Yarra Valley Spoken Word at Warburton Arts Centre
In April, Yarra Valley Spoken Word is coming to Warburton! I’m excited to be collaborating with our marvellous local poetry society to present a special evening on Friday night, 11th April at the exhibition at the Arts Centre.
My exhibition, ‘And they are Seeing you: Meeting the Gaze of an Alive World’ invites us to consider how we might cultivate deeper, more respectful and loving relationships with all beings. It explores themes of perception, awareness, and the place of meeting between human and more-than-human life. It celebrates and depicts practices of living attuned to the world around us such as forest walking, food growing, connecting with animals and children, and contemplative techniques of deep listening and flow writing.
Including photography, poetry, and mixed visual arts, it also showcases the work of many of the participants in my writing and creativity workshops. These works offer voices united by a vision of deepened ecological, emotional and spiritual connection.
This artwork is growing over the three months of the exhibition, and poetry that we create during this evening’s workshop will be read aloud during the open mic and, if participants wish, displayed as part of the exhibition until it closes on April 27th. I will run the workshop, where I will share my creative practice of co-becoming, a participatory creative technique that engages the voices of the more than human world.
Here’s a beautiful description of YVSW from their website:
The original custodians of the Yarra Valley, the Wurundjeri people, didn’t write. Their wisdom travelled through time in songs, stories and dance. We acknowledge this land’s indigenous ancestors and elders, oral historians of the dream-time. This poetry gathering sits on the shoulders of countless generations of wisdom keepers and spoken-word story tellers.
Welcome to our Yarra Valley Spoken Word Community. Ours is a space to share the power of the spoken word, be inspired by our community of artists and learn to write and share life’s depths through this life changing art form.
Families are welcome, we do a workshop, serve supper, have a feature artist each month and then Open Mic.
3409 Warburton Hwy, Warburton VIC 3799
6pm – Doors open/Music
6.30 – Poetry workshop with Maya Ward & open mic
7.00 – Supper featuring pizza from Warburton Village Pizza Cafe
7.30 – Feature poet Maya Ward
8.00 – Open mic
Call Andy: 0415 734 744 or Chris: 0414 306 772
Spoken Word is an inclusive project, gratefully made possible by sponsorship from Yarra Ranges Council.
Entry and Supper is now by donation, we never turn people away!
Suggested Donation:
$15 Full / $10 Concession
$5 Supper, $5 Chai
