Meeting and beginning

Yesterday evening on Croatia St. at the Royal Conservatory of Music the ecological artmaking project was set in motion -- and it truly was moving: to meet the participants thus far, to hear what each had to say by way of introducing themselves, to discover from the artists involved how it might all come together, and concluding with an eight-part drumfest.

This promises to be an intensely involving and enriching and -- to use a good old-fashioned concept -- fun experience that will not only connect us in our collaborative work with each other but to the elements of nature that we feel connected with.

For this to happen in a sense "out of the blue" for the first time in the largest urban environment in Canada is in itself significant.

There's a lot more I want to record, based on all the notes I scribbled down while it was all happening, but that might have to wait until the weekend when I'll have more time. Meanwhile, in my morning meanderings on the internet, I received my newsletter from Coach House Press in Toronto, and it's always full of worthwhile book news. This time, however, Coach House included a "valentine" for readers in the form of a video excerpt from the film, American Beauty (which I have yet to see even on DVD), called "so much beauty in the world". At only 2:38 long, it is simply lovely to watch a plastic bag dancing in the wind with dry leaves. After yesterday evening, and seeing what resulted from the initial spark to draw and write on huge sheets of cloth how we each in that brief time responded to the four elements* -- earth, air, water, fire -- that we'll be working with over the remaining nine weeks, I wanted to add the link to this snippet of video for others to watch. It seems to me that there was a sense last night in what everybody said, and drew and wrote, of deep caring for all the beauty in the world that needs honouring and protecting, no matter how slight and simple it might be: plastic bag, frogspawn, weeds pushing their way through concrete, and so very much more.

*the fifth "element" we were reminded we would be exploring, would be the human element: ourselves, and our involvement with all the others. But in this case "the fifth element" does NOT refer to the film of that name, even though it is one I've greatly enjoyed.