting on the edge of the first step

and the bannister has gone

is reaching for the sky an unachievable unrealistic goal

why do they say reach for the stars

that’s a big reach

it’s not like getting a dish off a high shelf

who washes God’s socks

is that when it rains

is falling through space like almost drowning

is falling through space like drowning only faster

if the sky fit

would you wear it

midnight blue

a wattle bird nests in a drought-thwarted tea tree

when I walk past it flaps its way out

cuts a line through space to a higher point in a nearby gum tree

does the sky bleed when a eucalypt pierces it

is that why the sky turns red as the sun goes down

does the sun get a sinking feeling

A draft poem for the One Sky Many Stories project at Belconnen Arts Centre

ONE SKY POETRY WALL

Taking shape

ONE SKY DRAWINGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A growing 'studio' wall space of drawings and poems for One Sky Many Stories at Belconnen Arts Centre. I'm layering mixed media — charcoal, pencil, gold paint-pen and oil pastel so far. Some text — more text intended. It's a Living Studio. I'm there at different times and so are other artists. Today, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello who is making larger than life Seven Sisters from collected materials was also in the gallery.

Sorry to see Dan 'Byrd' Maginnity's Counter Narrative Device — a full size cardboard derelict vehicle — completed and moved on. Yesterday was the last day of that Living Studio exhibition. Likewise Hanna Hoyne and Amanda Stuart's Sloughing Vessel 2018. The large function space was totally transformed while these artists worked on site on their fascinating full size artworks.

Belconnen Arts Centre is preparing for Stage II — a new theatre space plus refurbishments of Stage I. So it's alternative activities in the existing spaces for a while and a fabulous program of workshops/masterclasses in artists' private studios. Click here.

 

 

ONE SKY — WOMEN STITCHED ...

women stitched into

forest like stars into night

she makes pinholes in cloth

they follow light

sewn sturdy

for Michele Elliot

after photo by Kelly Ryan Photography

workshop at Wild Rumpus Jamboree (2017)

Written for One Sky Many Stories 

at Belconnen Arts Centre

ONE SKY — A WINTER RIVER

A winter river

carries into the lake

The sun repeats itself

Whirl and twist

perfect stillness

found text Cosmos & New Scientist

Another fragment towards my 

One Sky Many Stories project