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Festival For Imbolc: Jessie Currie

Festival For Imbolc: Jessie Currie

by | Oct 27, 2023

events
Festival For Imbolc: Jessie Currie

The Grand Unveiling of her film will happen on Saturday 6th February at 6:00PM

Welcome to a Special Screening of Jessie Currie’s film: Introverse

Who is Jessie Currie?

Jessie Currie is a Bristol based filmmaker who will be showcasing her film Introverse for our Festival for Imbolc. The film was funded by the BFI and she is currently working on a bigger project also BFI funded. All her films are navigated by her ND lens.

Imbolc is a festival of light, of the lengthening days. We celebrate the end of the winter, stretch out of hibernation and seek to make connections with the world outside our doors. Here Jessie explores both that search for growth and connection outside of our bodies but also the divine curiosity and connection to things that the ND experience so often brings with it but is so difficult to articulate.

Looking inwards and reaching out at the same time. In all its sensory nuance and with an inherently nurturing voice the film is an offering in itself. To the quest for growth and also to the family she so clearly adores.

‘Introverse‘ is One of eight films made on the Different Voices 2 Project. A neurodiverse* (as described by the production company) film talent development programme. The project is a biggerhouse film production for 104 films supported by Creative Skillset’s Film Skills Fund, with BFI’s Film Forever National Lottery fund in association with the Arnolfini.

Quotes from Currie’s film:

“Sometimes the peopled world at large can be a harsh place. And other people’s normal, the opposite of safe. It means declining parties because the noise invades your ears and you can’t guarantee that moment of connection”

“Are you OK? Would you like to come out into a warm car and take some pictures of the sunset?”

My Opening

My Opening

by | Oct 11, 2023

online exhibitions
my opening

In workshops Neurodivergent women artists attend to their art practice and are attuned to the collective unconscious.

The title of this exhibition comes from the Making Space for Art workshop. We invite other Neurodivergent artists to exhibit with us through the Call Out process.

Please note, not all artwork will have titles, they are either made in workshops or many Neurodivergents will often not name their artwork. If you spot an artwork you like please email us the name of the artist and describe the art-piece if you’re interested in purchasing it or would like to know more about the artist.

Many of our ND artists might have access needs and so it is important you contact us instead of reaching out directly to them. We thank you for your understanding.

This is best viewed on a laptop.

“When we are open
this can be dangerous
because
Neurodivergent artists so often
don’t have a filter.”

Becky Atherton – Ascend

“Open
we expand
our wings
ready for flight
we soar
over lands and seas
we are filled with oceans
we carry the world in our eyes. ”

“We are impulsive
And speak from the heart
We hold wisdom
In the palm of our hand.”

Emma Reavey

Judith Rowlands

“And often people, passer bys don’t know
what to do with this wisdom
this abundance of seeing
feeling thinking seeking
the all-seeing”

“they call us intense, they run off scared
it’s hard to see the fear in their eyes
hear the anger off their lips
and know what to say or do – ”

Sarah Gray

“so perhaps we mask
or make up
hide
behind veils
stories
store ourselves in glass boxes
unsure what to reveal
unsure what to say, we lose passion sometimes
for our art-creating feels hard…”

Philippa Bandurek Bradbury – My Stimmy Feet with tan lines (Acrylic paint on 240gsm canvas textured sheet, approx 27x36cm.

“Because to be open is to be
a Magical Women artist
one who glimmers
who is the seeker of light
who is filled always with it
but requires more
even when it is becoming too
difficult to contain it.”

Anna Dyson

“Yet, if we pay attention to the meaning
in the Neurodivergent’s art
and heart
you’ll truly look into the abyss
the void
and hear it speaking back
through song
light
colour”

Becky Atherton – Escape

“through colour
splashes
and stims
and movement
flight
sight
the moon
the light
the sky at night.”

“And our eyes will open again,
our lashes
curling and the
shimmering
light
light on skin
our second skin;
on scales
on feathers
an alien being
a different tongue
we open ourselves
up to be
just
who we are:”

Wendy Young

Judith Rowlands

“For we might
be at the seashore
gathering stardust
in our pockets
looking at the gaping hole
of caves
and being;
in the act of
breathing
in sea salt air

We might be, daring to exist ”

“and listening and longing
and feeling out for our home
our shell
reciting all of our stories
from our youth.”

