The Black Madonna – ‘He Is The Voice I Hear’ Track Brand new track from one of the craftiest customers in dance music today The Black Madonna. ..10 epic plus minutes of instrument…
TRAINING: WATERFORD NEW ARTS GRANTS APPLICATION PROCESS
when everything hurts.
in my healthy days when people talked about pain – i though they were referring to emotional pain. i assumed that if it were a physical pain, they would attend to the root cause of the pain, fix the issue and move on.
when i heard drunks on the sidewalk say ‘its to blot out the pain’ i assumed they had had difficult childhoods, and here they were now trying to irradiate the residual memories or something Freudian like that.
when i began to experience chronic pain, i actually had to look up the word chronic to fully understand the implications, it does not mean a pain so bad u might die, it means a pain that never leaves.
i had no idea that any person could be left in pain to just accept it and move on.
i am in pain hell.
everything hurts. thinking hurts. moving my eyes hurts, even singing hurts.
i hope that i have the strength of character to deal with this in the most positive way possible & turn it into something more than hurt.
Namaste.
Rewilding & Eco-feminism & The Reclamation of Magic
Okay so lets start by going back to the very beginning – women and wild food. Because once upon a time all food was wild – and it was the women who gathered it. But what we’ve forgotten today was that no aspect of food, from harvest to preparation to consumption, was left untouched by magical ritual. And because the banning of magic, the subjugation of women, the domination of the earth – and the birth of agriculture – all went hand in hand, I see rewilding and food foraging as a site for eco-feminist intervention.
Many ‘rewilders’ seek to return to a more undomesticated state, a time when prehistoric hunter-gatherers lived “in harmony” with the earth. Roaming over the land, these ancestors foraged the food freely provided by the fields and woodlands, rivers and oceans. Men were mostly in charge of hunting and women were largely responsible for the…
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No, Jyoti Singh is not India’s daughter
gnm-
Music & Medicine
~ this is a beautiful song… its about marriage equality
One of the things i miss most about my old work life is the dancing, movement is crucial for a healthy spirit –
I wonder how to use sound in my art work.. its always there in the creation of it ~
communication is key
Today was a bit more of a challenge in an all round sense. there are just so many variables in this kind of work – u can never account for every eventuality
we were working with clay again which is such a lovely material to work with – it brings people right back to the last time they used it – childhood / their own children/ some positive & negative experiences – and people really hold dear onto these memories that they have & it has a serious effect on how they approach the exercise
there was the usual initial apprehension from some and others just dove right in, i had brought some images and a video (the one posted here) – and so we had something to work from – the group was different today with a younger age group and a very different atmosphere – its amazing how quickly you build up a relationship with a group and its scary how the dynamics change
i found today tiring – it was hard work – challenging on many different levels but there was amazing art work made – there are some really creative people coming in, again there was focus and engagement on the most part and we left out the clay for people who wanted to work on by themselves in the afternoon
next week we are going to paint the items that we made today – and have another discussion with regard to where the group is going
Willow Woman
I made contact with the willow woman today by phone, her name is Barbara Kelly & she is living in Saltmills.
She would be willing to have us on a Friday for a few hours for a nominal fee – 50 euro (extremely cheap) & she will even throw in a bit of willow for us for that price. (only enough to practice) – she would just go through the basics
I said we were mainly interested in using willow for sculpture as opposed to basket making & that was fine with her, as we would need more time for basket making anyway
if we need to get other willow will we will have to pay for it & she informed me that it is a bit pricey at present..
she also informed me that if we were making a sculpture using cut willow we could only expect to get 3-4 years from it as it would breakdown out in the environment
http://www.juliestarks.com/LivingWillowWeddingCircle.htm
alternatively we could make a living sculpture which would last indefinitely – but we would need to be getting that organized asap as this is the time to cut the willow for live sculpting is now.
i told her we would ring back tomo afternoon to confirm 🙂
Practicalaties
on a more practical note..
we used clay for modeling – we had no strict theme.. we gave out the material & the tools and we left it open for each individual to choose or not to choose and just to play with the materials
we made some loose suggestions & encouraged people to just get stuck in
one person had brought drawings which he was working from
one person brought tools & knowledge of the craft as he is graduate with a degree in sculpture
every one participated fully & was completely engaged
people commented on how relaxing it was & how last week was a blast (although i did note that one person spoke of how he had tried to work out why it hadn’t been a successful egg drop and tried to redo it at home)
we chatted about the day out or the gathering of willow?
im thinking week 4 or 5 might be good for that – this still gives us time to make something biggish as suggested at the first meeting?
we said we would use clay again next week – but do something different —
we have chicken wire still so how bout we look at mixing materials & we might bring along willow/ other materials
we brought our pieces outside and left them in the garden which lead us into a little discussion about land art
i feel the lovely relaxed feeling is great & the no pressure approach is working really well and there is great potential for the group
saw this guy a while back & thought maybe we could show it to the lads next week show them whats possible – show us whats possible even!!
when life gives you lemons…
Today came upon me rather quickly.. i hadn’t really time to prepare (in a what are we exactly are going to do today sense ) my dog was savaged by two Staff’s yesterday which was a horrible thing to happen as she is only tiny – somehow she managed to sneak in under the fence and next thing i knew she was between the mouths to two very angry dogs.. (it was the other side of fence – not where i got the chicken wire from)
i spent the day nursing her and loving her and praying that the vet’s bill wouldn’t be too dear but whatever it was going to take – she was going to have Pixie (my dog) came to me unexpectedly – and she arrived at the most perfect time.. she was on her way to the pound when she was brought to my attention.. i was only really getting sick then.. still fairly arrogant about life in general – taking most things for granted…
anyways she came and she just sat by me through what has honestly been the most challenging period of my life
she didn’t ask for much – jsut the odd belly rub & a good walk every day – she soon nuzzled her way upon to our bed and she can be found with her head on my pillow every morning snoring away.. as soon as i rise – she rises, as soon as i fall she falls too – its like she knows when i am really unwell before i even do..
when life is really at an all time low and when challenges are so enormous that you fear you might never come out from under them – even the slightest little show of affection can be enough to bring you through… in saying that when people are at their weakest point or even their strongest (no difference really) any show of ignorance, arrogance, anger, hatred can topple a person into the abyss..
so while approaching the session this morning – my head full of love for my tiny helpless dog i cried a little on the drive.. id been reading during the week about Eugenics – id been feeling angry with my life and my illness & the owners of the animals which attacked my Pix and i wondered would the world be a better place if we all were perfect – if we had not had our gene’s mixed up so much.. our cultures diluted – –would the world be a better place?
but on my drive home today – after spending 2 hours with the group all hands busy and deeply engaged in conversation – although trivial at times – extremely important.. to feel wanted in the space you are in, to hear stories of others lives even though only snippets – enough to give you a sense of the person — you’d have to be happy to be alive & to know that its the difficult times of your life that you learn the most..
so Pixie will always have a home here with me & i will likely always have an even greater respect for those who struggle with addiction and the amazing respect for simply just giving someone your time & your presence and looking for nothing in return..
jennie grangel 