Jawspring Sprung!

Photo - M.Ezra

Yesterday we celebrated World Poetry Day with a fantastic party at the Village Hall Gallery Wimbledon. The Gallery was packed out with artists, poets and culture vultures from all over the UK and further afield. For many of the poets it was the first time that they had seen what the artists had created from their written work. It was a chance to meet new people as well as catch up with friends.

Danish artist Eskild Beck and Nexus gallery owner Kent Lauritsen were the furthest travellers all the way from Aabenraa but as always celebrity splicer Melanie Ezra and sushi laureate Daniel Leek made the long journey from Swansea to be with us.

Gallery Manager -
Tahira Mandarino

A special thank you to the Merton Poets who treated us to a fabulous performance of their exhibition poems as well as one or two extra treats, Keith Drake in particular made a big splash with his homage to Marcel Duchamp. They were expertly corralled by fellow poet John Grant and filmed by Andy V Frost so we'll post some footage when it's been edited.

As an organiser it is hard to process the sentiments that rush through me at this time. It is with huge appreciation though that I say thank you, to all the people who were there, to those that believed in another project however harebrained and for making World Poetry Day 2014 a day to remember.

AL.

The Gallery with be open for two more days -
Saturday 22nd March - 11am to 4pm
Sunday 23rd March - 1 to 4pm

Jawspring Exhibition : World Poetry Day

Jawspring Poster

A real team effort from Bryan Benge, Dean Reddick, Dawes Gray, Maryam Mazraei and myself has prepared us for the opening of the Jawspring exhibition tomorrow morning.

The exhibition poster (left) is safely slotted into our A-frame board and the 35 sushi laureates have pride of place in three bespoke display cases.

Dean Reddick and
Bryan Benge

We hope you'll be able to come along on Friday 21st March from 6-8pm to help celebrate World Poetry Day but just in case you can't I've posted some photos of the Village Hall Gallery below.

The Gallery will be open at other times too, so please come along and say hello. I'll be there every day, busily making sushi out of recycled materials.

Opening Times:
Wednesday 19th: 11am-1pm
Thursday 20th: 1-4pm
Friday 21st: 4-8pm
Saturday 22nd: 11am-4pm
Sunday 23rd: 1-4pm



Sara Lerota/Ann Vaughan-Williams (Top Left)
Melanie Ezra/Tony Josolyne (Top right)
Francesca Cantioni/Humphrey Aylwin Selfe
(Bottom right)
Alban Low/Jane Barton (bottom right)

We're very fortunate that the Merton Poets will be giving a poetry performance from 7pm in the adjoining room on the night itself. Come and meet the poets and many of the artists too, share a glass of wine and take home a sushi poem for a very affordable £1.




Sushi Laureates

Look forward to seeing you there.

AL








(from left) Bryan Benge, Eskild Beck, Siobhan Tarr,
 Renata Szur & Wayne Sleeth

(From right) Maryam Mazraei, Ella Penn, Stuart Simler
(On the plinth) Robert Good
(Sculpture) Wojciech Antoni Sobczynski

(from right) Dawes Gray, Shona Davies and Dave Monaghan,
Alban Low & Tahira Mandarino



Dean Reddick's work inspired by poet John Grant




(From left) Ann Kopka, Philp J Deed,
and Carolina Khouri



Purring Penny Parr

Maine Coon loungers

Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

 

Today's poet is of the prose persuasion but has broken out of her comfort zone to dabble in the dark arts of the Haiku. Penny Parr is on the cusp of becoming a 'gun for hire' private tutor in her home town of Burton-on-Trent and putting to good use a pristine first class degree. Watch out for the Annie Oakley of French & German tuition on the Staffordshire highways. For her Jawspring inspiration she hasn't wandered further than her home environment and her two Maine Coon cats, Shanklin and Mystique.......

 

Feline instinct, grave purpose,
Tabby stalking prey.

Post slaps doormat-pounce!

 

Penny Parr's
Sushi Poem

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send a haiku or poem (less than 80 characters) to me Alban at albanlow@hotmail.com or tweet  @albanart

Full details are on our submit poems page.

