Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

It is hard to believe another year has rolled around and we are approaching another Elizabeth Bishop birthday celebration. As we have been doing in Nova Scotia for the past seven or eight years (we have lost count), the co-owners of the Elizabeth Bishop House host a birthday celebration and fund-raiser in Halifax. All the particulars are found below and we hope to see you there. We have a great line up of readers, lots of fun door prizes, good munchies and, of course, BIRTHDAY CAKE!! -- and, as always, wonderful energy. Costumes are welcome, but not necessary, but there is a prize for best costume. Hope to see you there.

Last year's cake!

♥♥♥  ELIZABETH BISHOP’s  ♥♥♥
 ♥♥♥    102nd Birthday Party!    ♥♥♥

Celebrate Elizabeth Bishop’s Birthday

Date: Sunday, 10 February 2013

Time: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Place: Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia

1113 Marginal Road (behind Garrison Beer, just up from Pier 21)

Free! Everyone Welcome!

♥♥♥♥♥

 Help Heat Her Home

(a fund-raiser for the Elizabeth Bishop House Artists’ Retreat)

♥♥♥☼♥♥♥

Come as your favourite Bishop character or creature, or just come as What You Will. Don’t let Manners inhibit you. Come as The Man-Moth or The Moose. Have The Wit to be The Fish or The Armadillo. You might need The Patience of an Angel to be The Unbeliever or The Prodigal, but please, come flying!!

Don’t wait for The End of March or A Cold Spring. Dispel the mid-winter blues! Come for the readings, come for the birthday cake, come for the prizes (best costume is a weekend at the EB House!!). Who knows, you might end up Exchanging Hats!!!

The Colder the Air the warmer the welcome!

Readers include: John Barnstead, Valerie Compton, Sarah Emsley, Heather Jessup, Scott MacDougall, Jill MacLean, Alex E. Pierce, Mary Ellen Sullivan, and others

Special feature: Suzie LeBlanc will talk about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording, which will be launched this year.

Light refreshments

 Last year's readers

 One of our best costumes ever:
 "The Moose"

Film-maker John Scott adapting “In the Waiting Room”

Already with three highly successful three short films based on Elizabeth Bishop poems under his belt (“Sandpiper,” “One Art,” and “First Death in Nova Scotia”), film-maker John Scott (Magpie Productions -- http://www.magpieproductions.com/) is now tackling “In the Waiting Room,” one of Bishop’s most intimate evocations of her childhood. Though set in Worcester, Massachusetts, a shoot took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the weekend of 19-20 January 2013. Though stand alone films, these shorts are also prepatory to John’s larger documentary about Bishop. You can find out more about the documetnary at: http://www.magpieproductions.com/p/elizabeth-bishop-projecct.html

John kindly sent a few photographs from the “In the Waiting Room” shoot, which we wanted to share with you. We’ll keep you posted on this project as things unfold.

 "In the Waiting Room" shoot, Halifax, N.S., January 2013

"... while I waited I read / the National Geographic / (I could read)..."

 

A delightful flashback to a wonderful time in Great Village

It is hard to believe that EB100 is now over a year past. The memories are still vivid and the impact is still being felt in Nova Scotia – and we’ll keep posting things about how the latter will manifest this year and in the years to come. The other day I received this delightful photograph from Rosalee Peppard (http://www.rosalee.ca/).

Rosalee Peppard and April Sharpe, Great Village, August 2011

Rosalee graced the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Arts Festival, which took place in Great Village in August 2011, with her music and songs, including a wonderful tribute song that she wrote for Bishop’s 100th birthday. (She recorded this song on her cd VOICES – check out her website above to find out how you can get a copy of the cd.) The young lady with her is April Sharpe, of Great Village. April spent a good part of the Arts Festival at the Elizabeth Bishop House being “Little Miss Elizabeth Bishop.” She did a wonderful job, even playing “Ode to Joy” on the old pump organ in the parlour. She guided the hundreds of visitors around “her” grandparents’ house with knowledgeable enthusiasm. Seeing this image brought back a flood of memories to me. That weekend in Great Village in August 2011 was a magical time. Thank you Rosalee and April for helping to make it so.

