Tag: creative writing

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Creating Then Curating, Getting It As Good As I Can!

carolyncordon

When I decided to make something of what I was doing with the various rusty, or metal anyway, bits and pieces of ‘stuff’ I picked up as I was going for walks, I had no thought of it being anything much at all.

The image above is a small section of what is now the “Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation”, which is what those random bits and pieces, displayed on the front fence have become.

What began as some beer bottle caps and some wheel hubs/covers, has become bigger and better as the months go on, having now been going for around a year now.

It began on the front gate, and a small section of the front fence, but now takes in all of the front fence, which is over 75 metres!

There are over 700 individual pieces of Rusty and/or Found objects, some small, some, as can be seen in the image, much larger than those beer bottle caps. Signs, wire, and a variety of preloved items fallen from trucks, utes, and who knows where else …

All found, examined, thought about, and put on display, showing the variety of ways metal is used in our society, whether alone, or combined with a variety of other man-made substances. Rubber, plastic, and who knows what else.

That sign for instance, surely it once did an excellent job at keeping the traffic under control, when the workers were working, so why was it seemingly dumped off to the side of the road, where it was soon covered in dust and dirt from the passing traffic, only to eventually be found by me, and brought to my home, to finally be useful again, in a quite different way.

No longer a sign to direct traffic, but now an item in this Art Installation, to direct thoughts and ideas, then becoming something quite different to what had first been thought it may ever be.

I’m directing the thoughts traffic, helping others to think about these things too, as happening when I hosted an Ekphrastic Creative Writing event, where attendees viewed the Art Installation, then we all retired to a a place nearby (In country terms), the Mallala Cafe, just 6 or so kilometres to the north, where some fine coffee and food was consumed, and fine words written.

These words once submitted will be considered for inclusion in chap book, which will then be made available to those submitting their words, and also for purchase by others.

I intend writing a book about this project too, considering the range of thoughts and ideas that lead to this project almost taking over my life, in a good way, and also giving people the chance to have their words published.

There’s history, social sciences, actual science too, and environmental issues considerd, as well as my own thoughts concerned with the curating procews, one quite new to me. I’m a writer and poet, not an Art Installation Curator. But no, I am infact one of those – untutored, but learning by doing it, and doing it quite well, I feel, as others too feel.

And it all started bt picking up bits and pieces when walking our dog Lenny! From such an ordinary thing, something much more interesting has come into being!

The image below shows a small part of our fence. A solid iron gate, with wire and bard wire, with star droppers, with that ever increasing number of items on display. I have a small cadre of folk who have been inspired, or at least are interested, in this project and have donated items they too have found, whether when out walking, or ‘found’ in their front or backyards, as some of the items on display also been found, then put on display.

Our property was once part of a farm, and I suspect some of the various bits and pieces I’ve found around our place likely were once attached to farming equipment, whether horse-powered or pulled by a truck. Nails, random bits of wire, nuts and bolts, and so many other things, some I have know idea the use for, other bits more recognisable.

I’m having so much fun with this project, and I suspect others involved are enjoying it too! And the fact of its importance been recognised by the Adelaide Plains Mayor was a boost to my thoughts about it how relevant this Art Installation is to current days, in looking bavk at former times.

The Mayor actually opened the Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation back in May last year, when he spoke entertainingly about rabbits, and donated a lovely rusty old rabbit trap which is now on display as part of the Art Installation!

Fun times, with family, friends, and important people. I love it!

Arts

On Curating An Art Installation

carolyncordon

The Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation was home to another event today, with a reasonable crowd present, to look carefully what was there, and then move to another venue nearby to write about what they’d seen.

The metal creature on the left hand side hadn’t actually been on display this time, and while the metal chicken was veiwable, she was no longer in such a prominent position. As it turned out though, Chikkie Chook still attracted quite a bit of attention, with several creative writing pieces created on the day mentioning her!

I get the feeling the Anthology being published related to this particular event will do well to include that funny chicken creature in it! I may do a photo shoot with her, to gather a variety of photos to choos from for the front cover of the book!

The putting on of events, and creating promotional material as well as written material, regarding the Artwork itself are all parts of the role of being an Art Installation Curator, a role I have gladly taken on, after the completion of the Creation of this particular installation.

I may not have known what I was doing at the beginning, but given the remarks from today’s event, I seem to have produced a worthy Art Installation, one that may become an item of interest for Arts minded visitors to the region.