All these Sushi Laureates can be found on their designated page.

 
AL.

Judith Parry - The Freeverse Pimpernel

Judith Parry
Releasing Poetry in Cheltenham
 courtesy of http://tellingstoriesblog.wordpress.com/

Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

They seek her here they seek her there, Judith Parry your poems are everywhere. She is the Scarlet Pimpernel of poets, a woman who freely exhibits her works in unexpected places around town. She is currently releasing up to 100 postcard sized literary surprises into the wild. As you might know this type of guerrilla interaction is very close to our hearts, especially with a new magnetic street art exhibition around the corner in Bath. Late last year we were fortunate enough to capture Parry and contain her within four walls for the 'Art Jazzed Up' exhibition at The Shaw Gallery in Croydon. We're therefore very excited to pounce* on the lesser spotted Parry haiku and keep it in captivity, well, just until the exhibition finishes on the 24th March and then it will be released back into the public domain to fertilise our minds......

Young rose blooms bee strewn
Open petals beckoning
Pollination time

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send a haiku or poem (less than 80 characters) to me Alban at albanlow@hotmail.com or tweet  @albanart

Full details are on our submit poems page.

All these Sushi Laureates can be found on their designated page.

 
AL.

*No Judith Parrys were harmed in the act of poetry capture.

Mysterious Melody Clarke

Is this the real Melody Clarke?

Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

It goes without saying that when you send out an 'Open Call' you are providing an opportunity for other creative people but for me it is also a broadening of experience and an opportunity to meet new faces. Although we have built a loyal group, where once unfamiliar faces have now become friends there is always a wild card in the pack. Melody Clarke is our joker. Usually I can track down their online profiles, attribute Twitter and Facebook accounts to them and start to build a past and a future. If I was a gambling man then I would say that our Melody Clarke was the head honcho at Beware of the Bull but then I could be talking poppycock. We'll let Clarke be the mysterious member of the Sushi Laureates and for her poem, 'Romancing the stoned' to do the talking.....

Smoke, musk, silk.

Touching soft skin.
‘Marry me,’ I murmur.
‘No,’ he said.

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send a haiku or poem (less than 80 characters) to me Alban at albanlow@hotmail.com or tweet  @albanart

Full details are on our submit poems page.

All these Sushi Laureates can be found on their designated page.

 
AL.

Wake up to Roshni Dhanjee

Roshni Dhanjee
courtesy of https://soundcloud.com

Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

Today's poet brings us her rays of sunshine to cheer us up on another blustery and wet day here in the UK. Roshni Dhanjee is the Brighton based creative who comes to us via Geneva with her insightful creations. Known as Sunhoney in literary circles this Sussex student also has a whiff of the romantic about her. Not only does Dhanjee want to plant poetic seeds in our mind but also to leave her mark on the Perfumery Industry after gaining a BSC in Organic, Inorganic and Physical chemistry..............

violet in my dreams
 

but here you are real, yellow
 

and shades of daylight

 

Roshni Dhanjee's
Sushi Poem

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send a haiku or poem (less than 80 characters) to me Alban at albanlow@hotmail.com or tweet  @albanart

Full details are on our submit poems page.

All these Sushi Laureates can be found on their designated page.

 
AL.

Mark Carr - Mind. Hammer. Blow.

Mark Carr
Sushi Laureate

Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

Today's Poet doesn't pull his punches, and why should he. Mark Carr has been round the block and experienced the inevitable ups and downs of an artist's life since completed his degree in 1984. Perfect for this international exhibition Carr has travelled extensively in North America, India and Australasia collecting cultural and personal influences which he has integrated into his work. His most recent and gripping artistic development is his rich repetitive film work, YES/NO being a case in point, where simplicity becomes a weapon in which to hammer our consciousness states. His Jawspring poem needs no introduction, it is what is.......

when depression grips
and inevitability falls
then all that’s gone
is as nothing.

Mark Carr's
Sushi Poem

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send a haiku or poem (less than 80 characters) to me Alban at albanlow@hotmail.com or tweet  @albanart

Full details are on our submit poems page.

All these Sushi Laureates can be found on their designated page.

 
AL.