This week, between snow squalls, we have been winter pruning in the orchard.
During the squalls, I had the chance to check out a couple of links suggested by Gregory Heming. Under the auspices of the Oberlin Project.
David Orr has been building links between Oberlin College and the community. This might be a potential model for the link between NSCC Annapolis campus and the Municipality of Annapolis County. The second link was Paul Kingsnorth and the Dark Mountain Project.
“The writers from whom Dark Mountain has taken inspiration are grounded in a sense of place and time. In the deep time of geology and myth, in the rooted relations to the place of a tree or the navigational feel for place of a migrant bird.”
My second theme is children’s books.
Sandra Barry forwarded to me an event notice, featuring Rita Wilson and Emma FitzGerald ‘A Pocket of Time: the poetic childhood of Elizabeth Bishop’. In the latest issue of Grapevine (March 5-19), there is a short review of Sheree Fitch, new children’s book ‘Summer Feet’.
This takes us to Sunday afternoon.
I had the opportunity to attend the Geoff Butler celebration at the Kings Theatre. It was a full house. The first half included a short film by Tim Wilson ‘Return to Fogo Island‘; Butler’s birthplace. The photography was breath-taking. This was followed by a longer documentary by Devin Fraser ‘Off the beaten track’ a biography of Geoff Butler, with a backdrop of Fogo Island and Granville Ferry, with readings from his works.
For me, the highlight was the opportunity to pick up Butler’s new book, ‘Lullabies for Seniors’.
The book includes forty-six lullabies, from ‘At the Tiller’ to Wherever the wind blows’. Each lullaby has a painting and a musical score.
From Butler’s Introduction,
“For the paintings in this project, ‘Lullabies for Seniors’, I have depicted character types at various stages of napping. The images, and the accompanying lyrics, refer to the seniors’ walk in life, be it their former employment, activity or interest. Thus, while the rendering of seniors provides the surface imagery of the paintings, the underlying meaning relates to commentary on various things going on in the world at large’. P.6.
Finally, Edward forwarded to me a link to a TED talk, ’When local news dies so does democracy?’ by Chuck Plunkett.
This may be a good reason for a blog on ’Artistic Riches’ in the region.
And its emphasis on a ‘sense of place and time’.
Acknowledgements
Gregory Heming for the new links. Sandra Barry for information on all things Elizabeth Bishop. Edward Wedler for the TED link and his graphics.
Geoff Butler for his wonderful combination of art, writing and music. Plus a great title for a book.
References
Rita Wilson and Emma Fitzgerald. 2020. A Pocket of Time: the poetic childhood of Elizabeth Bishop. Nimbus Publishing.
Sheree Fitch. 2020. Summer Feet. Nimbus Publishing.
Tim Wilson. 2010 Film Return to Fogo Island.
Geoff Butler. 2020. Lullabies for Seniors. Self-published.
The Dark Mountain Project. dark-mountain.net
The Oberlin Project.
TED talk. When local news dies so does democracy. By Chuck Plunkett.
Ernest Blair Experiment 