'Painting with Words' Exhibition, Willow Gallery, Oswestry

Some of my 'Sense of Longing' work in MOMA has now gone on to the Willow Gallery, Oswestry for their 'Painting with Words' Exhibition to coincide with Oswestry's Lit Fest. The exhibition is very varied with work by a number of artists and, as words are important here, there is a close connection with poetry, books and story-telling. I am fortunate in having the opportunity to read some of my poetry alongside Jan Wallis, who will be doing story-telling sessions in connection with her work in the exhibition and we'll be doing this on Saturday 14th and again on Saturday 28th. I am due to read at 1.30 p.m. and Jan to do her stories from 2 - 4 p.m. Some of the poetry that I'll read will be in connection with what I'm exhibiting but not everything.

 

'Cloth for Night and the Half-Light' in its new space with the falling book 'In the Pages of Dreams'. Also pictured is 'Requiem: les fleurs du mal' and, just seen, the long poem picture 'Between the Sand and the Whipping Wind'.

 

 

The falling book really does look as if it is floating this time, as it is spreading round from one wall to the other  -  a nice space for it.

This is Jan, who will be doing her story-telling  -  I was talking to her about my use of stitch. She has made textile 'trees' for the exhibition, as forests often play such an important role in stories.

This time, my sound is accessed via wired headphones and this has given some more problems to sort out. It seems that having a sound element in an exhibition gives different issues to solve every time!

This image perhaps shows the gallery space a little better than the other photos  -  a couple of my earlier posts also show more of the interior. I really like how the large area of what used to be a car showroom was divided imaginatively into the light and airy gallery it is now and it is still easy to negotiate in my wheelchair!

Now I'm looking forward to reading my poetry in the Willow tomorrow. I performed my own version  -  spoken and sung  -  of the John Keats poem, 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', at Chinwag in Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Wednesday and read a couple of my own poems and what I did was very well received, which delighted me. I will put these readings in another post as soon as I am able. Ed can't make it tomorrow but Arthur and Juliette will be there, so I'll have an audience of two anyway!