Help Haiti : United Arts Club Drawings

The United Arts Club, 3 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2 hosts regular life drawing sessions each Wednesday and Thursday evening. This Thursday, members of both drawing groups are coming together to raise funds for the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti.

A portfolio of unframed life drawings, donated by members of both groups, will be available to view in the UAC bar for ONE WEEK ONLY - from 9pm Thursday 4th February until 8.30 pm Thursday 11th February (the UAC Bar opens at 5pm each evening). Members, guests and visitors may select and purchase drawings to take away on the spot. As all drawings will be presented unframed, prices will be very affordable (maximum price 50 euro!). If people wish to donate more than the purchase price, that's fine too.

I'm a (sometimes) regular at the Thursday evening session, run by IGI colleague Brian Gallagher. The slideshow above shows my drawings, all A3 in size, which will be available for 20 euro each.

This is a great chance to pick up some really nice original drawings, from a wide selection of artists (including some well-known names) at very reasonable prices. So, do drop in for a look if you're around Dublin 2 any evening during those dates - but don't dither - 'hot cakes' and all that!

Great Scott : He's New Here

Very pleased to hear that Gil Scott Heron's new album is coming out next Monday! The guy's been through a tough old time and it'd be great to see this work out well for him.

One of the highlights of my shortlived musical career was playing support to Gil and his band at the Gaiety theatre way back in the early nineties. That gig was a real mellow blast, daddio. Our band was called Grief... sort of a hybrid of Galliano, The Blockheads and The Commitments! Brilliant, we were. Yiaow!

I've always loved Gil's music - to be fair, he's done some duff stuff in his time (and he was wrong about the revolution, it WAS televised after all!) - but the nuggets are plentiful. 'The Bottle' was one of our regular cover versions, when we had a flautist (much better than that anodyne version by The Christians too). And as for 'Beginnings' - pure balm of Gil.

He's never been afraid to try new things, and this album seems to carry on that attitude. Enjoy!

Springalingaling : Wakey Wakey!

Hey! Hello! Hoopla! (....sounds of tumbleweeds dustily bouncing down one deserted backroad of the interweb).

Where'd January go? Between winter blues, landscapes white and deadlines aglow, the month - or at least the will to blog - kinda got away from me there. For a while there I wasn't even sure if I'd keep it going here - but then, what the hell. The sap is rising and stuff, so here I am again.

I haven't been wasting my time though - lots done (with more, as ever, to do). First finished painting of the year up top. Entitled 'formburn', it's a small canvas - 195mm x 150mm - and will be for sale in The Little Picture Show, a fund-raising exhibition for the Crow Gallery in Temple Bar. The show features loads of small works from artists including Brian Gallagher, Aisling Dolan, John Nolan and many, many more, all at very affordable prices. Opening 6pm this Thursday, 4th February.

Belated Happy Christmas : Toast those toes!

Well now, that was a year-and-a-half, eh? You don't get many of them to a pound, eh? Bethahokeythatwasaquarewan? etc.etc.

To be honest, I'm quite happy to get to the end of 2009. It's been a fantastic year in so many ways, but fantastically stressful in so many others - and I'm still counting myself among the lucky ones.

Its been a hectic run-in to the festive season, so I've been neglecting the blogging in favour of... life and stuff. Still, here we are now - misc seasonal ailments in hand, coldcuts a-plenty awaiting mustarding, the world outside a whiteout, inner space rehydrating, resting and resigned to the midwinter torpor. Hope you're all enjoying the break.

We launched Crossroads back on the Feast of the Immaculate Anthology and it was a resounding success. Julie Parsons, in particular, was THE most gracious speaker - and one who had actually read the whole thing! As the various members of the group stepped up and gave diverse voice to the book, I was very proud to be part of Deansgrange Writers. (Promised copies will be winging out in the New Year). We celebrated our achievement with a get-together at Barney's house just before the holidays. More reading, much craic, wine and song (did I really play the spoons?) as well as a delicious apple tart (see above) by the multi-talented Declan. A great send-off to the year and beginning of the festivities, all of which went well.

Not many books in the stocking this year (vouchers, even better!) - but I did receive Beginners and The Mirror in The Sea - both gems of the highest order, even more special when received as thoughtful gifts.

I'm headswamped at this stage - retiring with hot water bottle for a quiet night of rumination and dozing. I may not be posting again until New Year. Of my cultural highlights from 2009, allow me to leave you with Doves and the London Bulgarian Choir, recorded at the Electric Proms last October. Only got to see this on the box - still had my sparse hair standing on end. Well worth letting this video run for both tunes and the full damn-near-nine minutes.