Philippa Bandurek Bradbury – Sheldon in Red (Fineliner pen on approx 15x15cm white paper)

Frances Ann Norton – Sleeping Girl Angels over Asgaardstrand

“Awakening up to our childhood
dreams
no longer fastened to a life
that scars us
but one that brightens all the corners of our
rooms ”

Elinor Rowlands – Opening from the core

“We feel the magic
We bask in it
Golden rays of sunshine
starlight
warming to our song again
we create, we paint, we make

It flows free from us like shooting stars,
rain, waterfalls, gushing,

pouring out of ourselves”

“A grand revealing
A gentle unfurling
An opening”

Anna Dyson – My Opening

Elinor Rowlands – All the words all the worlds passing me by

“And once cracked
you’ll see
the abundance within
here, within us.”

Emma Reavey

Stacey Hemes

Stacey Hemes

“It is shimmering out
an artistic expression

A calling for more light.”

Wendy Young – My Opening

Nicola Willis

In our workshops

we discovered to be open is not as scary

as the world’s systems and structures

make us feel being open is to be.

Being open means being

self-aware

and being powerful

there is a power in being together

together with senses

together with art materials

and creations and creating

and attending to

being open with curiosity

and being open to feel

and the heightened feelings we do feel

can sometimes feel like punishment

like a “why me?”

as it stops us from accessing

spaces

systems

structures

and sometimes even life..

but who is to say that that life is the light

we seek?

the light that we keep,

and feel and breathe in daily

and when in communion

making, creating, glowing brighter,

this seeking need not …. – (breathe)

our seeking

need not stop there.

For, the seeking is in the listening and tuning in

to

the power of our openness.

Tuning into this higher power

we feel together in workshops.

Thank you, for sharing it with us.

Curated by Elinor Rowlands for Magical Women

Words by Elinor Rowlands

Art by

Becky Atherton

Emma Reavey

Judith Rowlands

Sarah Bailey

Philippa Bandurek Bradbury

Frances Ann Norton

Stacey Hemes

Nicola Willis

Anna Dyson

Wendy Young

Elinor Rowlands

Thank you for attending our online Exhibition, My Opening, 2020

Our ally Richard Downes writes a poem in response to My Opening for World Disability Day

Magic; My Opening

It was a terrible thing not to be able to speak. A terrible thing to have my heArt go unheard. I found myself in a world that showed it didn’t want me. Turned away I turned away. I closed down to look at last for other openings. Many openings led to close downs. Close downs led to openings. The best to hope for to stay open a little longer each time. 

My Opening

My opening, my first sentence
The words came out furious
Jumbled, forceful, erratic

Spoken to no sympathy
Except in forms not wanted
From bullies and oppressors

My opening, my first sentence
Began my rightful struggle
To articulate my love

My love dispersed unwanted
Cast like seed to rocky ground
I am become the hunch back

My opening, my first sentence
A fight to be heard without
Doubtful silence lurks within

Hatred will not hear my love
My light turns now to darkness
My opening, my first close down

3rd December 2020
The International Day of Disabled People

Artists

Blair Iris

Gemma Abbott

Liz Coolen

Aimee Grant

Judith Rowlands

Wendy Young

Emma Reavey

Anna Dyson

Jacki Cairns

Elinor Rowlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invited Poets

Gemma Abbott

Michelle Baharier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invited In Solidarity Poets

Richard Downes

Zen Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Extrication / My Release

My Extrication / My Release

by | Oct 11, 2023

online exhibitions
my extrication / my release

A Community Exhibition brought to you by Magical Women artists & Magical Women community artists from our Facebook Group.

This exhibition is best viewed on a tablet or laptop. This exhibition can also be experienced as a podcast/audio description where the Curator talks you through the exhibition. Please be aware this is a Live Art recording.

What do we mean by Extrication and Release?

PART 1

Sometimes a release is changing a habit

Or breaking one.

Yet, it can be more abstract than that

Like, that time you thought

Cave of Wonders By Blair Iris

Your Art post grad course was

awfully odd

because there was no sketchbook requirement.

You never saw your peers keeping one

and you were too shy to ask your tutors;

in case it was a stupid question.

You reasoned that, the tutors would have told you

and reminded you

if it was essential.

So perhaps,

they only need to see the art you make in the studio?

So,

you spend all your time in the studio

Making art.

And suddenly

it becomes more obsessively accessible

for your art practice –

To stare into the abyss with others

instead of keeping it closed in a sketchbook.

Am I lost or found? by Blair Iris

ou spend your days to nights

in the studio making art

as if you’re living in a sketchbook.

Then it’s June and with 2 weeks approaching soon

the end of your course

Pink Geode by Blair Iris

Your tutor mentions you have to hand in your sketchbook tomorrow.

Uh Oh.

You feel more relieved that the course

had a sketchbook requirement after all…..

