AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

NORCA is our local Community Arts provider for access, resources, and participation in community arts.

www.norcaarts.co.uk.

If you would care to check it out, I am sure you will find something of interest.

Peace to all.

Skip.

I look at you as I do a cat, or a bird, or a flower, or any other natural being - with amazement a joy of the natural beauty of Mother Nature. Skin, scales, fur, leaves and bark are the same.
I neither think or act as a man of the 'world' but as a man of the Earth. I do not live IN the 'world' but WITH the 'world'. Because there is no greater power here than nature, as it is pure and balanced; whereas the commercial world is false and unsustainable in it's future.
Nature gives in abundance (not one seed but millions, not one offspring but several, not a single raindrop but showers of them, etc.) only needing love, care and respect in return.

The Poetry Archive's mission is to make poetry accessible. As well as listing poems and poets on the site and allowing people to read them, it also includes audio samples where available. These include a fascinating recording of Robert Browning forgetting the words to his own poem, 'How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix'.

www.poetryarchive.org

I had to have some downtime (healthwise) and now I am back and still 'getting there'. And I have come back to find my system being 'icky', trouble with emails etc. (I suppose that is what one gets with running on a shoestring).

Well, it has been the mildest winter here since....well, er....the last warmest winter on record.

The line-up for the 2007 Norfolk and Norwich Festival is now announced. The Festival is launced on Friday, March 1st. Included in the line-up are circus, opera, jazz, comedy, and drama, etc. Check out the Website at www.nnfestival.org.uk

I am really looking forward to Saturday, March 10th - as I have been invited to see Joan Armatradin performing at the Theatre Royal here in Norwich.

Hello again everyone and I do hope that all is very well with everybody.
I have been so busy lately (it must be the season) and hardly had time to chill out here with all you talented people.

So,what have I been doing? I am now networking with U.K. artists (telling them about AMP, of course) so, hopefully will be seeing some joining us here. I have also been creating my artworks and I have added a few more to my 'Artworks' online.

I am also concerning myself greatly with local ecology issues on our Norfolk Broads, because are not going to be here much longer, as they are under extreme threat from encroaching seawater. I want to get out there now and express my appreciations of the natural beauty of the area before it turns to a vast salt marsh. I have put a link on my website if anyone wants to see the area I am talking about. Just recently the sea broke in and thousands of freshwater fish died.

I can not help it. I love this drive inside of me that is impelling me to communicate my thoughts through my art. I have found it to be the most potent form of meditation and focus I have ever experienced.

It is no wonder that our most ancient ancestors painted their visions on the walls of caves - not anywhere near the surface for general view, but way down deep inside the earth and their only references were their own minds/spirits. We do the same when our concentration negates all distractions. Does a singer or player 'take in the views' as they are performing? No, they are somewhere inside. It must be the same with all art disciplines. Our art is our spirits communicating. It never ceases to amaze me every day I am creating, just how potent our natural creative energy really is. I go for the positive every time because it creates a greater understanding and with mutual understanding comes love. And, right now, there seems to be a huge need for love in this World in these times.

I saw this tonight in my local newpaper and thought what a great idea. It should encourage like events and artists all over the world that they only need a connection to showcase our works.

"A Norfolk musician is set to play a presigious festival in America - without ever leaving the comfort of his spare bedroom. Andy Butler will push the boundaries of technology when his 50-minute performance is streamed via the internet from his Norwich home to the appreciative audience at the 'Live Looping' Festival in Santa Cruz, California. And,asifthatwasnot enough of a feat, the guitarist will also have to sync with wind synthesizer player Ted Killian - who will be more than 5,000 miles away on stage at the festival."

Hello Good People. It is the first week of our fringe festival here. If anyone is interested the website is

http://www.norwichfringefestival.co.uk

There is a city art trail, live music, poetry, and theatre with the Fringe Performance Showcase.

Later.

A lot has been happening with me this week. I am still pecking away at the back of the mirror (it will look nice when it's finished, hee!hee!). Seriously, I have found that working on it in short bursts is good for me. In the meantimes I work on my other projects (and the housework). The best news is that I am improving myself by the day. Doctors are not a patch on Mother Nature herself.

I hope that all is well with everyone. As I have said, I like reading and seeing such wonderfully diverse talents pouring out of you all.

I read my first copy of the AMP newsletter (thank you for that) and I concur that our little AMP site is getting as big as the world. I think that common resect and friendship will see us grow as our world should grow - together. Art is a positive dialogue that crosses all barriers. We prove that ourselves.

Since joining the AMP I have just about read everything on this site and the main thread throughout is one of the positivity that art, in all of it's diverse forms, brings to all of our lives and this site shows the eagerness to share our positive vibes with others. So I would like to thank each and every memeber for showing that.

This morning I was reading the posts about the Art Matters Conference and the CAC Residency Grants Program, Artists in Schools. These programs must be supported and attended with maximum effort all round. These posts have made me think of our own situation here in Norolk, UK.,which has a very vibrant arts scene and an arts festival every year. But, with respect, the arts are definitely for the 'priveleged' and little evidence of using art to build self-esteem and worth for the 'disaffected' in our society and so this has greatly moved me to raise local awareness of this issue by starting a campaign. So I say, "Thank you AMP".