Wednesday, December 16, 2009

X




Criss-crafted
Cross-crafted
Tied to the dock
Submerging somewhere
On land’s founding
Raft.
Clocking this day
Wayfaring lay
Calcitrant
Calibrating, clocking
Time inbounding
Knouted with NOT
Necessarily knotted
Needling niceties.
Cresting tidiness
Appertain.

ACHE


Rotting light
Blessing blackness
Crunching away
Toothy smiles
Breaching pain
Sugary fright
Sanction liberty
Effective plight.

La Pomme

The weight of the flesh

Weighted apple

Through handling

Firm, unbitten

Shielding unblemished skin

Turning

Palm; round and heavy

Yellow praise

Consume.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Art and Soul - Installation at group show

This work was produced for the 'Art and Soul' exhibition, held 17 October 2009 at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. I have called this type of work Photo-Poetics as I have combined my poetry with photographs I have taken.

'Art and Soul' was part of Homelessness Action Week in Vcitoria, BC, billed as "a special evening featuring the art and music of people who have experience homelessness."

Saturday, October 03, 2009

THE COLOR OF FIRE - DAVIS MUSEUM


ELS COLORS DEL FOC -
EXPOSICIÓ COL·LECTIVA DE DAVIS MUSEUM


Cicle sobre sostenibilitat."Els 4 elements: El foc"Fum. Flames. Explosió de colors. Cendres...L'ésser humà pot utilitzar-ho per a treballar, alimentar-se, viatjar...a través de la mirada dels artistes ens aproparem a aquesta capacitat de transmetre sensacionsque ens aporta el foc com element versàtil i metafòric de la nostra realitat.Continuant amb el cicle presentem el foc com a segon element. Reflexió sobre la seva vital importància. Font de vida i destrucció, alhora, ens adonarem que no només n'hem de tenir cura perquè el necessitem en la nostre vida quotidiana, sinó perquè el foc ha estat sempre un element entorn al qual explicar contes, llegendes, reflexionar i transmetre coneixement popular. Recuperarem, per tant en aquest cicle el foc com a font de colors, emocions i sentiments.




THE COLOR OF FIRE - COLLECTIVE EXHIBITION OF DAVIS MUSEUM series on sustainability. 'The 4 Elements: The foc'Fum. Flames. Explosion of colors. Ash ... Human beings can use it to work, eat, travel ... through the eyes of the artists we approach this capability to transmit sensacionsque gives us the fire as an element of the versatile and metaphorical realitat.Continuant cycle with our present fire as the second item. Reflection on its vital importance. Source of life and destruction, while we realize that not only have we should be careful because the need in our daily life, but because the fire has always been an element around which tell tales, legends, folk reflect and transmit knowledge . Recover, so in this cycle as a source of fire colors, emotions and feelings.


Artistas:
Debora Alanna


Phyllis Alter
Sonia Burel


Edward Lightner


Davis Lisboa


Centre Cívic Parc-SandaruC/ Buenaventura Muñoz, 21, 08018, BarcelonaDel 7
al 22 d’octubre de 2009
Inauguració: Dimecres, 7 d’octubre, a les 20:00 hs


Centre Cívic Parc-Sandaru


TASCA Projectes d´animació sociocultural


Davis Lisboa


Davis Museum


Ajuntament de Barcelona

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

PRISM


Wake.
A dream?
That door - home!






Looking inside out.
Any time I want.
Open and shut.
A key, my own.

Ascending, descending

The impossibility of
Hope’s taunt

Securely fastening
This dreamer’s
Spectral promise.





++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/home


HOME

1. A place where one lives; a residence.

2. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment.

3. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household.

4.
a. An environment offering security and happiness.
b. A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.

5. The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.

6. The native habitat, as of a plant or animal.

7. The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted; a source.

8. A headquarters; a home base.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

DAVIS MUSEUM - MKAC, MUSEO KARURA ART CENTRE - SECOND LIFE



DAVIS LISBOA - DAVIS MUSEUM - MKAC, MUSEO KARURA ART CENTRE - SECOND LIFE

DAVIS LISBOA - DAVIS MUSEUM - MUSEO KARURA - SECOND LIFEEXHIBITION OF THE


PERMANENT COLLECTIONOF CONTEMPORARY ART BY DAVIS MUSEUMMKAC, Museo Karura Art Centre
Second Life.
September 1-30, 2009


DAVIS MUSEUM'S ARTISTS:Hadeel A. Dhaher, Debora Alanna, Mauro Alberti, Phyllis Alter, Marina Berdalet, Ruth Bolduan, Sonia Burel,María Cañas, Alicia Cayuela, Roberto Contini,

Neda Darzi, Malules Fernández, Simone Gad, Asher Hartman,Davis Lisboa, Colleen Mulligan,

Gê Orthof, Chen Ping, PSJM and Alfonso Siracusa.




MKAC, MUSEO KARURA ART CENTRE



SECOND LIFE



DAVIS LISBOA

Roots



Strolling down an avenue, encountering the billowing roots of aging trees, I think of rooting, embedding myself somewhere, settle, become familiar enough with a locale to burgeon, evolve and become rooted. Yet as I see these roots spill over paths, forced into confined quarters barricaded by sidewalk and curb, I think that the contortion is descriptive of how I would feel. But perhaps I need this squishing to produce new work. Limitations often provide an environment where production is prolific.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Letter Writing

Letter writing, whether on paper or computer screen is a practice that is, in my experience a difficult one for many people. I have acted as ‘ghost’ writer for many individuals, including executives, business managers and physicians, both ESL and those educated with English as a means of communicating. The ability to write words describing what one means to say, a seemingly simple act, is beyond the capacity of countless of those wanting to express themselves with letters.