Phew that’s good…. (for the course) (not so much for you).

Because this now means an affected mark.

The tutors care less

about what was made in the art studio

and care more about those who keep

sketchbooks.

So you are curious as to how being in the studio

is not as important to them

as the sketchbook is

You wonder why.

And then it dawns on you;

Little Wonders by Blair Iris

You realise something intrinsically wonderful

about the artist studio….

(even though, let’s face it, it terrified you to go.)

This space of making with others around you

attending to their own art practice as you attend to yours

added and adds richness to your own art-making process and practice.

Their presence affects the way you make and

you feel strong.

But something keeps getting in the way…. your Neurodivergent behaviours and traits.

Toilet Girl / Released by Jasmine Crellin (Made in the Making Space for Art Workshop)

Research and sketchbooks are

independent and solo adventures

They are the showing of what’s inside,

what’s on your mind;

but what if books are too limited and too limiting

in their papered prisms? (prisons)

What if the space in a sketchbook is too limiting

for those of us

who need space to stretch and share,

spill and dare

To look back in the face of what was made

instead of turning a page?

Art is powerful like that – it can ignite minds, reduce sore eyes,

Lick wounds,

Help us face what we need to

Straight in the face

And it’s easier to do that

When sharing relaxed space with other Magical Women

It is containing to talk about our art

Whilst it might still be drying, as the paper or texture holds onto

Our rendered emotions and subconscious thoughts

that surface through layered material

and mixed media.

Now in communion alongside other Magical Women

We may, simply by looking at each other’s art

Witness our own release.

How Do We Commune with the Wind? by Gemma Abbott

How do we commune with the wind? by Gemma Abbott

Where did this theme come from? Where do all the themes from all the exhibitions come from?

They come from the artist studio

The communion of Magical Women making art together

The themes surface in the sharing.

We welcome you as we graciously shared and share our art with each other,

in every Magical Women workshop.

We welcome you to this exhibition as we share our art with you.

PART 2

Please Press here for Part 2 of the Exhibition – Podcast of the Curator talking through the art exhibition.

After you have pressed it, it is best experienced scrolling down and looking at the art work and writing as you listen.

Rose by Liz Coolen (Made in the Making Space for Art Workshop)

Because making art is showing, not telling.

Making art is spilling and spewing, throwing up on surfaces, marking paper, destroying, covering, dispelling,

it doesn’t always have to be beautiful.

Art can be ugly

Art can be shit

Art can be on the walls of the big glass banks or museums and can be absolute poo

But art exists to be seen

exists to be heard and listened to.

exists to be believed in and trusted and recognised.

It can be laughed at,

screeched at, screamed at, it can be ignored, it can be applauded.

It is an agreement

made between you the artist, and the materials.

It is a mark of respect, an “I see you.”

I recognise you

Perhaps a “My story is different but I believe you, I believe what you are telling me,

what you are showing me, I recognise it is important for you. I trust you.”

I might even be able to smell or taste you

or interact with you if it’s that kind of art.

I believe you

I trust you

I look at what’s been released

I look at what is being released.

We witness what we might not be able to cope with day to day

It is a promise to yourself:

I see all that has served me before and now doesn’t.

Or maybe, too much of this, and now I have to expel.

Look at the shit

The sick

The vomit

The yell.

The spewed out guts on a fisherman’s floor…. or your tiled bathroom floor if that’s what happened.

Stare at it as it stares back at you.

What does it sound like?

What does it smell like to you?

The smells are so strong when we use art materials in the same way the smell is so strong when we smell excretion from the body of whatever kind and think again of material.

Material that often comes out of us is often in a very similar texture as the materials that we use as artists.

Eve Screaming by Aimee Grant (Made in the Making Space for Art Workshops)

We believe it’s gone when we have flushed it down the loo.

Or

thrown it in the bin

Or

washed it away down the drain.

Or

screamed it from the top of our voice and bellowed it into the trees.

Bellowing at the Trees, Photograph (Live Art) by Anna Dyson

It’s not about lessons.

It’s about connection and art and driving connection.

We make art so we can make deeper connections

so that we can create more vibrantly

It’s not about feeling safe or being safe

because that’s not always possible

It’s about engaging with your art practice

It’s about being an artist, about creating together.

A gracious sharing.

It’s about honouring yourself and each other in the space

to make art

to focus on what we are making

then gathering back to look at what we’ve made clear on the paper.

“Ceramics make me feel more alive.
Making art with all of you,
I so enjoy it, you have become part of my process.
Thank you.”

— WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT ON MAKING SPACE FOR ART WORKSHOP

Still Life by Judith Rowlands (Made in the Making Space for Art Workshops)

“They look like Jewels falling from the sky.”

— WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT IN RESPONSE TO ARTWORK BELOW

Fistral Bay, Newquay by Aimee Grant (Made in the Making Space for Art Workshop)

“I really enjoyed the session I did with you.
Like really really enjoyed it. ”

— WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT

You see

My Extrication is about

freeing or releasing

yourself from entanglement;

Disengaging yourself from

what doesn’t serve you for now:

To extricate yourself from a dangerous situation.

And you might not even understand it yet,

You might not know what serves you best

Until you look at your art staring straight back at you

And recognise that you had the wisdom all along.

Made in the Making Space for Art Workshop by Elinor Rowlands

My Favourite Place by Jacki Cairns

You are both Creator and creation,

You are writing the story.

It’s seeing psyche in all its glory

With a gentle unfurling

You will be knowing what you need

as it reveals itself to you in your artwork

notice how belonging becomes easier

PART 3

Click on Part 3 of the Exhibition to hear the remaining of the Curator talk you through the exhibition to the end.

There is a silhouette of a woman, nude with her legs walking and her arms up in the air and what appears is her head tilted up to the sky, and on the other side are plants growing, flora and Fauna .

Drawing by Wendy Young (A Magical Women ND Writers Workshop Participant)

You are gathering to make art

to share your art with others.

Here, at Magical Women we are artists who want to make art.

We gather in a relaxed space to make art together –

You make your own art whilst I make mine.

Releasing knots by Elinor Rowlands (Started in the Magical Journeys Workshop and finished in the Making Space for Art Workshop)

The power and transformations

are because of participants and contributors and artists

and audiences (thank you for attending our online exhibition.)

This is only a small selection of our artists

who come together to create art.

And in so doing so they may collectively release and expel

what might be

Raw and hard to ignore,

Translated in colour and symbols galore-

And now as we share and meet each other with care

We hear what others

See in our art

Their words are transformed into tools for us to use

towards our own practice long after the workshop has finished.

We see the symbols surface – Zoom has actually been quite refreshing

For what we want to do

The surfacing symbols and relics, figures and emblems,

Remind us most about what makes us feel

alive.

Being walked by the Black Dog by Aimee Grant (Made in Making Space for Art workshop)

Schizo Dissident 1995

Ward round – doctor’s round the bend

I extract myself from the u-bend where I’ve been hiding

‘When you do eventually speak you’re kind of florid

but not agitated or manic

low mood but a little bit euphoric

even euthymic

in a weirdly quiet and passive way

a modulated tone while still remote

Night nurses say you’re not sleeping

but day nurses can’t wake you up

We can’t work out your sexuality

And you’re writing…

We’ve no idea

Another week in the psychiatric slammer!’

My only salvation is in pen and paper

and Robert Dellar

the commie advocate who works for MIND

a good friend of mine 

and ever loonies’ supporter

‘Got you on a renewed Section 2 Deb,

highly dodgy, no grounds for a Section 3

the doctor’s looking guilty

says your Patient’s Council is a sign of mental illness Deb

that I recruited you for

Says here “GP referral” – change him – 

Basically a total stitch-up’

I am a bit high it’s true

but I’m used to managing that

you’d never notice cos I’m still and quiet

and I can sleep

self-caring fine as usual

and turning up to work

getting no complaints

but my reality does not ever equate with psychiatry

however therefore ergo I am sectionable at any time

for supporting the hammer and the sickle

for thinking aloud in poetry

Robert Dellar the champion of all us heroes

immediately writes a legal letter

Gets our solicitor friend Rod Campbell-Taylor on the case

Clever cocktail sticks and dexterous screwdrivers

to unpick these skillful fetters

There’s cold sweat on my face

The next ward round I get released!

After 3 weeks

Back to my day job at Survivors’ Poetry 

breathing slightly more freely

Congrats in the cafe at lunch

Do I disturb you Mr Psychiatrist?

Sorry but that’s just Me!

Maybe you could try and draw a picture of whatever it is you see?

Present it to the faculty?

Cos it’s a mystery to everyone else

and you certainly ain’t here to make friends

Maybe you’re on commission?

I’m glad I’m paying for your next vacation

I’ll send you a postcard!

Byee!

By Debbie McNamara

I hope that during this difficult and uneasy time that we as artists can bring you out of that unease,

and those of you abroad and with your Lockdown

already lifted and many of you who have been tested, that you are safe and well.

Wishing you love and light in your moonlit and starry and sunshine skies!

