FREE MOONLIT MOVIE!

We decided to take in the best of the local arts events in our area. It began with the Full Moon Cinema in Byron Bay. Having been cancelled the previous month due to ridiculous amounts of water from the sky, it was much anticipated and a great end to the Byron Bay Film Festival. The main feature was Inuk, a story set in the rather white land of Greenland. From my simple vantage point, I felt this was a tale of the destruction of indigenous cultures interwoven with the loss of natural habitat and climate change, told through the story of a young boy coming to terms with his past and understanding his future.  But then again, that’s just what I got out of it…

POP UP SHOP!

We were lucky enough to attend the opening of the Northern Rivers Creative Pop Up Shop, an initiative of Arts Northern Rivers and now on at the Old Library in Byron Bay. Showing until April 28th, we caught up with our buddy Joanna Kambourian who we know as part of Ms Browns Lounge and Ms Browns Press in the space they manage, Lismore Art Space. Jo has titled her new work “You should take my advice…” and is inspired by her Art Director father’s great sayings. The work is fun and vibrant, and we are particularly excited to hear the Pop Up Shop will be touring to Sydney next! You might be seeing more of Jo and the Lismore Art Space in the near future…

Given that this region of the Northern Rivers is home to a higher concentration of creative practitioners than any other part of Australia, I think this Pop Up Shop is a wonderful initiative and a chance to show off just some of the creative community which we are now a part of. Congratulations to Jo and all the artists, musicians and designers. Oh, and Kelly Sullivan‘s paintings had us in stitches. Kelly is a pop artist if you feel like pasting a label on art, and uses imagery from the popular culture she grew up surrounded by. Best line from an artist Bio goes to “Her parents met at an Elvis look-a-like competition when they were 16″. Ace.

The Pop Up is on until April 28th so set along if you are in the region, and if not, we will keep you posted on the next Pop Up locations. Oh, and see if you can spot us amongst the other beautiful stuff here.

ONE DEGREE OF SEPARATION TO ROCK ROYALTY

We were lucky enough to meet a wonderful photographer and all round great guy, Ted Harvey that night at the Pop Up (thanks Jo!) and he happened to be giving a floor talk at Retrospect Galleries Byron Bay that weekend, where his own photos were on show. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear the stories behind the images of Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin during their Australian tour of ’72, and were as enthralled by the stories told by this humble and unassuming man as the rest of the crowd. Ted was a freelance rock photographer in those days, and there is a wonderful tale of lost photographs and hidden gems forgotten for decades, before being rediscovered a few years ago. The images showing now in Byron were to coincide with Plant’s visit to Australia for Bluesfest 2013. There are a couple more days to see these, along with stunning shots of Cat Stevens, Elton John and Liza Minelli, our personal favourite. Thanks Ted!

The show closes April 11th.

CREATIVE COMMUNITIES

What we love about being in a region which boasts so many creatives, is that there is always something happening, a story being told through image, song or simply through the eyes of a kind soul. We look forward to bathing in more creative Northern Rivers light…

Belinda Raposo Knight

Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2013

On the drive down we took the inland way, stopping for a tense night of camping in Coonabarabran. Fires were tearing though the Warrumbungles, and as we set up camp in town, thick hot air was barely relieved by sprinkles of rain which brought as down on our makeshift home. As we drove on the next day we wondered what else we might encounter. When we hit Melbourne, our gracious host and an excitable retriever met us with cold beer and buckets of laughter. Our chariot (well, the Subaru) got sent to the doctor for a few days and a few more hundred dollars so our gracious host became our chauffeur and off we went for our days of creative meetings.

One of our couples dwell in the cool ranges of Belgrave, artisans and experts in their crafts, running a shop front which houses the art and wares of local artists. They stitch and hammer love into their work, collaborating and co-weaving creative karma in their community initiatives along the way. We are sure you’ll love them.

Another couple share an urban work space divided by a red cord, which respectfully separates the creative space between their work as individuals and their lives as a couple.