 

Another update: John Scott announces on his Magpie Productions website that his adaptation of “First Death in Nova Scotia” is held over at the Coolidge theatre in Boston. Click this link to read more:

http://www.magpieproductions.com/2013/01/more-great-news-our-run-at-great.html

A brief look at Elizabeth Bishop projects in 2013

Can it be that we are now well into another year? 2013. It will be a year when several Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Legacy projects fully manifest. All the effort and work of 2011-2012 will come to fruition.

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia is moving forward with three projects:

First, the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Writing Competition book is progressing. The EBSNS is working with Gaspereau Press in Kentville, N.S., and we are truly excited about bringing to a wider audience the wonderful pieces written by a wide range of writers, young people and adults. This book, Echoes of Elizabeth Bishop, will be launched at the EBSNS AGM in June 2013.

  "Looking Towards the Blacksmith Shop," photograph by Laurie Gunn

(will be included in Echoes of Elizabeth Bishop)

Second, “Images of My Village,” is a visual art project initiated by the EBSNS in the fall of 2012. We approached all the schools in Colchester County (about 25 schools representing all grade levels) asking for students to submit an image that represents the sense of home and one’s identity with place. The EBSNS is collaborating with the media students at the Nova Scotia Community College in Truro, N.S., to create a virtual exhibition of all the submissions. To date, we have hundreds of images. The EBSNS will choose one of the images for a permanent banner which will be put up in Great Village every summer. The virtual exhibition will be launched in Spring 2013.

Third, the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording is well underway. The EBSNS continues its collaboration with soprano Suzie LeBlanc and her team of amazing musicians. The final recording session took place in November 2012. Editing and mixing will take place over the winter. The fund-raising for this project continues – both online and through direct appeal. The EBSNS and Suzie are excited to announce that the Canada Council for the Arts will provide substantial funding ($19,700) for the production and marketing aspects of this project. We want to thank all those who have supported this project so far. A launch date for the cd is still pending, but we will announce it as soon as it has been decided.

These projects are all part of the EBSNS EB100 legacy programme. There are other Elizabeth Bishop projects in the works. For example, film-maker John Scott (Magpie Productions) is working on a full-scale documentary about Bishop and continues to produce short films based on her poems. He will be shooting an adaptation of “In the Waiting Room” in Halifax in January 2013. The big Brazilian film, Flores Rares, will be released this spring, propelling Elizabeth and Lota into the stratosphere of cinema. Much of the music commissioned by Suzie LeBlanc for the legacy recording is now beginning to be performed in other parts of Canada and the world. Nova Scotia visual artist Carol Laing is working on a fascinating project about Bishop’s life, based on extensive research she has done with the archive of photographic images at Vassar College and Acadia University. Nova Scotia writer Rita Wilson is working on a book for children about Bishop's childhood in Great Village. Indeed, more books will be appearing in the coming year and we will try to keep track of this publishing programme, make note of them on the blog.

Stay tuned for announcement and notices about upcoming projects, events and activities. We hope your year will be rewarding.

Call for proposals: American Literature Association conference (2013) panel on Elizabeth Bishop

Below is a call for proposals for a proposed panel at the 2013 American Literature Association conference to be held in May 2013 in Boston -- a fascinating preliminary discussion around the exciting anthology project that is being created by Anne Shifrer, Brian Bartlett and Corey Clawson. We'll keep you posted on the progress of this project.

“Elizabeth Bishop as Muse: Inspiration and Emulation”

In conjunction with an anthology project which collects published poems about, addressed to, or strongly influenced by Elizabeth Bishop, the project editors are proposing a session at ALA in which participants discuss one or two such poems. We are hoping to create a panel or roundtable which includes both critics and poets (even poets who have authored such a poem). In a ten-minute presentation (approx. four pages), participants will consider what the poem(s) of their choice uniquely reveals about E.B.'s life and character or the nature, craft, and value of her art. Those interested may find our provisional list of anthology poems (by her British and American peers as well as generations of poets from Ireland's Seamus Heaney to Brazil's Anna Cristina Cesar) at the following address:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj_qs6GzqD_WdDd3T2I1WWVfcUU5bi00bWttWUhFelE]. 

