Friday 31 January 2014

Darren Atkinson - Catalyst Converter

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

Today's poet has been addicted to Haikus since he was knee high to a giraffe. Darren Atkinson is no stranger to change and transformation, for the past two years he has had the unenviable task of migrating the public of Croydon away from their telephonic addiction and into the online stream. Since then he has been poached by Canberra Institute of Technology and has swapped South London for sunnier climes. I know him from his work with the rambling art collective SMartwalks, whose artwork is currently being honoured with an entry in the THE WALKING ENCYCLOPAEDIA at the AirSpace Gallery in Stoke. For the Jawspring exhibition he has submitted this 'Procrastination' haiku, but in reality there is nothing static about this dynamic individual except the shock from his waterproof leggings......

intention, hawk poised
hypnagogic delusion,
inertia beset

Darren Atkinson
Procrastination Haiku
We have printed his 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.

Thursday 30 January 2014

Julie Reay - Poetic Firebrand


Julie Reay's
Open Fridge Artwork
Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

Julie Reay has been exhibiting with us since the Open Fridge Exhibition in 2010 (Gallery 89, Barnet). She has a keen eye for the poetic and political, and was drawn to our inclusive ideals, something which is close to her heart too. I first knew her as an elected  Councillor for Kingston Council in 1990's. Reay has since been appointed Chair of Kingston and Richmond Health Authority and is now a consultant to the voluntary sector and works for Unison in an acute hospital. I have always admired her passion and charisma which draws you close like a moth to a flame. Her poem is one of the shortest in the exhibition and is typically positive in light of the torrential rain that is presently the UK's unwelcome guest. I imagine Reay holding up the sky like Atlas on her beautiful shoulders.....

this fiery ribbon is holding up the rain

Julie Reay
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.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Karen Harvey - Fenland Friendships

Karen Harvey
Courtesy of horsefairshoppingcentre.co.uk/
 
Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

We couldn't of crammed the CV of today's poet on a 50 foot sushi, so here's a mere soupcon. Since graduating from Berkshire School of Art with a First Class BA(Hons) in Photography, Karen Harvey has worked mainly as a freelance photographer and arts facilitator but also as a writer, curator, consultant, lecturer, mentor and residential artist. She founded Atelier East, the arts organisation that inspires creativity and high quality arts to the Fens. Admirably and very close to our ideals she also created the Fenland Scrapstore Ltd, which focuses on making the arts accessible for everyone. It seems she is a born organiser and entrepreneur and the brightest jewel in her crown is Sutter Hub, an invaluable source of information, advice, networking and opportunities for all photographers.

As if that wasn't enough she won a Clore Poetry and Literature Award in 2011. Amongst the dazzling glare of these accolades it is refreshing to see Karen Harvey's darker side with her sushi poem The Death of Friendship......

She was consumed by her own selfish head
And fell into her own hollow heart.


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.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Effra Aye-Maung-Hider - Not that strange or odd

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

Today's poet makes it a full house of participation in this small artistic enclave. Effra is my eldest daughter and despite having a talent for drama she also has a way with words. Just like her namesake, the River Effra, she keeps her talents underground with brief flashes of natural brilliance when the mood takes her.  She is no slouch when it comes to Art either and won the coveted Pomme D'Or at the inaugural Open Fridge Exhibition in 2010 at Gallery 89. Like any daughter her poem reflects both the idiocy of her father's projects and the affection that swells within..............

IMPLAUSABLE AS
SUSHI POETRY HAIKU GAME
NOT THAT STRANGE OR ODD.

Effra'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.

Monday 27 January 2014

Paul Jerram - Shredded Art Man

Paul Jerram - Barra
'Art Jazzed Up' Exhibition
Shaw Gallery 2013
Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.

I became aware of today's poet at the Rarities exhibition in 2011, where he exhibited two of his magnetic images on Hasting's Pier. Since then Paul Jerram has weaved his way into a broad palette of exhibitions, interventions and publications like Patternotion.  His paper shuffling creations are a testament to his philosophy.

"The mode of thinking I have adopted and extended from my everyday living into my Fine Art practice is the idea of recycling in its broadest sense. Being able to make greater use of the materials I have around me or that I am presented with each day, for example junk mail. This is something I would always feel very negatively about, but now I see a variety of possibilities and I find that I actually welcome it."

For Jawspring, Jerram has applied his organisation skills to cut up words rather than newsprint and takes us on a unexpected journey within just 13 words........

come in sideways out and not round the other way to the shore
       
Paul Jerram
Sushi Poem
We have printed his 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.