Finally we met a pair who exude energy in subtle undertones, who speak of their work with humility. Their creative chemistry combines art, science and charitable kindness. Those who moan that youth is wasted on the young have not met this couple…

On our return trip we took a sharp turn at Armidale and onto Dorrigo, where water was the new theme and would continue to be. With a couple of days spare before work and life was due to once again begin, we found ourselves battening down the hatches and holing up for the impending arrival of an angry ex-cyclone Oswald which befriended a tornado somewhere along the way and gave us river views where we previously did not have any.

As the clean up began, we were left with the feeling that something which has been incubating for so long will soon be born, fuelled by the twin souls of fear and adrenaline. Open the windows and the doors after the passing of a storm. Run toward the pot of gold. Feel the fear and do it anyway…

February 2013

This is our year, 2013. There is momentum in her young wings already…

FAREWELL 2012

Well, 2013 is now upon us and I feel sighs of relief coming like waves. So many around us seems to be more than happy to bid 2012 adieu, and the creators of the Creative Couples Project are no different.

Sure, there were many wonderful things to be thankful for, as there always are. But the year began to weigh heavy by December, and this made the unknown promises of 2013 all the more alluring.

We watched our friends and family around us deal with illness, separation, falling outs, general upheaval. We sat back as cuts were made to the arts, TAFE, and felt our hearts heavy with disappointment as our elected leaders failed to understand the importance of marriage equality.

On a personal level, we spent the year feeling completely displaced and trying to deal with the loss of stability as we searched for a new place to call home. It took us across three states, over a period of 12 months and left us temporarily without work spaces and thinking spaces. What we did learn was how important a creative work space truly is to any creative soul.

A place to view the changing seasons…to watch the rain coming…

SPACE

Studio, study, den, workshop, shed, garage…whatever the space and wherever it lies, creative minds must find a place to call their own. The studio, we’ll call it, becomes the incubator for ideas. Though we moved in a couple of weeks ago, a traditional New Year clean and cleanse is making our studios glow with the warmth of life.

PLACE

Some of you may know that our journey began in Melbourne, and took us through Daylesford, back to Melbourne, up to the Gold Coast and finally sees us resting in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, about 40 minutes from Byron Bay. Melbourne will always be our second home, and nothing will change that. It was simply not where we needed to be right now. Twice yearly trips will see us inhaling the culture, the food, the stories, but returning to the  place in the Tweed Valley we will now call home.

…treating each space as sacred…

Finally having a base has not only fulfilled that need to incubate our creativity, but it has also given us back something we had lost during the last 12 months; a sense of PLACE, of BELONGING. Being visible and active in the community is a goal of ours. We are not content to simply take from the town in which we live and fly under the radar.

Since we have been in town we have been made to feel so welcome; wine with neighbours, gifts from gardens, and the comfort of existing friends reminding us they are just a stones’ throw away.

So, for the Creative Couples Project, it is time to thank the earth for the gift of this beautiful place and space, and to share what we have; the stories of our inspirational, creative couples. This is our year, 2013. There is momentum in her young wings already…

We would love to hear your own stories or struggles with creative places and spaces.

…this is where this book will partly happen! Oh, and out there in the creative spaces of our couples…

Janis Joplin had many lovers, men and women, in her short life. During her all-too-brief life she packed a punch musically, vocally, and firmly embedded herself in the pages of musical history for generations. I grew up listening to her, and my childhood friends and I would belt out teenage renditions of “Piece of My Heart” in drinking sessions, as though we were singing about our own. Janis, as we affectionately called her, was an inspiration. For young girls like us, she exuded feminist strength, yet we knew she was fragile and insecure. This appealed to young women forging our own ideas of feminine strength and dealing with the insecurities of growing up fast.