Happy festive midwinter wishes to one and all. Blessed be.

Deansgrange Writers : Crossroads anthology

Well, it's all coming together! After months of chat, planning, submission, editing, tweaking, confusion, collaboration and ehhhh... a bit of writing, Crossroads is with the printers! We'll be launching this immaculate anthology at Bakers Corner, Kill Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, from 7.30pm, Tuesday, December 8th. Why not join us for a bit of pre-budget shenanigans? You're all welcome.

Guest speaker on the night will be novelist Julie Parsons, herself an excellent example of how the whole Writers Group thing supports those aiming to develop their writing. I haven't heard Julie speak before, but she comes highly recommended. After that, some of our group will read a selection of work from the book. There will be wine. Possibly even Porter. A good time will be had, and the book will be on sale - there may even be Special Offers ;-)

It's worth noting that all proceeds from the book will be donated to the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Our group has a long history with the NRH; one member is an ex-patient, and the group has facilitated writing workshops there in the past.

Crossroads will be on sale locally and will be available to purchase online soon, at deansgrangewriters.com

We're all very proud of this book - a first publication for several members - and there's quite a range of voices here. As our editor, Katie Donovan, says;

‘Here is a variety of voices, drawing in politics, satire, family life, travels abroad and classical mythology. There is a ghost story about a shipwreck, a story for children about leprechauns, a memoir of the Dalai Lama, and responses to the recession in both verse and prose. Although each writer possesses his or her own distinctive style, there is, overall a confidence in tone and an ability to summon up a scene – from a crowded train station in Belfast to a lamplit farmhouse in Waterford – that makes this book consistently enjoyable and entertaining.’

Two words; Christmas Present!

OFFSET : IGI Group exhibition

Busy, busy at the mo. I'm putting finishing touches to the artwork for the Deansgrange Writers Group anthology 'Crossroads' , of which more anon.

Went into town on Monday to crack a bottle across the bow of OFFSET, a week of celebration, debate and inspiration among the creative community at large. The opening event was the launch of Peepshow, which sees the walls of the intimate Monster Truck Gallery filled with images exploring dark, erotic, sexy thoughts and weird fetishes. Be warned - this is a strictly over 18 show and not for the faint-hearted. Wellll, its not that dangerous really - there's a lot of humour and some beautiful, smart imagery. Only running until Sunday November 8th - so get in there! My own piece is firmly in the humour category - sort of. If you're up for it, you can see it here. No Freudians please.

The image above is my contribution to another OFFSET gig - a group exhibition by members of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland. This opens tonight, Wednesday 4th November at SOLAS Bar on Wexford Street, Dublin 2 at 7pm and will also run until Sunday 8th of November. If you're in Dublin, why not come on in - should be a fun night! What else would you be doing on a chilly November Wednesday?

OFFSET culminates in a weekend conference at Liberty Hall, with presentations by some seriously inspirational names from the Irish and international creative communities. I'll be chairing one of the break-out sessions, a panel discussion about the illustration scene in Ireland and beyond. (Gulp) Big topic!

Ciao fer now!

Monday Poem : A Sunday Threnody

I've been (am still?) under the weather. Since later last Tuesday, I've been alternating between hot, headachey and clammy or shivery and exhausted. Having had quite a few commitments which I genuinely wanted / needed to meet, I've tried to spend any off-duty time wrapped up warm and horizontal, woozily hydrating. What a waste of a Bank Holiday! Still, it meant I was able to get things done - including meeting some good mates for a couple of drinks in town on Friday. I hope they're all still healthy!

So I'm only getting back in action (ish) today, just in time for TFE's monday poem prompt. This week, the prompt involved listening to a piece of music and / or staring into the mirror - reacting in either case by writing something.

Here's what arrived;

On Sunday

I

in every face the aftermath of riot

a lineage in cells

the merest flicker spells an epitaph

as rhythm falters

each sunken cheek a despoilt altar

tasks uncompleted

broken windows left unrepaired

no word is spoken


II


Sunday formed a puddle round my bed
crow dark, my throat scratched out any text
or performance

erased activity - even intent - held woods at bay
leaves fell unobserved, chill winds missed their target
while other torsos filled my space

on hills, on piers, on lawns, on streets, on Sunday.


© P Nolan Oct 2009

This prompt requested no investigation of the musical piece until after writing. I had heard it somewhere before but didn't know it was Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki.

The image above shows paper cranes made by japanese schoolchildren in memory of Sadako Sasaki whose tragic story, while horribly sad is also searingly beautiful. She died on October 25, 1955.

This poem is dedicated to her memory.