Thank you for visiting and please share widely,

Magical Women

Words and Curation by Elinor Rowlands, Founder of Magical Women

Thank you to all our wonderful artists for making Magical Women what it is and is becoming.

This piece was made in a Magical Journeys workshop by Emma Reavey

Artists

Blair Iris

Gemma Abbott

Liz Coolen

Aimee Grant

Judith Rowlands

Wendy Young

Emma Reavey

Anna Dyson

Jacki Cairns

Elinor Rowlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invited Poets

Gemma Abbott

Michelle Baharier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invited In Solidarity Poets

Richard Downes

Zen Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Wisdom

My Wisdom

by | Oct 11, 2023

online exhibitions
My Wisdom

A Community Exhibition brought to you by Magical Women artists & Magical Women community artists from our Facebook Group.

Welcome to our 2nd online exhibition featuring the work of some of our artists made in Magical Women’s online art-making workshops. Other artists also contributed their artwork to our theme, My Wisdom. Please do share this event with friends, family and people who might love a wander through our online art exhibition. This exhibition has been curated by an autistic/ADHD neurodivergent and Disabled female artist.

Donations are welcome at the end of the exhibition to go towards our work of platforming the art and words of artists who lack the access to make, share and talk about their art with new and wider audiences.

This exhibition is best viewed on a computer or laptop.

Access Needs:

This Audio Description is Part 1 of the Exhibition and runs from the beginning of the exhibition to Wisdom Interpreted.

For Part 2 move down to Wisdom Interpreted – painting (19) “Listening Within”

Press the pink play button (button is far left of the Soundcloud frame.)

gallery

(1) The Wise Woman (of the forest), photograph by Elinor Rowlands, Wise Woman is Tiina Kaila (2018)

My Wisdom, Mediums: skull, yellow acrylic paint, micron pens, hot glue, and imitation jewels by Shauna K. Kappers, 2020

The skull was a found item from another artist. I cleaned it myself, and this ritual was meant to pay respect, if you like, to death as a concept. I have always been brought up to respect the dead. As I painted her, I felt as if I were making a new covering, a new skin, and holding her memory in my hands. This, I translated by delicately stippling fauna and mandala based imagery to reflect other rituals and customs of ancient peoples and how they mark rich symbolism on their skin and in nature. In turn, making this gave me an opportunity to preserve the intimate and personal history of something forgotten, and soon this creature was given a new life. I added the webbing of glue to her eye sockets, thinking of spiders, and how their web serves both purpose for survival and for attracting life. The jewels inside her eyes reflect the light, sparkling rainbows to give a brighter outlook and new sight. – Skull Artist

(3) Painting by Elinor Rowlands

(4) Golden Field by Julia Harris

(5) Photography by Willemien Barnard

(6) Forget the view, look at the sunset, 19th April, 2020 – Elinor Rowlands

(7) Mediums: Acrylic and Tempera Paints, painting by Elizabeth Coolen

(8) Wisdom by Tiina Kaila

(9) “Holding Space”, (Mixed media and collage on paper) by Michelle Rodrigues, 2020

Made during a Magical Women “Making Space” workshop

(10) Intuitive Painting by Anna Dyson

(11) Photography by Willemien Barnard

Wisdom is a silence. A pause. A quiet nod to the wonder.

(12) Photography by Willemien Barnard

Wisdom is a grounding. Feet on the ground.

(13) Photography by Colly Metcalfe, 2020

Wisdom is to wander. To wander in.

(14) Photography by Colly Metcalfe

(15) Lockdown by Willemien Barnard

Wisdom is to be still A holding.

Part 2 from “Wisdom Interpreted” (or the painting/poem before this (18) towards the ending painting (30.)

(17) Made during a Magical Journey Workshop, drawn by Emma Reavey

Wisdom is a pause. A silence. Wisdom is a witness. Wisdom is a figure Wisdom is a figure who watches. Wisdom watches.

(18) My Wisdom, Acrylic on paper – Judith Rowlands

(19) “Listening Within” (Mixed media on paper) by Michelle Rodrigues, 2020

(20) Intuitive Painting by Anna Dyson

(21) Unraveling of Yourself, Watercolour by Emily Baines

(22) Coloured Drawing by Emma Reavey, made during a Magical Journeys Magical Women workshop, 2020

(23) Coloured pencils on black paper by Shauna K. Kappers, made during a Magical Women “Magical Journeys” workshop, 2020

(24) Pencil on paper, drawn during a Magical Women “Making Space” Workshop, by Jasmine Crellin

(25) The Unraveling Once Not Seen, Watercolour on paper by Emily Baines

(26) Coloured pencils on black paper, drawn by Shauna K. Kappers, 2020 (Made during a “Magical Journeys” workshop).