Suddenly you are “grown up” and wondering if you have grown into the woman you wanted to be when you were a mess of hormones and rage…

You hit the road, venturing out beyond your home and leaving the dust of those days behind. So you’re on the road, doing that road trip you would always dream of, and it comes on your mix-tape (which is disappointingly now a CD), and then out of the dust you’ve kicked behind she sings…

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin’ for a train…

Many years later and, my love of Janis never fading, I read by chance an interview with Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson was, along with Fred Foster, the songwriter of ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. He had performed it himself and would continue to do so, though the original recording was by Roger Miller (poor fella was really out shined there).

Of course, Kris and Janis were lovers, however it was not an intentional matchmaking of songwriter and singer which led to Janis recording ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ but something more fluid; the dreamer in me calls it ‘fate’. It goes that Kristofferson had played the song for Janis, and she went on to record it without his knowledge. So the song which was originally about a girl called Bobby became a boy (though I like to leave that detail out and think Janis is singing about the same Bobby as Kris), and a little song about loving and leaving love on the road became the ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ we all now know.

Kristofferson only found out about the version, which was to be released posthumously, after Janis tragically died in 1970.

“The first time I heard Janis Joplin’s version was right after she died. Paul Rothchild, her producer, asked me to stop by his office and listen to this thing she had cut. Afterwards, I walked all over L.A., just in tears. I couldn’t listen to the song without really breaking up. So when I came back to Nashville, I went into the Combine [Publishing] building late at night, and I played it over and over again, so I could get used to it without breaking up. [Songwriter and keyboardist] Donnie Fritts came over and listened with me, and we wrote a song together that night about Janis, called ‘Epitaph’.

“‘Bobby McGee’ was the song that made the difference for me. Every time I sing it, I still think of Janis.” (1)

It was a short, brief and powerful love affair which resulted in one of the most enduring and inspired creative collaborations in music, and a beautiful story of love, loss and road tripping. To me, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ will always make me dream of freedom.

References

(1) http://www.performingsongwriter.com, Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, accessed December 1st 2012, http://performingsongwriter.com/kris-kristofferson-bobby-mcgee/

Kris Kristofferson Photo: Photograph: Colin McRae accessed December 1st 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/06/kris-kristofferson-reminisces

http://performingsongwriter.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_Bobby_McGee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janis_Joplin

Over the weeks and months we will be hard at work with our team interviewing, editing, reviewing and photographing. Our couples are taking us from Phillip Island all the way up to Brisbane, and on the road here and there following gypsies.

Now this is where our wider creative community comes in. We need your support, and we hope you stay up to date with our blog, Facebook page and tweets. What drives us and this project is the creative community spirit which inspired it in the first place. By taking a moment to follow our blog, tweet us a thought or forward a link onto our Facebook page you are keeping our life line alive.

Welcome to our living, breathing Creative Couples Project. In our next blog, come with us and have a peek behind the scenes as we introduce the brilliant team behind this project; none of this would be possible without their passion, creativity and drive which will see this through to it’s completion.

Until then………

Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012

Cecile: Would you say you have a common thread which runs through your writing?

Belinda: There’s a certain darkness which runs throughout my work, and this includes more humourous pieces as well. I think I tend to write about the darker aspects of life, or my life, with a hint of lightheartedness and laughter.  I would say there are a few key moments in my life which have been the springboards for all my present writing. It may not be a direct reference, but the feelings acquired from an event from years ago which still needs to be addressed creatively. I guess in that sense, writing helps me to make meaning of my own experience.

Cecile: If you could change one aspect of our society through your work, what would it be?

Belinda: I guess that which I would ultimately wish to change mirrors the changes I strive to make within myself.  Like complacency, and fear; not just waiting for someone else to pave the way for you but paving it yourself.

Awareness is a goal of mine as well; to bring to the fore of social awareness the quiet and the under-represented people who are referred to as “minorities” as though that equates to “matter less”. There are creatures in our society who remain voiceless and writing can bring a voice to this dark corner of the world.

People are dealing everyday with prejudice or discrimination due to their sexuality, gender, mental health… or because they are children. This is what makes me create. Getting the work read is a challenge though… So I feel rather voiceless myself at times.