We also welcome poems we haven’t yet discovered, so long as these provide valuable insights into what it is about E.B.’s poetry that so inspires admiration and emulation. 

Please send proposals (about 250 words or even a paper draft) to the editors: Corey Clawson (cdc115@eden.rutgers.edu), Brian Bartlett (bbartlett@hfx.eastlink.ca), Anne Shifrer (Anne.Shifrer@usu.edu). We seek compressed and polished short essays. After the presentations (5-6 people), the panelists will have an open discussion. PROPOSAL DEADLINE: January 15, 2013.

Another glimpse of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording Fund-raiser in Toronto

Here are a couple photos just received from Suzie LeBlanc, taken at the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording fund-raising event at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto on 30 November 2012. It gives another opportunity to thank all those who worked so hard to organize this event and a heartfelt thanks to all who attended and supported this project. You can find our more about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording at www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca.

From left to right: Suzie LeBlanc, composer Christos Hatzis and emcee for the evening, CBC Radio host Tom Allan.

Our Suzie LeBlanc -- you can just see composer, musician and conductor Dinuk Wijeratne on the left sitting at the piano (they wowed the audience with their performance).

A Glimpse of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording fund-raiser in Toronto

I recently received a couple of photographs taken by Desmond Brunelle, who, with the painter Alfred Villenueve, attended the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording fund-raiser in Toronto on 30 November at the Canadian Music Centre. We weren’t sure that Alfred would be able to attend, but in the end he was there with his beautiful painting, which he had donated for a silent auction. His painting was sold and we are deeply grateful to Alfred for the funds that it raised for this project. It is lovely to have a glimpse of this lively and successful event. 

Alfred Villeneuve and Suzie LeBlanc, Canadian Music Centre, 30 November 2012

Mary Ellen Sullivan and Alfred Villeneuve, Canadian Music Centre, 30 November 2012 (the painting Alfred donated is on the wall on the left)

  

To find out more about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording and how to contribute, we are still accepting donations, go to: www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca

Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording Fund-raiser in Toronto a Success – plus an update about two other Bishop projects

The performance space at the Canadian Music Centre was full and buzzing early Friday evening, 30 November, as people gathered for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording fund-raiser, organized by Suzie LeBlanc, with the help of Debra Chandler. Suzie was joined by very special guests: Tom Allan, popular CBC Radio host, who acted as emcee; Dinuk Wijeratne, a composer, musician and conductor, who conducted the recording sessions and performed for the assembled; Christos Hatzis, the composer of four of the Bishop poem settings, who spoke about his involvement with this project; Eleanor Wachtel, renowned CBC Radio broadcaster and Bishop fan, who read Bishop’s poems; and Alfred Villeneuve, Ontario painter, who had donated one of his works for the event (see a post below for more about his contribution). Suzie reports, “The event was wonderful” and “people seemed to have a lovely time.” We will be posting more information about this successful event this coming week.

 

For now, I want to alert you to two interesting EB developments. First, composer John Plant, whose settings of “Sandpiper” and “Sunday 4 A.M.” are featured on the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy CD, informs that his “Sandpiper” will be performed  at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre in Toronto by the Talisker Players in a concert called “On the Wing,” on 7 and 8 May 2012. For more details see: http://www.taliskerplayers.ca/onTheWing.html

Film-maker John Scott also informs that his short “First Death in Nova Scotia,” based on Bishop’s poem, has been receiving good reviews and a lot of attention. Check out the website for his production company, Magpie Productions, to find out the exciting details: http://www.magpieproductions.com/ John will be shooting another short based on Bishop’s poem “In the Waiting Room,” in Nova Scotia in January 2013.

*****

Again, stay tuned for an update about the Toronto fund-raiser for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy recording.

We still need your help with this project.

