More workshops: the Turramurra Folk Music Camp. 2014

There was concern that the Turramurra Folk Music Camp might not go ahead as the temperatures in the Victoria soared into the 40s and fires broke out across the state but a cool change arrived in time and Turramurra was given the thumbs up.

On a strip of land set aside as Land for Wildlife, participants camped or made use of the bunk houses. The event is 100% participatory and inclusive of all ages and skill levels. Fiddles, brass, percussion, voices and dancing feet rocked the bush. My contribution was, of course, storytelling but I managed to attend a brilliant ukulele workshop. 

This was my first visit to a Music Camp and I found the atmosphere jaw dropping. The warmth, joy, respect and celebratory mood, was overwhelming. I’ll be returning.

As the Storytelling Australia (Vic) banner is residing in my study, I took the opportunity to display it in the bush and spruik the joy of storytelling. 

Cygnet Festival and the Tasmanian Storytellers 2014

January. Here, there and everywhere.

Continuing on with the idea of rebooting storytelling in Tasmania, I travelled to the Cygnet Festival in the Huon Valley to conduct a master class. We have storytelling groups that connect across the mainland and overseas but somehow Tasmania had dropped out of the loop. Its a long story but in a nutshell, the workshop seems to have provided a focus and enough storytellers gathered to create something substantial. You can read about some of the background behind the Storytelling Revival in Australia in the 70's and how it began with Patricia Scott in Tasmania HERE

The Cygnet Festival was brilliant; the weather superb and the vibe indescribably welcoming. I'm hooked! I caught some of the Welcome Ceremony on my little camera. One of the loveliest.

The storytellers and poets I met during the weekend were inspiring.

 The Tassie Tellers now have a Facebook page: HERE

Where do stories come from?

Where do stories come from?  For me, every story has a unique journey; some begin in response to an anecdote, a dream, a request; some begin with words or a tune and some begin with pictures.

This mess you see is a story working its way into the world through sketches. Its a linear narrative (can't you tell?) The words haven't made an appearance yet - well that's not entirely true, there's some dialogue, some Arabic and Vietnamese!

I'm travelling into the story realm and charting the experience as I go. By the end of my exploration, I will have a map - a story map.

Every time I make a story, its like I've never done it before and I wonder: does experience count for anything?

But it does count. I've learned that a new story always feels impossible, that it takes patience and a preparedness to fiddle and massage with ideas and words and images for what seems like an eternity. I've learned that a big mess is inevitable at some point and that the story will keep me awake at night.

And the adventure is marvellous!

Tasmanian Storytellers let's meet up at the Cygnet Festival Workshop 10 January 2014

My daughter moved to Tasmania to study two years ago and I enjoy this excuse to visit the Apple Isle as often as I can. She is very supportive of Storytelling and has previously organised  House Concerts and an evening of tales in her favourite café, Frankie’s Empire. With her support and with the encouragement of Martin Jefferd (UK storyteller from Bristol and friend of Storytelling Australia Vic), trad storytelling has a place in the Cygnet Festival program.

The plan is to meet, warm up and get  stuck into learning some stories but importantly - build the story connections. The focus will be on traditional stories that mention either apples, cider or both. Seemed like a good idea, as Willie Smith’s Organic Cider is one of the Festival’s major sponsors!

There'll be opportunities to try out the stories at the chalkboard events that run throughout the weekend.

Workshop: Friday 10 January. Details HERE

The Cygnet Festival runs from 10 – 12 January. Full details HERE

photo: Hobart House Concert 2013

Ruby. The Adventures of a Travel Bug. Written and illustrated by Sean Daniel Cox - launched 15 December 2013

Everything about  Ruby. The Adventures of a Travel Bug is satisfying: the shape, the satin feel, the cover image, and the colour.

