Mapping Memories, Over the Fields, on the Isle of Wight

Over the Fields poetry map

I am currently preparing for a talk I will be giving this Thursday, 22nd June at Quay Arts, the Isle of Wight’s leading art gallery and venue for live events.  I was thrilled to be invited to speak about my poetry map, Over the Fields, as part of the events and activities taking place around Richard Long’s show, The Isle of Wight as Six Walks, 8th April – 1st July.

Photograph by Bill Mudge

I will be talking about how and why I came to make the map. Regular readers of my (somewhat irregular) blog will know that this was a process of going for walks with my Dad and my son, over 18 months, beginning in January 2014, and ending in August 2015. The map was self-published after being beautifully designed by my best mate, and printed and folded into a pocket-sized A6 fold out full colour working map, with poems on one side and photos and map on the other.

Since then the map and I have been on quite a journey, and I have been able to achieve some of the aims I had for it, and other things have happened which were unexpected but equally wonderful.

Running Through Six Acre Meadow

I will talk about this tiny piece of greenbelt, and the impact it continues to have on my family. I hope you can join me for a walk through the poems and a chance to think about memory, family and place. And walking itself, and why it continues to inspire creativity.

Information and booking here.

Facebook event here.

Thursday 22nd June, 7.30pm – 9.00pm £7

Quay Arts, 15 Sea Street, Newport Harbour, Isle of Wight PO30 5BD

 

 

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Visual Poetry Show at the Museum of Futures, Spring 2017

This Thursday, 23rd February I am thrilled to be reading a new collaborative poem with Susie Campbell at the Futures Camarade, which is part of the launch of the Visual Poetry show at the Museum of Futures in Surbiton. It has been an absolute delight to work with Susie, and we are looking forward to performing the work together for the first time on Thursday evening.

The Facebook event for the Futures Camarade reading and exhibition launch is here (I think it’s going to be a busy night!)

The show is being curated by the inimitable S J Fowler , with assistance from creative writing students Kingston University, and will exhibit work from a diverse range of artists and poets working across the boundaries of visual / textual art. I am very excited to be part of this and can’t wait to see what promises to be a distinctive and unique mix of work in the lovely space of the Museum of Futures.

I am chuffed to have a piece of visual work in the show, and to go with that, a new chapbook, Villiers Path: Scalloped Time, the second publication on the Seethingography imprint from Sampson Low publishers.

More about Villiers Path coming soon….

On Tuesday 28th February I will be hosting a Seething Writers workshop at the Museum of Futures: Seething Writers Go Totally Ekphrastic, where we will be writing in response to the work on show in the exhibition. More information here.

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Merchandise For Authors

I’m very pleased to have been featured as a case study in Melissa Addey’s excellent book, Merchandise for Authors, published at the end of her time as Writer-in-residence at the British Library.

“Merchandise for Authors is a really valuable resource. Melissa has clearly used the time she spent with the British Library to good effect, giving excellent advice to the many writers with whom she worked – and has now generously shared her thoughts in a format that means a much wider audience can benefit. I advise you to take her advice.” Dr Alison Baverstock, Associate Professor of Publishing at Kingston University, author of How to Market Books

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Geography Workshop Presents: Her Outdoors

 

This Thursday, 14th April, on the mighty Resonance FM, from 8-9pm:

Clear Spot

Geography Workshop Presents….Her Outdoors. Geography Workshop Presents questions assumptions about the ways in which our world is imagined. In this first programme, artists and writers Karen Lloyd, Alison Lloyd, Lucy Furlong and Morag Rose reflect on walking as practise, informed by the pejorative phrase ‘Er Indoors’. How does their work and the embodied practise of walking inform the way they narrate, enrich and question the narratives that dominate nature-writing, landscape and psycho-geography? Presented by Dr Jo Norcup. [Repeated Friday 9am.]

Thanks to Jo Norcup for inviting me to be involved. I had a great time meeting and talking with everyone, and felt inspired and fired-up afterwards.

I hope you enjoy listening in!

 

Over the Fields in The Countryman magazine

 

The Countryman magazine

extract from Hogsmill Tiddlers

Over the Fields poetry map

The original Hogsmill Tiddlers

I am delighted to report that Over the Fields, my new poetry map, was featured in the February edition of The Countryman magazine, as part of the Editor’s Diary: “…a fascinating ‘poetry map’, Over the Fields, containing evocative poems and prose fragments, which can also be read in situ, allowing people to read and respond to the poems…”

Alongside the feature they have published a poem from the map, Hogsmill Tiddlers.

If you would like a map click here.

 

The Nonsuch Poems by Bernard Jacobs

The Nonsuch Poems by Bernard Jacobs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In January 2015 I went to speak about my writing, especially the poetry maps, Amniotic City, and the then still-in-development Over the Fields, at Sutton Writers. I met Bernard Jacobs after my talk, a local writer, who was inspired to write poems about Nonsuch Park, near to where he lives in Surrey.

The Park, originally much larger than it is now, was created in 1538 by Henry VIII to celebrate the 30th year of his accession and the birth of his son, the future Edward VI. It came very close to ‘Over the Fields’ territory, and there is a possibility that Henry hunted across the land that I have been exploring in my new map. James I certainly laid claim to some of it during his reign.

It has been great to hear of Bernard’s progress with this project, and now to see it published. This lovely book is the result. It is a mixture of fine poems, each written in a different form, and the historical context of each, providing readers with both a creative and historical narrative about this fascinating place.

I am going to take my copy to Nonsuch Park and read it again in situ.

 

20 in 15 – The Lives of Artists by Bill Mudge

photograph by Bill Mudge

A lovely and unexpected thing that happened as part of making my Over the Fields poetry map, was that I was asked to be part of photographer Bill Mudge‘s project 20 in 15: The Lives of Artists. He spent last year photographing artists at work, documenting their creative processes and working environments.

Of the project Bill says: “20 in 15 encapsulates the significance of the creative arts in our communities, giving a unique insight into the lives of creative people and what it takes to make a living from the creative process; from finding studio space to exhibiting, educating and selling work…” Please visit the website for more information and to see who else took part – all types of artists from ceramicists to composers to puppeteers!

At the point where the new map was coming together, I met Bill one hot September day, at St John the Baptist church in Old Malden, an important location on the map. He took photos of me walking through the fields, as I checked all the locations and details on the map were correct, a kind of ‘proofing-in-situ’.

photograph by Bill Mudge

Then he came with me to meet Mel, who is the genius behind the artwork and production of Over the Fields, and took photos of us working together on the final edits and proofing of the map before it went to print. It was a pleasure meeting and working with Bill; it added another perspective to my own project, allowing me to reflect on my creative processes and the environment(s) I work in, as a poet/writer/walking artist.

photograph by Bill Mudge

I am very grateful to him for being so generous with his work and allowing me to use the beautiful photographs he took, a couple of which are here, and on my web site.

You can see Bill’s 20 in 15 : The Lives of Artists at the Mine Gallery in Carshalton Village from March 5th – March 27th. Bill has also run a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish a beautiful book of the project. If you would like be at the private view of the show the last few Private View Rewards are available for snapping up. It will be a great evening and I can’t wait to see the book!