You can find out how to donate at:
www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca

Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording – Exciting Updates

Check out this exciting article about Suzie LeBlanc and the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording project which appeared today on the wesbite Musical Toronto. The article is written by John Terauds. It highlights the fund-raising concert taking place in Toronto on Friday.

http://www.musicaltoronto.org/2012/11/28/soprano-suzie-leblanc-embarks-on-incredible-voyage-with-poet-elizabeth-bishop/

There is even more to update!:

We are excited to say that the final recording session for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording occurred yesterday and today (27-28 November). The first two sessions took place at St. David’s Church in Halifax, N.S., but a technical issue (the timpani could not fit through the door at St. David’s!) moved the final recording to Chezzetcook, N.S., an Acadian settlement east of Halifax. It took place in historic St. Anselms church.

Just to remind you, the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording is comprised of settings of Bishop’s poems by Canadian composers Emily Doolittle, Christos Hatzis, Alasdair MacLean and John Plant. Along with Suzie LeBlanc, there is a stellar cast of musicians involved: composer/musician/conductor Dinuk Wijeratne, the Blue Engine String Quartet, and other musicians from Symphony Nova Scotia. The producer/technicians John S.D. Adams and Rod Snedden have guided these sessions from the beginning.

This final recording session marks a major milestone in the project. An amazing team – a community, really – has come together to move the process along to this stage. There is still a lot of work to do before this amazing music can be shared with the world. The winter will be focused on editing, mixing, all that post-production work. All this means that there is also still a need for us to raise funds.

Suzie LeBlanc and some very special guests will give a presentation about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording at a fund-raiser for the project in Toronto on Friday – this coming Friday, 30 November!! The event will take place at the Canadian Music Centre (Chalmers House), at 20 St. Joseph Street, Toronto, from 5:30 to 7:00. If you are in Toronto and able to attend, Suzie would be thrilled to see you. [See the posts below for more information about this event.]

If you are not able to attend and would like to contribute to help make the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording a reality, you can find out more information at:

www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia and Suzie LeBlanc want to thank all those who have contributed so far. We want to thank the amazing composers, musicians and technicians who have put so much creativity and energy into this recording. We can’t wait to share this glorious music with you all.

EB Legacy Recording Fund-raiser: Auctioning a painting by artist Alfred Villeneuve

On Friday, 30 November 2012, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., at the Canadian Music Centre (Chalmers House) (http://www.musiccentre.ca/home.cfm), Suzie LeBlanc and friends are holding a fund-raiser for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording.

   

We are excited to announce that part of that fund-raiser will include a silent auction on a painting done by Ontario artist Alfred Villeneuve. You can learn more about Alfred at his website:

http://www.mattrowntree.com/northwind/galleries/recent/html/piece_index.html

Alfred has kindly donated a beautiful painting, “Pic Island Revisited.” Alfred writes of this painting, “It was inspired while walking the beach along Pic Bay. We has stopped the night before to camp. The next morning I got up early and went out to explore the bay area. I scanned the horizon, the small group of land masses, and up to the mountains to the northwest. I watched a train, high up along the skirt of the mountain, making its way around. Suddenly, I was struck by the realization that it was probably along that same ridge that Lauren Harris and others had painted from when he created ‘Above Lake Superior’ and ‘Pic Island.’ That morning, I felt the vapors of history about. I sat and absorbed as much of that beautiful early morn before going back to the bustle of four adults and the daily routines of life….It is a work that is dear to me, and so much the better that I pass it on.” Alfred has kindly provided a image of this painting....

This painting is 12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas.

It retails for $1,100.00

There is a minimum reserve bid of $400.00

We regret that Alfred is not able to attend the fund-raiser in person, but something essential about his vision of the world will be there to represent him. We are profoundly grateful to Alfred for his support of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording.

Ed. Note: On a personal note, I had the great privilege of seeing several of Alfred’s painting “in the flesh,” so to speak, at the home of a good friend of mine in Halifax, N.S. She has one of them, a large canvas, hung on her living room wall and when I entered this room for the first time and saw the painting, I stopped in my tracks in amazement. Alfred’s paintings are wondrously dynamic, richly textured, vibrantly expressive. One of his heroes is Emily Carr, a painter whose work I deeply admire; and I can say that seeing Alfred’s work gave me the same “hair standing on the back of the neck” feeling that a Carr painting gives me.

Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording Fund-raiser – Exciting venue for this event

As we have already noted below, Suzie LeBlanc will be hosting a fund-raising event for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording in Toronto on 30 November 2012. One of the many exciting things about this event is its location. It is being held at the Canadian Music Centre’s (http://www.musiccentre.ca/home.cfm) new performance and community space in Chalmers House at 20 St. Joseph Street. This space opened recently and is receiving lots of attention and praise. If you haven’t had a chance to see this new venue, which supports Canadian music (and composers, musicians, singers, etc.), this is an opportunity to do so, and to support the CD project, which will bring incredible new Canadian music inspired by and based on Elizabeth Bishop poems to the world.

 The performance space at the Chalmers House, the Canadian Music Centre's new facility

You can find out more information about the EB Legacy Recording, and can donate online at, www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca. We are grateful for all the support we have received.

Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording fund-raiser in Toronto!

Suzie LeBlanc has been working hard to organize a fund-raising event in support of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording. It will take place in Toronto on 30 November, 2012. The details of this exciting event are below. Everyone is welcome.

 Suzie LeBlanc on a pilgrimage.

A SPECIAL INVITATION

You are invited to an intimate preview hosted by soprano Suzie LeBlanc in support of a unique project that blends voice, poetry and the work of four of Canada’s finest composers. Pulitzer Prize winning poet Elizabeth Bishop loved music, collaborations and new adventures. In that spirit, Suzie has commissioned composers Christos Hatzis, Alasdair MacLean, John Plant and Emily Doolittle to bring the essence of her poetry to a thrilling new recording project. Joined by conductor Dinuk Wijeratne and an ensemble of exceptional musicians, Suzie is creating a tribute to honour and explore the life of a great Canadian-American artist.

Please join Suzie LeBlanc and friends on Friday, November 30, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the new performance space in the Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph Street, Toronto

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!

Elizabeth Bishop, 1945. Joseph Breitenbach photo

Elizabeth Bishop – “I am in need of music”

During the 2011 Elizabeth Bishop Centenary celebration in Nova Scotia, a dozen new works were commissioned and performed to rave reviews. With interest in Elizabeth Bishop spanning the globe, the intention has been to create a recording of this music and make it available to the world. Since July 2012, Suzie LeBlanc, Honorary Patron of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia, has partnered with the Society in a fund-raising campaign to support this independent project with a goal of $60,000.

 Suzie sitting in Elizabeth Bishop's House in Great Village, Nova Scotia

(www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca)

*******

Stay tuned for an update about the fund-raising concert for the EB legacy recording that was organized by Australian composer Dindy Vaughan. The event took place on 28 October in Australia and was a wonderful afternoon of music and conversation, which raised a lot of money. An account of this event will be posted soon!

Kathleen Spivack’s new memoir about Robert Lowell

With Robert Lowell and His Circle: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, & Others by Kathleen Spivack

  

In 1959 Kathleen Spivack won a fellowship to study at Boston University with Robert Lowell. Her fellow students were Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, among others. Thus began a relationship with the famous poet and his circle that would last to the end of his life in 1977 and beyond. Spivack presents a lovingly rendered story of her time among some of the most esteemed artists of a generation. Part memoir, part loose collection of anecdotes, artistic considerations, and soulful yet clear-eyed reminiscences of a lost time and place, hers is an intimate portrait of the often suffering Lowell, the great and near great artists he attracted, his teaching methods, his private world, and the significant legacy he left to his students. Through the story of a youthful artist finding her poetic voice among literary giants, Spivack thoughtfully considers how poets work. She looks at friendships, addiction, despair, perseverance and survival, and how social changes altered lives and circumstances. This is a beautifully written portrait of friends who loved and lived words, and made great beauty together.

A touching and deeply revealing look into the lives and thoughts of some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, With Robert Lowell and His Circle will appeal to writers, students, and thoughtful literary readers, as well as to scholars.

LAUNCH

Sunday, December 2, 2012, 4-6 p.m.

