The Celtic Year Project

Hi

I've been involved with the Celtic Year Project (www.celticyear.org) for several months. I did mean to get involved with it from its very start back in Samhain 2008 but I was distracted with other writing projects so was a tardy starter.

Howsoever, since my Imbolc contribution 'Between the lines - Words in a February Pond' I've been more and more enthusiastic until the point where I'm currently quite obsessed.

I've created three pieces of writing that I wouldn't have created without the stimulation of this project - the February pond poem, 'Yezriel', and 'Gedesa'. They all took a turn for the mythological. Have a looksie on the Celtic Year site to see them in context with their Celtic calendar moments and the work of the other artists who are contributing to the project.

Beyond those individual pieces though, something far more developmental and exciting is happening.

Sally Stafford who is mistressing the Celtic Year project has arranged for us to hold an exhibition of our works down at one of my most favourite places the Garden Cafe & Gallery, bottom of Lydbrook. See the website link that I'll be adding soon for fuller details, but folks the place is gorgeous, just gorgeous, in the kind of quirky and unique way that I love, love, love.

Enough of the gushing. Be assured the place is fab.

So, me and Sally met down there for coffee -and-nettle-tea (not together o'course) and a chat about the exhibition, and Paul the owner says 'you have seen up the back of the house haven't you?'
Nope
So he leads us up the garden path (this has a happy ending) behind the house, and up the hill, and shows us the most wonderful ... piece of old railtrack ... but so much more to our perception. We're calling it the tunnel atm, because of the way the sides of the track curve around, like wings really.
But me and Sally were both so immediately inspired by it that we decided to collaborate on a piece of work in response.

Cutting a long story short (I never ever do this) (but I'm going to because I have to go to Monmouth in a bit) the collaborative process, with its accompanying creative alchemy, is proving to be compelling. And much lovely work is developing from the initial inspiration of that lovely tunnel site.

We are showing-and-telling about this process as part of an event called Words & Ideas which is to be held on 1st July at the Kavern Bar, Coleford as part of the Coleford Festival of Words. So if anyone's about ... pop in.

Fi
xx