Sunday 26 January 2014

Staring at Milos Rankovic

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

Today our Sushi Laureate is Milos Rankovic, an artist and poet who embraces the spirit of our World Poetry Day exhibition by reaching us via Bergen, Norway and a sojourn in Leeds, UK. We've been lucky enough to entice Rankovic into the magnetic art fold too, with three fascinating mega pixelated works ready to be exhibited on the streets of Bath, UK as part of the FAB Fridge exhibition in May.
Of course Rankovic isn't a stranger to an exhibition or two with a body of this work being presented at the Guggenheim, Chapman University. Stare too long at them and perhaps they help explain his JawSpring poem........

There's this moisture of the gaze,
the constant sweat of the hard-working eye.

We have printed his 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.

Saturday 25 January 2014

Peter Turton - Suburban Bon Viveur

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

Today's poet hides an ample light under his bushel. This imperial measurement of dry goods is totally inappropriate for the man concerned, he was in truth a prolific imbiber of intoxicating liquids when I first got to know him. Peter Turton has always been a flamboyant wordsmith and I fell under his spell many a time when he held court at the Duke of Clarence, Hampton Hill in the late 1980's. Since then our Suburban Bon Viveur has retreated to his poet's garret, not far from Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare where he sends out his literary nuggets into polite society. Here he combines the two themes of the Jawspring exhibition.......

A Sushi Haiku
Alban Low in Coloured Jazz
Draws on The Master

Peter Turton's
Sushi Poem
We have printed his 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.


Friday 24 January 2014

The promise of Francesca Albini

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

Today's poem comes from the multi-talented Francesca Albini who is a poet, photographer and keen-eyed visual artist. Her philosophy that both humour and beauty are all around us is evident in her published work, TUBE which documents her journeys under London with her mobile phone. Albini's image making includes found images, paper, glue, markers, paint and ingenuity. It is her insightful creative writing (Blog) that has captured my keen eye and so I'm very pleased she has become a sushi laureate with this poem.....


Heavy drops of rain
With a promise of life
Lizards under rocks




Francesca Albini -
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.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Natalie Low - Art, Poetry and Love

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

Today we have a writer who I worked with for over 10 years so I should know her very well. When I was living in France I would write illustrated letters to my friends, describing the landscape, colour and atmosphere of rural life in the southern village of Cambieure. More friends and their friends wanted to join in too, so I set up a subscription service and started to send large clutches of these out into the world. Soon I needed writers to collaborate with and I started to meld my drawings with the words of Tanya Kreisky and Natalie Aye Maung.


Subscribed 'Letter'
I would create these images on long strips of envelope friendly paper and send off to Natalie, who lived in England. After a few weeks the selection of inspired words found their way through the various postal systems and into the hands of my post mistress. At first we added a note or two in our envelopes, soon these developed into full blown hand-written letters and eventually blossomed into romance. As you can see she is no longer Aye Maung but Low and still remains my closest collaborator. Here's her haiku for the Jawspring exhibition.....

Smashed M and Ms on
the floor of the bus tonight
like sad dead fireworks

Natalie Low's
Sushi haiku
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.

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Swallowing Wayne Sleeth's sushi

Wayne Sleeth
courtesy of www.artfinder.com
Welcome to Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.


Wayne Sleeth's creativity bubbles over like a volatile jam pan, with his sweet ideas sticking to every nearby genre. Whether this is film, art or poetry Sleeth's tone is always lyrical and thought provoking. He was born in Cleethorpes and now lives in France where he paints beautiful abstracts based upon the surrounding landscape. I was lucky enough to exhibit with him recently at the Art Jazzed Up exhibition in November at the Shaw Gallery, Croydon where one of his artworks was shortlisted for the top award. Here is his poem that reads like a one of his alluring paintings.....

Too busy a summer
to notice
the swallows and swifts are gone


Wayne Sleeth's
Sushi poem
We have printed his 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.


 
AL.
 
 
 

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Daniel Leek - Blue Plaque Poet


Dan Leek and Blue Plaque
Hampstead
Welcome to the world of Jawspring, the exhibition that is celebrating World Poetry Day on the 21st March by fusing Art and Poetry.
 
Today our Sushi Warrior is none other than poet and welsh philosopher Daniel Leek. We know him as a contributor of some note with image and prose in both the Freedbook and Patternotion books last year.

Little did we realise he has become a cult figure in Hampstead, where his blue plaque has been installed. It shouldn't be a surprise of course as his description reads professional breath taker, and his mercurial talents have obviously piqued the interests of this literary enclave.
Will his recent sushi poem engage the minds of the Wimbledon literati in the same way.....

The first thing the noise machine created was a noise for itself.

Dan Leek
Sushi Laureate
We have printed his 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 us 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.