(27) Butterfly photography by Willemien Barnard

(29) In a Finnish Forest They Are Dancing With Me, (The Trees; My Ancestors), Photograph by Elinor Rowlands

(19) “Listening Within” (Mixed media on paper) by Michelle Rodrigues, 2020

“Recently my sister recollected a past dream in which she had been given a blue shell to place inside her ear to enable her to hear the wisdom of the Divine in the midst of unknowing.

I was very moved by the her powerful dream imagery. So much so, that a shell emerged quite fluidly and unexpectedly while I was making this image.

I love the symbolism of the blue shell in the dream — an assurance that we have the capacity already within us to connect with our higher power for guiding assurance in times of despair, pain, grief and suffering. The recollection of this dream seems timely in the global uncertainty we’re all facing currently.”

— MICHELLE RODRIGUES, 2020

poetry

Wisdom is yellow.

Yellow is wisdom.

The colour yellow represents:

wisdom

mental force, curiosity, insight

Yellow is

intuition and sensitivity.

Magical Women are highly sensitive

Highly intuitive

Highly Curious

With a High Mental Force

Magical Women are wise.

People who have yellow in their auras are most likely the ones who can light up a room but not necessarily;

they are the thinkers;
the ones who never stop thinking.

(They are the quiet ones.)
And the ones who burst out trickles, splatters, sunshines of energy, thoughts, words, dribbles, ideas.

Wise are the ones who don’t sit back and observe.
(Those are mistaken for being wise – but no, those who sit back and observe are ego.)

Wise is different;

Wise are instead shushed, they are so often told to “calm down”.

Yellow is the colour male filmmakers use in horror films to depict women gone mad.
the yellow wallpaper.

Yellow is the colour of the centre of the flower, the flowering bloom; the opening bud,
the women overthinking
the women dreaming.

When someone begins to be in tune with their higher consciousness, in tune with their art materials, gathering together brightening up the corners of their spaces;
then this is when Magical Women encourages your highest self; burning bright yellow;

art is made, you are centred. You burn bright.

It will often be one of the strongest colours in your aura field; a sign of warmth; a warming attitude.

Like the energy of a bright sunny day, yellow brings clarity and awareness.

Some people never feel the reach of sunshine in them, thinking too much of greed, succumbing to a life sparse of starlight;

Wisdom has nothing to do with privilege,

Wisdom is not intelligence or who is highest up in life,

it goes beyond the human field,
into somewhere else, beyond, above, floating high, a brimming warmth, a love, a care, a smile, a knowing, from learning, from connecting, from realising

wisdom is realisation.

— MY WISDOM, MAGICAL WOMEN

Golden Field

Universe. Energy. Life. Golden Field.

Flow of Energy
Flow of Information

Field of Love

The only thing existing and traveling is Love
and all its relationships.

Form is a structure Love takes

in a moment of relationship.

Everything is Love.

Anything I cannot see as Love, I know I do not understand.

Words by Julia Harris

“It was a beautiful experience to see the collective wisdom that came through all of the work during that session… and connected us together even through we were working remotely and independently. ”

— MICHELLE RODRIGUES

Wisdom Giveth Life.
The unhappiest point in my life was undoubtedly my teens and that unhappiness was rooted in my experiences at a highly competitive grammar school. The mental and physical health problems that developed during this period have affected the rest of my adult life and this video represents, through physicality, the enormous sense of unvoiced pressure and anxiety I felt during this period. Our school motto was “Wisdom Giveth Life”.

– Rebecca Buckle, Video.

(16) Wisdom Giveth Life, video and performance by Rebecca Buckle

I
The Wise Woman knows that wrinkles mark her age.
She is no stranger to the servitude of time.
She has lived and loved,
closed her eyes
and opened them
a long way from her prime.

But like the rings of a tree these lines record the years
And like the words she utters so quietly ,
They have many meanings.

They tell her story.
They tell of a life that has been lived, loved and heard.

But she knows that her Wisdom is not old, nor is it worn and weary.
Like trees reborn each year,
Her wisdom sees the world
over and over again
With new eyes freely.

II
It is not that those who grow old are wise
For those born foolish grow old foolish too.
They do not change with age. 
Wisdom is not acquired. 
It can be practised and improved on.
But the wise child is born and
Blossoms into a wise being.

Audio Description that brings the paintings alive to meet your access needs of experiencing the artwork. (If we get some more funding we hope to be able to pay an ENT to transcribe these audio descriptions to provide text scripts/transcripts.)