I have other plans regarding the point, and certainly while this particular Arts Installation is personal to me, there are other Arts venues of interest too, one very close in fact, and I can see a role for myself in the future as a promoter of interest regarding both of these, plus other Arts venues in this immediate area.

It may be that most Arts Installationists don’t have ‘cleaning up of bird poop’ in their list of regular tasks to perform, but this one is certainly one I undertake at least a little bit every week. Clearing out of water from rectacles is another big one for me, another perhaps unusual one in the realm of Art Installation curation …

This Art Installation is an open air one, consisting of a gate and fence, as well as a nearby section of the property where the Installation is sited. So, open air means both the birds and rain, and so the poop and collected water, all need to be dealt with, if not on a daily basis, then at the very least weekly.

I’m not at all cross about having to do such tasks, walking the length of this Installation, and getting ‘up close and personal’ with the various pieces and sections of it, mean I’m getting an even better feel and understanding of what there is, and how it may be better displayed.

And as an added bonus, the walking required is good for both body and mind! And of course connecting with interested others is good for the soul too, so yes, being an Arts Installationist is something I’m very much enjoying doing!

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Writers Need Inspiration!

carolyncordon

This is something I know so well – without inspiration, the well of creativity is dry, and nothing gets written. And what is a writer without words being written? A sad creature, that’s what.

But when the inspiration comes, the words come too, and wonderful things can come of it. Inspiration can be a mysterious thing – where does it come from? Is it ‘out there’ floating around in the winds, until it crash lands in your brain, ideas come, and yes, words are written!

I’m being inspired at the moment by my current obsession. This is a thing I’ve named, The Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation. It’s a big thing, with many different aspects to what it will become, but the basis of it is the finding of rusty things which I put up on our rusty gate and frond fence at our place.

There are over 500 different rusty and/or found items there on display now, and the front fence, all 60 os so metres of it, has lots of different things there. And there are a few larger objects there as well, just our side of the front fence, where people taking a look can easily see them!

Some of the things in this Art Installation were found while going for walks, others were found when looking around my place outside. The piece below is one such ‘find’ our old front tap, which was replaced with piping that will never rust, because it’s made of PVC, a form of plastic.

So I ‘found’ that object the other day, and immediately decided it must become a part of this Art Installation! And so it is, right next to the rusty old gate that began this whole project! There are a few other metal objects there as well, found ones, and all along that big gate are many more.

I was inspired by that tap earlier today, and I wrote a poem, a brand new poem, which may be in the non fiction book I plan to write, and have launched perhaps in July next year. I’ve never written a non fiction piece as big as this one will be, but with the given time period, I reckon I can manage it!

Anyway, here is that poem, I hope you like it!

CREATIVE FLOW
The flow when it’s there is a wondrous thing
Thoughts to written down words and more –
Ideas mount up, fuse together, split apart
Merge, diverge, become greater than anything
Ever before, until l have enough, my cup full
and it stops – real world thoughts return, dreary
and mundane … but that creative flow
Captured in writing, shaped and shining,
That will remain, reminding me of my other self –
The one who’s spirit is healed and strengthened 
By the creative flow that washes over me
Every now and then, that makes me whole!
The flow when it’s there is a wonderful thing
Thoughts to written down words and more –
Ideas mount up, fuse together, split apart
Merge, diverge, become greater than anything
Ever before, until l have enough, my cup full
And real world thoughts take over again
Dreary and mundane, but that creative flow
Captured in writing, shaped and shining,
That will remain, reminding me of my other self –
The one who’s spirit is healed and strengthened 
By the creative flow that washes over me
Every now and then, and makes me whole!

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Enjoying Helping Others!

carolyncordon

When I took on the role of teaching creative writing at a local, I didn’t realise how much fun I would have doing it! Some of the people who came along to learn already knew a bit about creative writing, others hadn’t written anything like that since their school years, many, many years in the past.

Seeing the happiness this writing brought to these people made it all feel worthwhile, and even if these people never get anything published, it won’t matter, because they’ve done something they never thought they could do!

So I’m not just teaching creative writing, I’m helping to increase the self esteem of people who never had any thoughts that they were actually good at writing. I helped them learn that, and that is such a fine thing to have done!

I’m not interested in cleaning other people’s houses, serving people in a shop, or driving them to do their shopping, I have my own difficulties with some of those things, but creative writing? Oh yes please, I’m excited to assist others with doing this!

When a person gets an understanding of what they can actually do, when they thought they were a bit dumb, or at least not capable of creating good poems, or interesting short stories, for instance, what a buzz that gives them and what a buzz that gives me too, when they can see they’re actually quite good at doing this!