Monday 20 January 2014

Kevin Acott - Snakes & Ladders

Kevin Acott's
Sushi poem
Monday morning is a difficult game, with two steps forward one step back, we still harbour the glow of the weekend as we make our chilly journeys to work. Our sushi laureate today is no stranger to hard graft nor thorny issues in his day job.


Kevin Acott
Kevin Acott is an experienced clinician and educator in mental health care, with nearly thirty years' experience in the field. Just last week I sketched him in his role as Senior Lecturer at Kingston University on their Simulated Mental Health Ward. He is a published poet who supports Spurs, loves Trieste, eats cheese, listens to Motown, stares lovingly at Victorian architecture and drinks the occasional whiskey. Born in Edmonton, he spent most of his adult life in Surrey with his nose pressed up against London’s window, before finally breaking in and making it as far as Streatham. He is well known on the blogging circuit for his witty and heartfelt reflections on poetry, short stories and music reviews at Something About England. Here is his poem for the Jawspring exhibition......

Health
 
Snakes squirm through dark wood
Ladders propped against green trees
Don't climb to the top
 
 
We have printed his 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 us 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.


Sunday 19 January 2014

Me, you and Kato Catling

Kato Catling's Sushi Poem
Welcome to the JawSpring exhibition and our daily nibble of Poetry for all who are literarily peckish this morning.

Today Kato Catling has snuggled in beside me on my Sunday morning lie-in. His own work often fuses both art and poetry and he has been kind enough to offer us this five liner for the exhibition. I got to know the work of Catling at the recent Art:Language:Location exhibition, which is Cambridge's cutting edge festival of wordplay in public spaces. http://artlanguagelocation.wordpress.com/.

Kato Catling
courtesy of
www.celesteprize.com
His creative stance fits well with our philosophy here at JawSpring,

"...ultimately the art needs to leave the studio to participate in society. I only want a slight permanence to the objects. They are insignificant things anyway. I recycle commercial packaging in the work because it is expedient and right for the concept and not from any environmental concern although it is one possible interpretation."

If you didn't know already our model sushi are made of recycled materials too (card, carpet and plastic bags) and we are urging  people to take these sushi home. Here is Kato Catling's poem.

NO NEED TO BE WITH ME
NOTHING TO DO
EXCEPT TO BE YOU
ACCEPTING  ME
BESIDE YOU

We have printed his poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Trust Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send us 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.

Saturday 18 January 2014

Jessamy Low - Moustache tickler

Welcome once again to the JawSpring exhibition and another Sushi Laureate. This time a haiku from closer to home.

George Low and moustache
Apart from being a talented artist, writer and sportswoman Jessamy Low also has the dubious pleasure of being my daughter. Whether she likes it or not she has exhibited her artwork on magnets in Brighton, Nottingham, Bath and at Gallery 89 in Barnet. Her Owl sculpture had pride of place in the quirky Walthamstow exhibition HideBird during the E17 Festival in 2012.


Like all good creative minds she has drawn her inspiration from the world around her and this time it is her Grandpa who has been her muse. George Low has always been an instantly recognisable character from his local High Street to the boozy journalistic haunts he frequents. Jessamy could have written about his double life as one of the OAP Village People (right) but it was his trademark moustache that has caught her eye......

Catching like a net
But still warming lonely lips
Moustache sits awesome.

Jessamy Low
We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Trust Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send us 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.

Friday 17 January 2014

Marilou Loulou - France's First Sushi Laureate

Marilou Loulou
Today we're cooking up something delicious up at JawSpring. No, not anything edible but certainly appetising. Over the next few weeks, while we wait for the artists to work their magic with the Wimbledon and Merton Poet's literary gems, we will be casting the spotlight on some poets from further afield.

Part of the JawSpring is open to all you aspiring poets out there and aptly for our exhibition which celebrates World Poetry Day on the 21st March our first poet comes from France. Marilou Loulou is a Nimes based writer who has English, French, German, Italian and Klingon at her disposal. Here is her delightful poem......


Petit matin sonne réveil
peu me chaut
ce soir je dors dans ses bras

We have printed her poem onto this model sushi and will be exhibiting it at the Village Hall Trust Gallery from the 19th-24th March 2014. If you would like to join us, please send us 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.

Monday 13 January 2014

Introducing - Wimbledon & Merton Poets

 
Robin Vaughan-Williams
Its been a slow start to 2014 with a quiet blanket of London rain stubbornly lazing across my usual Jazz nights. My dark hours have been spent instead preparing for an exhibition of Art inspired by Poetry at the Village Hall Trust Gallery in Wimbledon this March. The JawSpring exhibition is sending 27 poems from the Wimbledon & Merton Poets to artists around the world and exhibiting the resulting artworks on their doorstep.