Co-hosted by the Harvard Bookstore and the Grolier Poetry Bookshop

Refreshment, books, and celebration at both locations

The Harvard Bookstore: 1256 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA, 617-661-1515

The Grolier Poetry Bookshop: 6 Plympton St, Cambridge, MA, 617-547-4648

http://www.upne.com/1555537883.html

Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia – New Honorary Patron

On 16 June 2012, at its AGM, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia appointed Wallace “Bud” Bowers as Honorary Patron of the society. Bud was one of Elizabeth Bishop’s maternal first cousins. His appointment came about because of the death of his sister Phyllis Sutherland in October 2011. Phyllis had been the Honorary Patron of the society since its formation in 1994. Bud was also the addressee of Bishop’s poem “For CWB,” written the year of his birth in 1929:

 

“Let us live where the twilight lives after the dark,

In the deep, drowsy blue, let us make us a home.

Let us meet in the cool evening grass, with a stork

And a whistle of willow, played by a gnome.”

Sadly, Bud Bowers died on 23 July 2012. The EBSNS Board extends deepest sympathy to Bud’s family. He was a wonderful human being with a ready wit, a keen interest in his family’s history and many lively stories to tell. His and Phyllis’s interest in and support of the EBSNS are profoundly appreciated and will be greatly missed.

At the 27 October 2012 EBSNS Board meeting, the members of the board unanimously voted to appoint soprano Suzie LeBlanc as our next Honorary Patron. Suzie’s involvement in the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary is well-known. She has been speaking enthusiastically about Bishop since being hooked four years ago, after a chance visit to Great Village one summer day. In her capacity as co-artistic director of the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Festival, she has been directly supporting the EBSNS for several years. The board unanimously agreed that Suzie is arguably the best Elizabeth Bishop ambassador Nova Scotia has ever had. Suzie kindly accepted this appointment, which happened to come on her birthday. Happy Birthday, Suzie!

We will be posting more updates about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording, as well as other EB100 legacy projects, in the coming weeks. Do stay tuned.

Elizabeth Bishop film “First Death in Nova Scotia” Update

Film-maker John Scott reports that his short film based on Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “First Death in Nova Scotia” continues to receive attention and screenings around the world. After a successful screening at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, N.S., in September 2012, John writes that “First Death” played at the Co-Kisser Film Festival (http://www.co-kisser.com/) in Minnesota. It has also screened at Visible Verse Film Festival (http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/visible-verse-festival-2012) in Vancouver. It will screen in the ZEBRA Film Festival (http://www.zebra-award.org/) in Berlin and will then tour in Lithuania in Tarpfest, as part of the touring section of the ZEBRA festival. John expects the film will be published in an online literary magazine in January 2013. We’ll certainly let you know when that happens. His three short Bishop films (“First Death in Nova Scotia,” “Sandpiper,” and “One Art”) will play in a film series at the Minnesota Public Library in the spring of 2013. Congratulations to John on his the success with these shorts, which are all in advance of a full-length documentary about Bishop on which he is working. John will also begin to shoot an adaptation of Bishop’s poem “In the Waiting Room” in Nova Scotia in January 2013. Stay tuned!

Check out Magpie Productions: http://www.magpieproductions.com/

Check out the “First Death in Nova Scotia” Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Death-in-Nova-Scotia/408275002545921

33 Years Today

"—the little that we get for free,

the little of our earthly trust. Not much.

About the size of our abidance

along with theirs: the munching cows,

the iris, crisp and shivering, the water

still standing from spring freshets,

the yet-to-be-dismantled elms, the geese."

—Elizabeth Bishop, “Poem”

"Each day with so much ceremony

begins, with birds, with bells,

with whistles from the factories…."

—Elizabeth Bishop, “Anaphora”

Today marks 33 years since Elizabeth Bishop’s death. With so many creative projects happening around the world inspired by and in tribute to Elizabeth Bishop, her legacy is alive and well.

One of the most exciting of these projects is the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording being done in Nova Scotia by Suzie LeBlanc (www.suzieleblanc.com) and her fantastic team of composers and musicians. Music was an abiding love for Bishop, all kinds of music, and to honour her with a CD of glorious settings of her poems (including “Anaphora”), is appropriate indeed. All of the music being recorded was premiered in 2011 during the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Festival in Nova Scotia.

