There is a joy in music, and Kath’s birthday gave three amazing opportunities to witness this and feel the sense of community that can be created with a guitar or a voice or fiddle. As I type this 12 ¼ authentic artists are dancing their hearts out in Bold Elephant studios. The youngest is just three months old (congrats Ellie and Henry).
On the evening of her birthday Kath and the in-village band of the Lobster Pot had a wee ceilidh with everything from traditional Scottish ballads to foot-tapping Mary Hopkin. The joy of the traditional celidh gathering is that the musicians and singers like Kath are there to play off each other. The audience of family and friends from UK and Australia are there to feel the atmosphere, drink the beer, and explore the legends of Blackness (some of which may seem both ancient and modern – like the amazing legend of the cargo of woodpeckers). We are blessed to be 39 steps from this amazing Irish pub and art gallery.
After a quick trip to London through the amazing coastscape and city vistas of England, we headed out to The Shipwrights Palace in Deptford for the annual Folk Festival of Magpie’s Nest. This is home to 14 different artists and creatives nestled between 40 acres of ancient ship building land and the magnificence of Greenwich.
On a beautiful summer afternoon we joined families and lovers lounging silently on the lawns enjoying the music of 8 visiting bands and soloists. A special mention must go to ghostgirl . Kay Rowan (she/her) is a trans composer, songwriter, actor and performer. She was playing as we arrived and brought a sense of calm stillness to the whole space – we landed as she held the whole garden of delights. Later bodies moved to the deep rooted sounds of Faith Ristic, Serbian accordionist and Iranian singer songwriter Pouya Mahmoodi. Kath and I also spent wonderful time in the community kitchen with the owner and many amazing humans passing through. We will be back for future events and festivals in this historic and welcoming setting, Thank you to the Nest Collective who programmed the event.
And now, on day 3 of our collective birthday, we are in a circle of artists as early creative scraps and scratches are shared and witnessed. They are moving to the sound of a word from the languages of the world – the room is echoing to the movement of Norwegian, German, Polish, English, Lugandan, French, and Mother’s Bones language. Your body is perfect – My body is perfect. Then a playwright shares their pride and fear of sharing autobiographical material. Through the use of rich embodied sound they are wise enough to pass that emotion through their body to allow space for our critical reflection. This made them available for a group of fellow artists to offer thoughts on questions they were asked by the author. This is what the Authentic Artist Collective does so well – creating a safe space for raw sharing.
Today is a fitting tribute to the amazing work of Sarah Davey Hull who, before her untimely death, created spaces in Forest Hill and Elephant and Castle where artistry can be explored in spaces which hold the creative echoes of so many artists in their walls.
It is my first time in an Authentic workshop space for 3 years and the feeling expressed by so many artists is of ‘coming home’ to a safe space. Over lockdown there have been amazing monthly collective sharings. These on the ground sharings wonderfully complement the accessible world which these artists have created using online tools.
As a producer and coach of creative folk I always learn so much from witnessing this sharing. This generous tension and cohesion of art and meeting, fear and pride, richness and rawness. I have known some of these artists for 23 years and others I met for the first time this morning. Painting and drawing and writing is happening around the room, and I am writing my blog with the words in the room seeping into these sentences.
Everyone should have a 3 day birthday weekend if they can. Everyone deserves a collective of community to hold them in joy, in artistry, and when times get hard. Thank you to the 200+ Authentic Artists who share comunity,
Happy Birthday Kath.