Cecile: What do you dream to be your ultimate collaborative project with your partner (Me!)?

Belinda: We have been creating together since we met, really. For me, Cecile really sparked the dormant creativity which had been in me for many, many years. Since she began working with clay, there has been a natural flow of ideas. I think this really reflects us as individuals too, with Cecile being an earth sign and myself air. She helps ground my floaty thoughts, and our practices complement this.

The best example of this is a work of Cecile’s titled Drifters. This inspired me to compose a poem, The Drifters. It is very much earth-based and a little political at the same time. We are looking at ways to bring these works together whether it be an installation or exhibition collaboration. So for me bringing “poetry and pottery” together is the ultimate collaboration of earth and air (spirit). Living a life of honesty and integrity will forever be our greatest creative collaboration though.

The Drifters 
A gunmetal sky rolls
Over Tamworth, today
We dig a path from
Dubbo to Dorrigo
Carve deep into well worn
Roads, through lands
Stolen and sold.
We all buy and steal, seemingly
Sold but all we ever
really bought once
was stole.
Rent stolen lands
Drive through towns whose
Billboards acknowledge
at least
Owners whose elders land
Was that which was stole
As hands pass down
And gratefully exchange
Damaged soil and vanishing sands
            (is it too late to buy the wisdom
            of elders, or do we
            steal that too?)
Still, we can hold
In our hands and drink the
Healing waters of the
Promised Lands, Drifters
Down the Bellinger as rain
Hitches a river ride and
Carries with it       
Our hopes that we too
Might buy a piece of
This land and promise to
Live right.

Take a peek at Belinda's Blog


Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012

The other aim was to visually capture our couples in a way which conveys their connection, their energy and spirits in true and genuine images. Michelle does this with such ease and it is amazing to watch.

We couldn’t give away too much and spoil the fun, but we do want to give you a little look through the Creative Couples Project lens and see what we are super excited about right now.

DAY ONE: A trip to the seaside.

Phyllis and Francesca live on Phillip Island, Victoria…their art is the word, and their humble little log cabin is filled with seaside treasures and intriguing collections of items. Over lunch we discussed their activism work in the 70′s, as voices for the push for gay and lesbian visibility and equality. We listened, enthralled by their tales, and shared our own experiences as we looked out over the bay and pier. Back at their home, Buffy the dog kept watch as we flipped though pages of precious memories in a photo album…

DAY TWO: A garden of artists.

The following day we visited Meg and Patrick in Daylesford, Victoria. A sharp winter breeze gained strength as we ventured into the garden this couple draw their inspiration from. Every plot, each leaf in their garden is grown from with love, and it gives back the same. Inside, a warmth emanates from colour, art and the buzzing of more creative people popping over. We left feeling a longing to dig our own hands into the earth and live true to our own spirits, as this creative couple do.

Thank you to our couples for sharing their homes and allowing us a glimpse, and to Michelle for bringing vision to our vision. We are so lucky to have such talent bringing our book to life!

www.michelledunn.com.au

Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012

Belinda: Cecile, you are one half of a creative couple. What does this mean to you?

Cecile: Well, for me it’s about working together to realise a shared goal of a creative life, it’s a deep collective determination into a world of co-creativity; there is no judgment, just trust. And that goes both ways. By sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus we can broaden our scope with things that are creative in nature and creative in life. Being the partner of a writer is fun, I am the first and sometimes the only person to read Belinda’s short stories and impromptu poetry pieces. If a creative opportunity came up for one of us we would find a way to make it happen. We believe in the importance of staying true to our creative lives together, no idea is too big or too small for us, it all counts towards the bigger picture of our creative life journey. This quote by John Davis in 1989 is a philosophy we both share “In reality, I make one work over my life, so that when it’s all finished, there are a number of parts or contributions to an overall piece, each linking to another in some way.”

Belinda: How important is it to have creative time-out from your partner or family?