A crowd-source fund-raising campaign is underway to raise money for this independent project. You can find out more, learn about it progress and make a contribution at www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca. Contributions have come from all over the world and we are deeply grateful for this support.

A SPECIAL FUND-RAISER IN AUSTRALIA!

I am thrilled to tell you about a special fund-raising event for the Nova Scotia Bishop CD, which will happen in Australia! Acclaimed Australian composer Dindy Vaughan will be holding a fund-raiser in Melbourne on Sunday, 28 October 2012. It will be a gathering of singers and musicians from Dindy’s wide circle, who will perform in support of this Bishop project.

Dindy Vaughan

Suzie LeBlanc and Blue Engine String Quartet performed one of Vaughan’s “Sea shells on Bruny” during the final EB100 gala concert on 3 October 2011.

In a recent email, explaining her reasons for offering this amazing support, Dindy wrote: “I am passionate to make things such as this [the CD] happen; women have to work extremely hard to be recognised. Many of the friends I have invited have worked with me for years on different aspects of the women’s movement, and we all care deeply that women’s achievements, such as Elizabeth Bishop’s, are not swept under the carpet. So, the prospect has fallen amongst a very committed gang of Australian friends.”

We are profoundly grateful to Dindy and her friends for this interest and support. It demonstrates the global reach of Elizabeth Bishop’s and Suzie LeBlanc’s art. It is thrilling to imagine these distant friends taking up the cause, raising funds through their own songs.

******

More about Dindy Vaughan:

“Dindy Vaughan is a composer, environmentalist, organiser, writer and educator. Her music is frequently performed live and has been broadcast on 3MBS FM and the ABC. Happiest in the thick of artistic, intellectual but above all practical, activity, she thrives in social groups where imagination and creativity combine with plenty of grass roots growth in a hurry.

In 1996 Dindy was awarded the prestigious University of Sydney Alumni Award for Achievement in Community Service. The award was given for her innovation, stimulation of new ideas and services, creativity, dedication and leadership in the areas of arts and education. She was nominated and selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in the World, Millennium 2000 edition, having demonstrated ‘outstanding achievements in (her own) fields of endeavour… thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society’.” This information has been taken from the following website:  http://www.move.com.au/artist/dindy-vaughan

Check out these websites for even more information about Dindy:

http://gallerywithoutwalls.com.au/artist/Dindy_Vaughan.html

 

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/07/30/2319102.htm

EB100 LEGACY PROJECT: VIRTUAL EXHIBITION/PERMANENT BANNER

One of the most delightful aspects of the celebrations of the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary in Great Village in 2011 were the colourful banners that the EBSNS created, which were displayed not only in Great Village, but also along the shore, from Masstown to Five Islands. The banners contained the image of Joy Laking’s painting “Starry Night in Great Village.” The banners were effective in publicizing EB100 and were so admired that the EBSNS sold them as souvenirs and as a fund-raiser for the EB100 Writing Competition book (another EB100 legacy project we’ll tell you about as it develops). Since the locally-made wrought-iron brackets are still in place, the EBSNS Board thought that a visual art contest for young people in the area might be a way to create a permanent banner, one that could be displayed every year during the summer.

 

This idea has turned into “Images of My Village,” a visual art project for young people in Colchester County. The purpose of this project is to celebrate the creativity of the youth in the county; to encourage them to think imaginatively about what home, village, community means to them; to express their feelings and ideas in visual art.

Elizabeth Bishop loved visual art and was herself an amateur painter, who created delightful images of the places where she lived. In the spirit of her love for her childhood home, Great Village, N.S., this visual art project will ask young people to re-imagine their own connections to home and express how their identity is connected to time and place.

The call for submissions is open to all young people in Colchester County from Grade Primary to Grade Twelve. The EBSNS will curate a virtual exhibition of all the submissions, which will be launched in the spring of 2013. The EBSNS will especially encourage youth in the Great Village area to submit. The society will choose an image from submissions that it feels best represents the spirit of Great Village, and create a permanent banner to be displayed in the village each summer.