(28) Photograph and words by Kate Taylor-Marshall

_______

The most beautiful girl in the world.
I love capturing these images before my daughter wakes up.
When she woke I asked her what she had been dreaming about?

My Little Ponies.
Lovely.”

— THE ARTIST ABOUT HER SLEEPING DAUGHTER

In her awakened state she is wild and free.
A tenacious ball of energy.
Ready to pounce on her next discovery, create worlds within worlds, dance, run, laugh, hug, sing, scream out in pure relief from the sparks alive within her.
But for now, she is still.
But for now, she is dreaming.

In Solidarity Artists

Every exhibition we platform In Solidarity survivor and neurodivergent artists to contribute their art and words towards our theme. We thank them for their particularly poignant contributions to end our exhibition.

“My wisdom was best used in advocacy. Deny knowing anything. Commit to trying. Commit to asking questions, commit to achieving the best that is possible. Yet as an artist I trust what I know and remain open to my flow. Only editing when the chance arises and I’ve edited this thrice”

— RICHARD DOWNES

My wisdom

My wisdom
in forgetting what I know
so other things might grow
go blank
on sheets of paper
tabla rasa
remain open
open to learning
again
those things I knew

from new angles
with new voices
new opinions
underpinning
new directions
waking up
each day
refreshed
to start again
return to 12 bars
E, A, B7
strong habits
practice
protract
process
practice
to sleep
to forget
to start again
my wisdom
it is true
forgets all
the wisdom knew
as I trawl on
as I do
the same old way
day after day

Words by Richard Downes.

(30) The Watchers (2020) by Colin Hambrook (Oil painting)

The Watchers

This stage is one of the first large oil paintings I’ve done in a few years. It’s inspired by Kingley Vale – one of Europe’s most impressive yew forests with an area where the trees are 2,000 years old. This ancient grove is called The Watchers for obvious reasons. It is imbued with an atmosphere unlike anywhere else – a place where nature spirits abide. The way the trees have grown resembles a mangrove as the boughs and branches form random undefined networks. The boles of these giants have a girth of up to 32 feet. Typically the shades of colour in the trunks range from vivid reds to deep viridian greens. It’s a place where people come to give thanks to nature, creating small shrines in amongst the nooks and crannies using material gathered from the forest floor. So, as you can see there’s still a lot to capture before this painting is finished.

– Colin Hambrook

Brought to you by Magical Women Neurodivergent Women Artists

Religious Women & Goddesses

Religious Women & Goddesses

by | Aug 14, 2023

online exhibitions
Religious Women & Goddesses

A Community Exhibition brought to you by Magical Women artists & Magical Women community artists from our Facebook Group.

Before you enter…
You might notice something
tricksy
The art might be messier
Photos at odd angles
That sort of thing.

Community Art is about
embracing the doodles
the ideas
sketches
all sorts!
It’s a messy mind that creates
art!
Welcome in!

gallery

Roseanna Chew

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Teal Fraser “Spirit With Her Familiar”

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Judith Rowlands

Becky Atherton

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Wendy Young

Wendy Young

Wendy Young

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Elinor Rowlands

Caroline Cardus

Becky Atherton

Selene

Lois Acari

Wendy Young

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Becky Atherton

A Force of Nature

Gemma Abbott

Becky Atherton

Maddie Millett

Felt tip on Paper

Maddie Millet

Felt tips on paper

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Lois Acari

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Maddie Millett

Felt tip on paper

Maddie Millett

Felt tip on paper

Becky Atherton

Look at My Beautiful Self

Caroline Elizabeth Howells

Ink and pen on paper.

Elinor Rowlands

poetry

“Originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition is Samhain, a pagan religious festival.

In modern times, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “sow-win”) is usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to welcome in the harvest and guide in “the dark half of the year.”

Samhain marks the time when the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down, allowing more interaction between humans and denizens of the Otherworld.”

“Samhain was marked by ancient Celts as being the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals. It took place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice.

This time of year saw hearth fires in family homes left to burn out while the harvest was gathered.”

“After the harvest work was complete, celebrants joined with Druid priests to light a community fire using a wheel causing friction that would spark flames.

The wheel represented the sun and was used along with prayers and sacrificed cattle for participants to take a flame from the communal bonfire back to their home to relight the hearth.

Early texts indicate that Samhain was a mandatory celebration lasting three days and three nights (although it says six in other places!) where the community was required to show themselves to local kings or chieftains. If they failed to participate then this resulted in punishment from the gods, usually illness or death.”