Cecile: The time I spend alone is very important to my practice; it’s an opportunity for me to be entirely right brain focused. I need time to be able to make sense of my ideas and make them happen.  A part of my practice is creating site-specific installations in nature, this is a practice I have done alone for some time now and I probably wouldn’t have it any other way. There is something special about being the only person present when creating these works, for me it’s about relying on my own intuition and finding a place to create in the most natural and respectful way possible. I tend to submerge myself in research of geography, activism or anthropology this helps me to ground the work to the location. I do document the work with photography, this way the public can see what I’ve done out there, but this to me is an entirely new work altogether.

Belinda: Creativity is about more than art isn’t it?

Cecile: A good question and a very true statement, creativity is about life, it’s about the food we grow and harvest, the homes we create, the relationships we form and the way we choose to view our surroundings. We can either choose to wear beige coloured glasses or we can choose to think deeply and live a life of truth whether it takes shape through the form of activism, teaching, sustainability, or through the language we use to describe our truth. Creativity is more than the crafting of art objects or of words; it’s also about the relationships we create with like-minded people through a collaborative project, a teaching or a conversation.

www.cecileknight.com   

Artist Documentary on Cecile and her practice by Photographer Michelle Dunn.

Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012

Their work was outstanding in the development of modern design during the post-war period and together as a creative duo designed their own home in Los Angeles, California, in 1949. The Eames House reflects the personality of both Eames’, its modernist, prefabricated form being attributed to Charles architecture and its Mondrianesque presence betraying Ray Eames’ artistic training.We have the Eames’ to thank for the invention of moulded ply-wood furniture that is still so popular today.

Charles once said, “Eventually everything connects—people, ideas, objects… the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se… I don’t believe in this ‘gifted few’ concept, just in people doing things they are really interested in doing. They have a way of getting good at whatever it is”. (1)

The Eames’ were a multi-disciplinary duo and produced museum exhibitions, architecture, furniture, toys, slide-shows, logotypes, books, photography, paintings and over 100 films. One truly poetic film entitled Tops was one that caught my eye, shot from the extreme perspectives of close-ups – a approach that lets the viewers observe the toys as if from the eyes of a child.

The husband-and-wife team would cofunction fully throughout their careers. Ray Eames’ artistic training and ability greatly determined the output of their studio as well as the interior design and decoration of the Eames’ House. They had a keen sense of history and culture, and spent a good deal of time researching before they committed to a project. If they could build upon their own heritage, rather than create in a new way, they would. They wouldn’t innovate just for the sake of innovation. Charles and Ray Eames were paramount in their fields and demonstrate a flawless archetype of the Creative Couples Project.

(1) eamesfoundation.org

 
Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012

Written yet unspoken, only the faded ink on archived paper knows the depth of these lovers. Although we can only speculate as to the true nature of their partnership, one thing which can be undisputed is that Michelangelo felt a powerful emotion for one particular man, enough to inspire some of the most beautiful love sonnets we have had the pleasure of reading. Michelangelo was not one half of a couple in the traditional sense, this is true. But what inspires us is the creative energy that the pairing of Michelangelo and Tommaso dei Cavalieri gave rise to.

Love speaks between souls in many ways. It takes on the guise of physical, sexual, intellectual and platonic love. All forms are true, all are love in its many shapes.

John Addington Symonds, English poet and critic, devoted much time to researching the sonnets written by Michelangelo to the younger Cavalieri. Symonds referred to the love between men as an “impossible love” which rings true for the painter, who perhaps had he been born in another era would have had his love celebrated not speculated. The unspoken language of forbidden love into sonnets leaves no question as to whether love was present in Michelangelo’s life. Symonds reconstructed these sonnets, restoring the male pronouns (which had been edited to female in previous incarnations) and thus restored the integrity of the love between men. Creative love between artist and muse speaks to us in the many languages of art.

Main Photo Credit: Photo: Aurelio Amendola/FMR http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/05/30/arts/20080531_MICHEL_SLIDESHOW_6.html

Copyright © Creative Couples Project 2012