The guidelines for submission can be found on the EBSNS website: http://www.elizabethbishopns.org/imagesofmyvillage.html

A LIVELY TIME AT WORD ON THE STREET

The annual Word on the Street Festival in Halifax, N.S., 23 September, 2012, was a busy day for the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia. Thousands of people throng the waterfront, attending readings and talking with all the exhibitors. Suzie LeBlanc and Sandra Barry were the keepers of the flame that day, with help from several enthusiastic EBSNS members. We all had a great time chatting with old and new friends. We were delighted to see how many people (local and from away) knew something about Elizabeth Bishop and were eager to talk with us about her. We were able to promote the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy recording, one of our main aims, as well as the other EB100 legacy projects. We even raised a little money for the recording. The purpose of this kind of event is to spread the word, to publicize our activities, and hundreds of people went away from our festive table with a bright shiny red, blue, green or purple pencil with “Home-made, home-made! But aren’t we all?” and the EBSNS website address or this blog's address on them. Purple was the favourite colour!

A reminder about the wonderful perks available when you contribute

to the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording

(check them out on the EB Legacy Recording site)

Thank you to the volunteers who came by to help out, Janet Maybee, Brian Bartlett, Susan Kerslake and John Barnstead. A special thank you to writer Mary Ellen Sullivan and her husband Jim Stewart for help with the early morning set up. A heartfelt thank you to musician Joanne Hatfield who came by in the afternoon as our energies were flagging and treated us to some lovely Brazilian music!! There was a spontaneous jam session with Suzie and John Barnstead joining in, doing harmony. We had the loveliest-sounding exhibit in the whole place! We will be updating about the EB Legacy Recording in the near future (www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca).

 Left to Right: Sandra Barry, Suzie LeBlanc, John Barnstead, Joanne Hatfield,

at WOTS! Photo by Susan Kerslake

Elizabeth Bishop at Word on the Street in Halifax

On Sunday, 23 September 2012, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia will be at Word on the Street (http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/halifax), a huge, fabulous, lively book fair on the waterfront in downtown Halifax – near the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We are there to spread word about and accept contributions for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording. Suzie LeBlanc will be joining us!! We’ll also have information about the other EB100 legacy projects and about the EBSNS itself.

 

The EBSNS will be located in the Word on the Street Marketplace – table # 5 in “the village.”

Word on the Street (http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/halifax) goes from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

If you are  at WOTS, stop by and say Hello, meet Suzie and me, and learn more about the EB Legacy Recording project (http://www.eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca). See you there!

Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording – Check out the new perks!!

A bevy of exciting new perks has been added to the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording crowd-source fund-raising campaign. Check them out at: http://eb100legacyrecording.blogspot.ca/p/thank-you-gifts.html

Some of these new perks include:

A movie or a skate on the Halifax Commons with Suzie LeBlanc and friends.

A getaway to Windhorse Farm
 (http://www.windhorsefarm.org/) in New Germany, N.S.

A private film screening for an upcoming documentary about Suzie LeBlanc’s retracing of Elizabeth Bishop’s 1932 walking tour of Newfoundland, produced by film-maker Linda Rae Dornan.

A tea party at the Elizabeth Bishop House and a guided walking tour of Great Village with Sandra Barry.

An evening of conversation with our own webmaster and Russian scholar John Barnstead where you will feast on a home-made dinner with a Russian theme.

Do check out these and all the other perks being offered to thank you for your contribution in support of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording.

[Ed. Note: We are having a bit of a technical problem with the paypal link for the new perks -- but there is a donation link a the top of the perks page and also on the main page of the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording site. We are working to correct the glitch, so your patience is greatly appreciated, but if you want to donate, just go to the main page and use the link there. Thanks so much.]

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The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia and Suzie LeBlanc will be at Word on the Street (http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/halifax) this year taking place on 23 September 2012, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Halifax Waterfront, at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We’ll be talking about the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording, about other EB100 legacy projects, about the EBSNS and about Elizabeth Bishop herself. Come and hear some poetry. We will be accepting donations for the Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Recording.