Words spilling out...

Although I have been a part of Poets & Painters for over a year, it has only been recently that poems have begun to spill out of me. This, combined with facilitating my second course of The Artist Way, where risk-taking is encouraged, culminated in me declaring that I wanted to stand up and read my poetry in public. Well, last night at Rabbitfoot Records it happened. It was exhilarating and exciting and it all started with this poem...

All That You Need

by Shari Sherman

The day breaks
I barely have my eyes open before
I am chasing Time by the tail
What does the list say?

I have to be There
But, oh please, please just let me be here
With my cup of coffee, hot against my lips,
I notice it's sweet bitter darkness

I grab for things before they
slip from my mind
Do I have everything I need?
I can't go back.

I am listening, but not to myself

Wrapping the words around me
I notice You are strikingly open
a tiny fracture, enough for a tear to trickle out
if you swallow your breath, it won't get any bigger

Shedding niceties
Extracting embedded habits, identities, and expectations
I notice the beauty in tender, raw moments
beauty, beauty, Beauty!

You are listening, but not to yourself.

Something outside of you is trying to communicate with you
You are strikingly Open
just a tiny fracture
and that is all that you need.

Here's to risk taking, being supported by others on the path, and especially letting your creativity flow freely. 

A Primal Exclamation Point!

This is a Primal Exclamation Point!

You've heard of a primal scream, right? Carol Burnett had a rather stellar one in the movie The Four Seasons - I can still hear that high pitched squeeeeeeal from behind the bathroom door. Over the course of putting together Beyond Words, our group of four artists has shared a primal scream, a primal guffaw, a primal sigh, and as evidenced in the photo, a primal exclamation point. On the morning after our closing ceremony, we met together and enjoyed a primal whoop! Several, in fact. 

The show has closed and has been dismantled. Yes, the party is over, but by the magic of the Muse,  there are several creative ripples spreading out in our community and we are encouraged to know that our end harkens a new beginning. More on that later. For now, we are basking in the glow of a project well received and a vision made tangible. 

- MK Shaw

Honorary Poets & Painters

This past Monday we finished up our project with the PACE Center for Girls.  This is a project that we undertook as part of our Beyond Words show where we wanted to engage in some type of community outreach with the emphasis on girls and creativity. We will have one final field trip day with the girls next week where they will come to visit the show at the Casselberry Art House and hang their own words on Myrtle, our PoeTree. This experience with the girls has been amazing! In the beginning, we didn't know what to expect. I mean we are OLDER, and these are teenage girls after all. At the first visit, we could feel the tentative curiosity. We shared a little about ourselves and the importance of art and writing. The second visit, we were greeted with girls who were happy to see us back!  We worked on our journals using collage on the covers to create a special place for their expressions and to gather words and images. By the third visit, we saw these beautiful souls open up. We discussed and worked on "I Am" poems. Positive descriptive words were flying around the room!  Sassy, creative, observant, funny, daredevil, confident, strong, patient, and gentle. And I believe I can say that the Poets & Painters were collectively BLOWN AWAY by their words...by their bravery. 

We all were ignited and inspired and lifted. 

By the end of this third visit, they let us know that we will be missed.

I hope they take a little bit of this experience with them as they continue to grow. 

I know each of us will. 

WE DID IT

And it was a success

Thank you to all who helped us celebrate

and those who helped make it such a fun event

The show is open until May 30th when we have a closing ceremony.

If you have missed the opening, please join us for the goodbyes.

Elle, MK, Shari, Anne-Marie

Finishing touch on the Poet Tree

Our tree is taking shape.

Our poet in residence is adding her magic 

You're Invited

Beyond Words

Please join the artists of Poets & Painters at the opening reception of Beyond Words, an interactive show of poetry and visual arts. 

Saturday, May 9 from 7 to 9pm at Casselberry Art House

 127 Quail Pond Circle, Casselberry, Florida

There will be poetry! There will be paintings! There will be a six foot PoeTree! There will be an abundance of creative energy...and we invite you to be a part of it. Visitors can add their own words and reflections to the PoeTree. 

We have chosen four poems to inspire our artwork for this debut show. In a variety of media, each artist has created a tangible visual expression of the written word. Also on display will be an I Am poem from each artist and a doll that represents them. 

Hope to see our friends, family, and art tribe at the show! Casselberry Art House is open Monday through Friday from 10am to 5pm. Free admission. 

Hard at Play

What are these crazy artists doing?

Our tree is taking shape. The hole is done. Next step the branches.

Getting closer.

Check with us next week.

Messy Masterpiece Underway

The colorful trunk of our Poetree is taking shape.

Warning! This is a work in progress....and we don't have to tell you that a certain amount of mess is involved in making any masterpiece. 

What you see here, believe it or not, is the trunk of a Poetree in the works. Since four imaginative artists are creating this project together, it has shape-shifted a few times already in its short life span. 

As the centerpiece of our group show (Beyond Words, opening May 9), the Poetree will stand over six feet tall and have branches reaching overhead and roots spreading out below. We want to create a space for visitors to pause and reflect on what they have experienced while viewing the show.

What the Poetree has already taught us is that collaboration among creatives can lead to surprising results....and that the road to completion is always made better with humor, trust,  and patience.  
MK Shaw

And so we began....

I grew up with words, with books, with stories and pictures filling my soul with beauty and longing.  I grew up reading poetry in the crook of a weeping willow tree whose branches fell to the ground making a tent for my imagination and the echo of the sound of my small voice.  I grew up loving the sound and feel of words and believing that words make a difference.  I grew up longing to find a space, a place, a tiny creative corner that needed only me to fill it.

As Anne-Marie, MK, Shari and I began to meet together to discuss our desire to form a creative collaborative, I began to see the possibilities that my longing for a creative tribe was finally being realized. Here were the hearts and souls who had a space for me, a place to share my words, thoughts and ideas, a place to flesh out my words with paints and paper, with canvas and collage, with tree bones and treasures.  It is with great joy that I share my first post on the Poets & Painters blog.  I hope that you will be encouraged to find your own tribe and to create from that deep space in your soul that rings with the sound of tinkling bells, leaves whispering softly and the rhythmic pounding of the drum.  The place where you hear your own voice calling you to trust yourself and those in your creative tribe.

Poets & Painters

February 18^th, 2013

And so we take our first steps –

the four of us and our mascot,

Penelope, a small, blown glass pig

with pink wings to remind us that we’ll fly.

In Greek her name ‘pene’ means the

horizontal threads or weft of a

tapestry and ‘ops’ which means

the face and eye.  Our journey

will be one of discovering

and weaving the threads of our

four gifts together to create

a tapestry that will reveal the

brilliant colors of our wild souls.