On opening the book the delights continue with the tale of Ruby (a ladybird) and her magnificent adventure.  Such a seamless dance of design and text is no accident; behind this publication are years of experience and a creative mind. Sean Daniel Cox comes from a background in advertising, as both a graphic artist and an award-winning copywriter. He has skillfully breathed life and attitude into Ruby with particular care taken for her eyes and antennae, making it impossible not to smile back at the little ladybird. 

The illustrations fill the pages with bold colour and light. You can see the shape of the brush and the texture of the canvas. For children, who also love to paint Sean has described his process on the imprint page. The artwork has been cropped but not tweaked in Photoshop and the font cannily chosen to match the ‘hand made’ look of the book.

Ruby’s adventure is told in such a way that any adult, who also loves to travel will relate. Who of us has not itched with desire at the destination boards at the airport? The characters Ruby meets on the way are visually alive with ‘voices’ that are enjoyable to read aloud. I love Cassie the cheetah’s plain speaking “... I’m really fast” she tells Ruby. At the end of her adventure Ruby pops into the gift shop at the airport in Tanzania and buys herself something to help her remember her friends and her special day. And guess what? There is a little gift for the reader as well. But I’m not telling you what it is - that's a surprise.

Pictures tell stories and words paint pictures and it’s not easy to bring the two together in a way that will satisfy both a child and an adult.  Ruby is a book that achieves just that.

Children’s literature has a new heroine and she’s a sweetie!

To purchase Ruby. The Adventures of a Travel Bug and to learn more about Sean visit their website HERE

And if you're wondering: yes we did eat the cake!

100 Story Building: pumping out stories!

Yesterday was my final volunteer shift at 100 Story Building for 2013 and the top story was pumping with ideas. We had two middle primary groups booked for the Comic Boom Workshop, so over 40 children had the opportunity to write, draw and publish their own comics. Along with Lachlan, Elliot (my co volunteer) and a couple of teachers, the ratio of adults to students is high, ensuring that no child leaves 100 Story Building without making something substantial.

It seems to me that more children are learning about the project and enter the space primed with a sense of anticipation. The atmosphere is more like a playground at times – so much talking, writing, drawing and acting out. Yesterday I modeled for a comic artist (I was a bored mayor with a big stomach, sitting in a chair), we solved creative dilemmas by flipping a coin and had fun with KAPOW, BOOM, SHAZAM and other ways to make special effects with words not to mention the conversations about how comics relate to film storytelling, the silent comic, the difference between the narrator’s voice and the direct speech of character …  I don’t know who gets the most from these workshops, me or the kids!

There are workshops planned for the holidays and more exciting programs being developed for 2014.

Check out what’s on at 100 Story Building HERE

Pic: Lachlan Carter drawing a narrative arc/ story mountain/ story roller coaster diagram

A Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival and Horrormathèque screening of Next of Kin

I began my work life as an actress pure and simple – employed to animate other people’s stories and now almost 40 years later, I’m still mucking with story but at a slower pace and on my terms. 

In 1982, I worked on a film Next of Kin beautifully directed by Tony Williams. The film faded but with the documentary Not Quite Hollywood and Quentin Tarantino’s rave, this sleeper has found a new fan base. It was screened this week at ACMI, an event organized by Briony Kidd to coincide with visiting writer, film programmer and co founder of the Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Centre, Kier-La Janisse

Here I am squeezed between Kier-La (left) and Briony after the screening of Next Of Kin. Two fascinating women: Kier-La is the author of The House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films. I began reading last night and already my head has done a 180 and I’m looking at the horror genre from a very different perspective. Briony is a screenwriter and director and works for the Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival where the focus is on films by women, promoting discussion around genre and gender. 

For my storytelling friends who are tempted to scoff, I can assure you, this genre sits besides folk tale very neatly!

 Following the screening on Monday night, we decamped to Young and Jacksons. An hour was only long enough for me to learn that these amazing women are original and complex thinkers. It’s true what they say: talking is nice, thinking is fun.

More about Horrormathèque HERE