However, for many that are capable, there is a persistent fear to have thoughts and feelings existing for others to read, and refer to; a letter becomes a testament to their perhaps changeable mind. Permanently existing, a letter, whether a personal or business communication, discloses thoughts and sentiments without the guile of gesture, inference of body language, and cleverness of tone of voice that a personal interaction or phone conversation would enable.

The time consuming undertaking of letter writing seems to continue to dwindle due to the expediency of texting and cellular communication. Although an avid email letter writer, I find myself affected and indulgent. The need or desire for speed supersedes the luxury of an enduring hand written letter. It is a loss I feel compelled to take responsibility for, as I too have succumb to promptness over the thriving grace of a letter that has had thoughts wrought through pen and paper.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Summer Arts Workshops


This is the poster for the Stage Design course I am teaching this summer in collaboration with Opera Lirica Italiana. Intake is on-going. This workshop is located in the Sheppard and Yonge area. Please email or call to book a space!


Thursday, July 02, 2009

Blind's Eye

'Blind's Eye' is work created after experiencing temporary blindness in my right eye. The work below is the feeling of sight impairment. The work to the right is the affect of that temporary condition - sight has been restored, more or less.


Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Some things that influence me during my formative years...

Formative Years

Birth – Born 5 August after 6 extra weeks gestation, with umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, by Cesarean section; bottle fed with Carnation evaporated milk.

Age 1– Father, aged 32, decapitated when exiting vehicle in a snowstorm at a railway crossing, when confronted by an oncoming train; played in playpen made from wood planks, large enough for an adult to recline in.

Age 2– Daycare provided by grandparents, Icelandic settlers to the Interlake that did not speak English; became bilingual, learned to write with pen and ink – first letter: T.

Age 3 – Companion to my grandfather while planting the garden with potato pieces, sharpening tools in barn, drinking with buddies – was the camouflage to prevent discourse/reprimand on evils of drink by grandmother, singer of sagas; mother remarried.

Age 4 – Moved to small village of 600 people into a white, rented house; played in coal bin – fuel for house. Sister born prematurely; we started being cared for by a Polish nanny. Went to kindergarten, learnt about and delighted in using hands in flour paste to make art. Friends with first love, Ernie.

Age 5 – Moved to newly built house on river in same village; boated in container for mixing plaster on flooded fields. Saw Rodin at Winnipeg Art Gallery, and escorted from premises when found stroking statue’s penis; started making forts in river willows. Fed my sister black chalk, to see what would happen, and waited.

Age 6 – Witnessed step-father, planner, (vodka) and grandfather, builder, (rum) reciting poetry while playing chess, each intoxicated; observer of project development and completion: landscaping, breezeway, interior waterfall, plant conservatory. Saw first movie – ‘Swiss Family Robinson’, with mother - cost: 25 cents; started piano lessons. Constantly ill with 'childhood diseases - mumps, measles, rubella, whooping cough; read Nancy Drew books and learned to love to colour with Crayola crayons.

Age 7 – Spent school year with teacher that was cruel; spent many hours at principal’s office after being ‘strapped’. Grandparents were care givers during holidays when parents went on exotic holidays; given loose change to placate spirit. Learned to skate, and participated in winter carnivals with hair coiffed with rags into ringlets – got first ‘Barbie’, a clone – Oleg Cassini doll. Witnessed mother’s desolation after after death of 4th child, a brother who died hours after birth – saved from immediate death by breathing device designed and employed by step-father.

Age 8 – Was tortured in school with yardstick smacks, writing ‘lines’ and holding encyclopedias with arms outstretched - always had name in ‘black book’; “Strapping” was abolished; watched grandfather save house during brush fire. Played in mountain of sand dropped on neighbour’s yard. Watched mother ‘Roto-till’ and plant garden, feed it fertilizer; watched kingfishers and sandpipers on the riverbed flats; crossed footbridge over river. Drew murals of the Amazon.

Age 9 – Grandfather died of tetanus after amputating toe in lawnmower (he laughed walking to the hospital across the lawn for treatment) – nurse did not administer tetanus shot; grandmother sold house and moved to apartment above a store; started organ and ballet lessons; saved from step-father’s belt beatings at home by dog, an overweight golden lab named Bunsy; started to be administered Dial soap after swearing at parents.

Aged 10 – Learned to love science. Wanted to be a nuclear physicist; bought taxidermy animals from teacher. Won public speaking prize; won 4-H photography demonstration prize. Learned to volunteer through mother’s activities – Women’s Hospital Auxiliary, School Board trustee. Caught on fire while burning garbage in the incinerator – rolled to stifle fire. Began to cut grass for 3 hours a day every summer on a Toro sit-down mower.

Age 11 – Suffered loss of hearing from multiple ear infections while learning to swim off docks where boats dumped raw sewage. Wrote poems on top of parents’ roof, at the riverside while sitting on concrete slaps that were dumped to prevent flooding of the river – trees along the embankment had been removed to ‘beautify’ the village. Wrote a poem for the teacher at the end of school – he cried.

Work in progress

Trials of leading...

Either I know where I am going, or I don't. This is the first time in living memory that I am at a carrefour for months. Disconcerting.

However, some work is being produced...