“It was believed by the Celts that the barrier between worlds was breachable during Samhain, so offerings were left outside villages and fields for faeries, or Sidhs.

Ancestors might cross over during this time as well, and Celts would dress as animals and monsters to prevent faeries from being tempted to kidnap them.

Specific monsters associated with the mythology surrounding Samhain included:

– A shape-shifting creature called a Pukah that receives harvest offerings from the field.

– The Lady Gwyn, a headless woman dressed in white who chases night wanderers and was accompanied by a black pig.

– The Dullahan sometimes appeared as impish creatures. They were also sometimes headless men on horses who carried their heads. Riding flame-eyed horses, their appearance was a death omen to anyone who encountered them.

– Finally, a group of hunters known as the Faery Host also haunted Samhain to kidnap people.

– Similar are the Sluagh, who would come from the west to enter houses and steal souls.”

“The Middle Ages saw fire festivals being celebrated much more. Bonfires known as Samghnagans were more personal Samhain fires nearer farms and became a tradition, purportedly to protect families from faeries and witches.

Carved turnips attached to strings on sticks called Jack-o-lanterns began to appear, embedded with coal. Later Irish tradition switched to pumpkins.

In Wales, men tossed burning wood at each other in violent games and set off fireworks. In Northern England, men paraded with noisemakers.”

But what of the Magical Women, those right now those who stand staring at us, through us, who are all around us, dancing, inviting us to dance with them.

Won’t you dance?

Won’t you dance with our Ghostly Women?

I am a Queen
Magnificent being
I am an Empress
Goddess supreme
I am worshipped
I am adored
I taste the blood on my avenger’s sword
I am moon flight – I am solar
The blackest hole – the brightest star
the sparkle – feather of the Nightjar
Small beak – big mouth – gape into the dark
Feeding on small pleasures – beat my (he)art
the glisten – the vision – the listening ear
the spine of the temple of the book
the words you spell and weave – supply the succour – hold you up
caught in a web – a thorny bush – delving – look
a spell in my finger makes me bleed – a tiny scrape of wood
could kill me – yet battle storms – o’ercome threats – to protect my loves
Spelt – I grow – to feed your bellies – swell your ego – delve at your leisure – caress my flesh
My body is yours at MY behest
Now the tide’s turned – equal measures
no more 47s to say no to pressure
flashes of magic on 220 buses rake my ashes
walking gravelly paths through graveyards absorbing the bones
breathing in praise of the Magical wise ones
Awesome enchantress – behold my bladed tongue
sovereign gold autumn chanter – yours for the taking but
take care to smear – to wear out my trust – ashes to ashes – you are dust

Mantra

I am a Queen
A magnificent being
I am an Empress
A Goddess supreme
I am worshipped
I am adored
I am the blood on my avenger’s sword
I am a moon flight
I am a star
I am the sparkle
In the wing of the Nightjar

— AWESOME ENCHANTRESS BY WENDY YOUNG

“Did you come as wildness?
As barely there, barely existing, stuck between worlds
In limbo?
Did you come as trying her hardest?
Or as the enchantress who beckons.
Did you come as the dancers in flight as a trio?

Or
Did you turn to fire?
A flame
A silhouette
A once was and never more?
A who are you and who am I?
A wondering?
A stream of thoughts and wilding.

Did you come as
A forever and ever more
A forever and never burns out
A memory existing in the walls
haunting the entire dance? ”

Here she is naked
As naked as a flame
Her nipples
Ripe
And her curves
a delight but what of those in costume
and masked?
What of those who reveal the second skin,
the new layer of the archetype
of their soul?

There is a transformation happening
during Samhain and it occurs
when we choose our Halloween Costume
because our Halloween costume
evokes deep inside which is more permanent,
that which is archetypal,
which is more eternal within us than the
secular character that we represent in the world.

“What have you come as? ”

“A feline? ”

“Ah, un très chic…. suited and booted feline of the night…”
They do say the best come in threes…

“Or a nude along a chaise longue… red of course!

Of course!”
And if you will not dance,

If you’ve not already stolen a glance…

Prepare to be taken into a trance with us,
Surrender your body and come dance with us.

 

 

Under a fire burnt sky

by the light of a full moon,

by the hearth of the fire in our homes.

“What does it mean
to be a ghostly woman?
To be existing in and breathing in
these other worlds ?

To let these other worlds merge?

What does it mean to dream of things beyond the glass? ”
“Paying close attention to the message we leave behind”

“Play
Experiment
Pay Attention
Beware!

We hope you will come again! ”

Brought to you by Magical Women Neurodivergent Women Artists