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Journal
From Australia with love
InPrint poet Lisa D'Onofrio is in England for a couple of weeks with her family, before returning to the delights of Castlemaine, Down Under. Nice to see her for an hour and eat a couple of Jarrolds scones together.
Meanwhile, the studios at Bally have been dismantled, and the community of artists, including InPrint's Rupert and Annette, is sadly dispersed.
Artists get notice as Bally closes down
The shock news this week is that the Bally Art Factory is closing. InPrint artist Annette Rolston, together with founder member Rupert Mallin and many others, has been given notice by Targetfollow and will have to get out of her studio by June 8. This means the cancellation of workshops as well as moving and storage problems. The Poetry Vending Machines (remember them?) will be looking for a home, so if anyone is interested, get in touch with Rupert.
This will give an added piquancy to the imminent Open Studios event, which kicks off this weekend (May 22, 23, with private views on the 21st). A must for all who have an interest in the innovative, quality art that has been on show there over recent years, and in the artists who have been working there.
Also of interest to InPrint followers is Art Alive at St Margaret's Church, Paston, on May 29-31 from 10am to 4pm, where the Paston Book will be on show. The handmade book, of course, was made with the help of several InPrint members, and printed by Annette.
Further Art Alive details:
May 29, rood screen workshops 10.30am to 3.30pm – workshops in paper, calligraphy, willow, letters and poetry with an invitation to learn about the Pastons and the uses of flax and herbs in the 15th Century, and an evening Great Barn tour led by Ash Murray, Natural England. Book through Jo Berry on 01263 720743.
May 30, Minstrels Gallery workshops: music from the time of the Pastons at 12noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm (£3). Service – Latin Compline at 7pm on May 30: Father Paul Atkins will officiate.
May 31, rood screen workshops 10.30am to 3.30pm. Refreshments. St Margaret, Paston, NR28 9TA, www.pastonheritage.co.uk
Launch party for Caroline's book
A launch party for Caroline's new poetry book, Yes (see below), was held at her home in Fakenham on May 2. A crowded house enjoyed an afternoon out of the usual bank holiday weather of rain and cold wind, with the bonus of some delicious food and two sessions of songs and poems from Caroline and her friend Dee (the Songbirds), with Caroline on keyboards. Really good stuff. I recommend booking them for gigs immediately. Fellow InPrint members Tim Lenton, Annette Rolston and Mike Fenton were also present, as was Paston poet Kay Riggs and Bally artists Martin Laurance and Geoffrey Lefever.
InPrint poet wins Norwich competition
InPrint poet Tim Lenton has won first prize in the Norwich Writers' Circle's 39th Open Poetry Competition. Tim beat more than 600 entries from all over the country and beyond to convince judge Hilary Mellon that his Failing Fire deserved the £200 top prize. He read the poem at the prizegiving on April 20, a report of which can be seen (with pictures) at the Norwich Writers' Circle website. Three other of Tim's poems were highly commended and appear with more than 60 other poems in the competition anthology.
Tim said: "I was amazed and honoured to win. I like this competition and have had some success in previous years, but I certainly did not expect this. I admire Hilary's poetry and am delighted that she chose me as the winner this year.
"The poem was sparked (almost, but not quite literally) by gazing into an open fire in our living room on one of those January days that never seem to get going. Then my wife and I paid a visit to North Walsham cemetery, where her parents and sister are buried – a beautiful place that can be very cold, because it's on a hill – and that gave me the final idea. Underneath it all is the spark of life, which can be so fragile, but so fierce too."