If I could go on helping other people learn to trust themselves with their ideas, and to bring out their ideas and turn them into something bigger and better, whoo hoo, I love it! When people learn to trust themselves, and to fashion their thoughts into something other people will enjoy reading every bit as much as they enjoyed writing it, what a buzz that is for them!

In my life, I’ve had assistance from a great many good writers, those who know what I now know too, that helping others to write is a fine thing to do. I could become a counsellor, but that would take up too much of my time, when I have many other things I want to accomplish. But giving an hour of my life once a week, helping others with creative writing, that is more than enough, at this time in my life.

Helping others to reach into themselves, learning the power of their words, and the way other people can enjoy hearing, or reading those words, what a fine thing it is. I could go on doing that for the rest of my life, squeezing it into my week, in between whatever else was also there for me to do.

Enjoying doing what I’m doing, helping others to do the writing that brings me a buzz, so they get that too, how awesome it is! If you like to write, and if you’re here reading this, I assume you’re a bit keen on writing too, wel lif you like it, you know how it is, the feeling when you write something good! It doesn’t happen every time, but when you get it, wow!

Helping other people, sharing what you’re good at doing and helping others to do it too, what an awesome thing. Whether it’s writing, or some other kind of thing, painting, knitting, gardening, or learning how to fix a car so it goes better, what great things these all are. Helping others, helps yourself too, and don’t we all need a bit of extra help every now and then? You bet!

So think about what you’re good at, and find those who’d like to learn how to do that too, and help them, you’ll all love it, the learner, and the teacher as well.

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Creative People Have Ideas, This Is One of Mine – A New Competition!

carolyncordon

So this creative idea of mine, it was prompted by my wandering around the Internet, with little idea of why I was doing it, or what I was going to find.

I saw something, which prompted thoughts about writing some kind of short fiction, which them morphed into a bigger idea, the one I’m going to take further below. There may be a monetary prize, for something written and submitted, so keep reading!

The thing that was the main catalyst for this idea, was a website, http://fiftywordstories.com/ which led me to thinking about the possibility of doing something similar, possibly without a cash prize, but who knows it may happen, I’ll decide on that part later …

Anyway, what I’m deciding, (thinking as I type here), is that I will ask, in fact I am asking, for some kind of creative writing, using the image above, and a random number hmm, lets see, 28.

So further to that, I want a piece of creative writing that is twenty-eight words onlynot more or less, but exactly 28, not including the title. And don’t get clever with the title, by making it a long one, the title must be of 5 words or fewer. It can be poetry or prose.

Feel free to take that image any place, pick one thing and use your imagination, or write about all of it. Or anything in between those things. I will do the same, and post my own prompts, two of them, one poetry, one prose.

What I would like to receive, as a comment below, is your response, one only of either poetry or prose, in only 28 words, (title not included, but limited to 5 words of fewer).

The Chase!
Race day today,
best day of all!
Leash on, muzzle on
into car
on our way.
The track,
the others,
all muzzled,
into our boxes
wait,
and ………
GO!

I don’t know this aspect of Greyhounds, but I can imagine, and I have experience of Harness Racing with horses, as the daughter of a horse trainer when I was young.




Oh Jennifer, My Trainer
She haunts my dreams, remembering what could been, if only. Injury-related retirement earlier than wanted …
We both cried, but for different reasons – pets don’t race, or need testicles …


This little prose piece (flash fiction) is related in a fictionalised version of the life of the Greyhound in the photo, our Greyhound Lenny. I’ve imagined Lenny with a female trainer, rather his actual one, and obviously thought my way into his head (or tried to!), which could be nothing like the truth. And Lenny’s racing life wasn’t cut short by injury, the idea just suited my purpose

**********
So I’ve used the dog in the photograph as my writing prompt, but could easily have written about anything in there, the toys, the bed, the room. I could have written about what the dog was dreaming about, other things than I actually did, or I could have written about the various toys, one or all of them, the shark could be musing about the indignity of being used as a mere pillow for a dog, for instance!

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination! So think about it, and when you have your very best, send it in. I’m accepting only one piece either of poetry, or of prose, based on that image of Lenny lying down with his toys around (or under) him. On the 28th of this month, I will choose the best piece of poetry, and best of prose, and the winners of each will receive $28 Australian dollars.

I don’t want to see any pieces too similar to mine, in the content used – take it somewhere else entirely, surprise me!