Andy V Frost
Before Christmas I took the opportunity to walk straight into the heart of South London's poetry den. So enthused by this experience I came back for more, this time armed with pens and paper. The Merton Poets meet on the first Tuesday of every month at the Raynes Park Methodist Church Café. After warm greetings they settle down in a circle and you find yourself facing searching eyes, hands grabbling photocopied poems, all ready to be released. This is both a chance to perform and to have your work critiqued. This was a regular occurrence in my student days, one which wasn't entirely pleasant at the hands of spikey art students. Here there is a energy and frisson when performing but also humour and encouragement for any aspiring poet.


Tony Josolyne

The man who broke the circle by standing first was 'Big Mouth' poet Andy V Frost. He is one of the most vocal of the Merton Poets. This is a man who is a comfortable performer and his growling demeanour translates strongly into his poetic delivery. Frost draws his inspiration from his frequent road trips on his trusty motorcycle but it isn't all leather jackets and Ton Ups. Although he conducted a straw poll on whether to use Capricious or Viscous in his poem 'Aftermath', most eyes fell on the phrase 'Umbrella Graveyard' to describe the suburban streets between Morden and Mitcham.

Partick McManus
Tony Josolyne with the smiling eyes gave us his sweet laden poem 'Lollipop' with its dark ending. You can image the amiable Josolyne as the Lollipop Man in his poem, with his alert brain and welcoming face, but not even his quick wits could have saved the children in this tale. I learn as much from listening to the comment afterwards as the poem itself and these included..."It's like the start of a Hitchcock film, a great build up" and "a timeless feel!"

Alec Linstead
One of my favourite poets took his turn next with 3 little gems. Patrick McManus' creations are brief and sit elegantly on the page like a Greek column. "Tapestry" was my favourite and has already been sent to artist Robert Good for the JawSpring exhibition in March. Patrick Mcmanus has a wicked glint in his poetry and performance, his chin juts out proudly and he likes to stir up proceedings with his literary nuggets.

Keith Drake
Alec Linstead's honeyed voice trapped me in its sweet amber before I even had a chance to digest the meaning of his poem 'Harvesting'. His inspiration was a real moment, a physical place, in fact the privet hedge outside No.7 Latimer Road. The micro beauty of the bee brought a universal appreciation from the poets gathered in the circle.

Humphrey Aylwin Selfe
Keith Drake always sits furthest from the eye of the poetic storm at these meetings. He often gives the impression he is about to slip out of the door and into the dingy suburban night. The light outside was indeed a dirty Chartreuse in comparison to the bright whiteness under the halogen strips. Drake shifts from foot to foot, with one collar up and one down. His poem "Christmas Cards" is about the passage of time measured by friend's yuletide treasures. He received the first big laughs of the night.

Christine Sherlock
With his paper within an inch of his nose, Humphrey Aylwin Selfe read "Firelight" which warmed the others gathered around without ever quite catching ablaze. Robin Vaughan-Williams has rapidly become one of my favourites of the local scene too, not only is this a man who experiments in mixing his genre with Jazz but is obviously keen to collaborate with artists too. We are in the early stages of hatching a plot to combine Poetry, Art and Film. Vaughan-Williams with his dark mop of hair and an intensity of delivery cast his "He stops but his shadow carries on" over us. It was hotly debated, critiqued and universally admired.


John Grant
Rosanne Gomez's "Bird Brain" was a perfect counterpoint to Vaughan-Williams dark themes. Just like her smile, Gomez's poem was playful and alluring. Christine Sherlock followed with the tentative "In Wendy's Garden", but as Keith Drake said, "This is a poem that soothes" and he was right.

John Grant was our Oak, stable and calm. His demeanour was gentlemanly and he had a clarity of speech that projected his ideas effortlessly. His poem 'Bed' was a rib tickler amongst the circle of 15 poets and his line "release the solid ridges of your frown" epitomised this poem's ability to tackle death with an easing touch.

Gerald Hildreth
Jo Silver's poem was an unexpected surprise from a charming lady who seem to be living under a cloud until she released her poem into the room. Her 'Trans Recipe Delicacy' was especially written for the JawSpring exhibition and had a delightful bounce as its food inspired flavours filled our creative palates. As Patrick McManus commented, it was "a juicy poem".

Finally George MacGillivray read out 'From My Window', which was a particular hit with the Wimbledon and Merton Poetry leader Russell Thompson who loved the fact that so much time passed on the page. This is typical of many of the poems tonight. Even though the poems only take 2 or 3 minutes to read, your mind is transported through different terrains, across time zones and dumped back in Raynes Park, your imagination throbbing with the cerebral equivalent of blistered feet.

Experience and meet all these poets at the JawSpring exhibition Private View, 6-8pm, Friday 21st March 2014, The Village Hall Trust Gallery, 26 Lingfield Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4QD.

AL.