The anthology can be purchased through the Norwich Writers website. Here is the winning poem:
FAILING FIRE
In these soft, grey, collapsing January days
where dawn and dusk meet on main street at noon
too weak, too low to draw their weapons
and life seeps away
like air from a pricked balloon,
the fire fails:
faint flames lick the edges
of lime logs, traces of orange
in the colluding coals
There was a blaze here once,
not quite a furnace –
no iron forged, no tons of nails for tall adventuring ships
–
but enough to warm a visitor or two
You held out your hands sometimes and felt
some subtle change in temperature
Now I close one eye as I write:
mist spills uneasily out of my dreams,
dancing through my bones,
piercing or tickling my spirit
interrupting the invisible sun
while a cold wind across the cemetery
digs deeper
keeping the fire going
or putting it out
New poetry from Caroline
InPrint is hibernating. Nevertheless poet Caroline Gilfillan has just published a fine new collection of poems entitled Yes, which is about as positive as you can get. It is available from her at £5 plus postage. It includes the fabulous "Ghost" – a highlight of her readings in the past few months.
Paston exhibition at North Walsham
A new incarnation of the Paston Exhibition was opened at North Walsham on October 30 in the Griffon Gallery. As usual, this was a joint effort between InPrint and the Paston Heritage Society, and it will run until November 20.
Sad farewell, but joyful occasion
Members of InPrint gathered in Norwich on October 8 to say
goodbye to one of their number. Poet Lisa D'Onofrio was not
only a founder member of InPrint, but put together the original
group of artists and poets in 2003 from whom InPrint emerged.
After putting together a collaborative exhibition that toured
Norfolk that year under the sponsorship of Creative Arts East, we
decided this was too good a thing to abandon and stayed together,
with a few changes. Lisa was heavily involved, especially with
her "baby", the Poetry Vending Machine, which attracted
a lot of interest in the county and further afield. She was also
deeply involved with the group's most recent project, centred
on the Paston Letters.
Present at the farewell party for Lisa, who returns to her native
Australia towards the end of November, were fellow InPrint
founder-members Annette Rolston and Rupert Mallin, plus current
members Caroline Gilfillan and Mike Fenton. The part was hosted
by InPrint poet Tim Lenton and his wife Dot. Lisa's children
Dashiel and Blossom also took part.
End of an era for InPrint poet
InPrint poet Lisa D'Onofrio, who inspired and helped to
create the ground-breaking Poetry Vending Machine, is returning
to her native Australia next month. She is a founder-member of
the group and one of the prime movers in our various activities.
She will leave a big gap, not only as a brilliantly imaginative
poet, but also as a good friend.
The group is having a get-together in the early part of October
to celebrate Lisa's time with us and to say goodbye to her,
her husband Errol and children Dash and Blossom.
Meanwhile Lucy Care, organiser of the Paston
Project, with which InPrint has been involved for well over a
year, has an exhibition at the Griffon Gallery in North Walsham,
Norfolk, this October. It runs until the gallery puts on a
version of the Paston Exhibition starting on
October 30.
New web magazine for poetry and art
InPrint founder member Rupert Mallin, who is now working independently, has just published the first edition of textVISUAL, an online magazine of texts and visuals, occasionally overlapping and melting into each other.
Among other distinguished names featured are three members of InPrint – artist Mike Fenton and poets Lisa D'Onofrio and Tim Lenton – as well as work from Rupert himself.
He intends to publish textVISUAL three times a year, in June, October and February. He adds: "However, there will be an ‘organic’ element within each four-month period of ‘publication,’ so I hope each issue will be worth returning to between issues."
The magazine can be found here.
Visions in a tent at Welborne
The excellent Norwich 20 Group Voicing Visions exhibition, featuring the work of three InPrint poets plus former member Rupert Mallin, moved to Welborne, a village near Dereham in Norfolk, for the Arts Festival there. The festival is organised by Mike Webb, and this week took place on the weekend of June 13 and 14 – a stunning mixture of visual art, literature and music, plus clowns and horses. Caroline Gilfillan and Tim Lenton were there on the Saturday, as our picture proves. Music by Axol Loughrey, Nappertandy and Breton group Taillevent was all compelling, and the sun was out all day.
On this site
Biographies
- Lisa D'Onofrio
- Bronwen Edwards
- Mike Fenton
- Caroline Gilfillan
- Tim Lenton
- Rupert Mallin
- Joan Murray
- Annette Rolston
Calendar
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