WOW - Bryan Talbot at Rochester Art Gallery

A picture speaks a thousand words, or so the saying goes. This coming month the thousand words comes to Rochester Art Gallery, with a new exhibition from Bryan Talbot, Mark Barnes, Joe Decie and Ian Williams. It runs from the 12 June until August 10, 2014.

Image credit: Wintersixfour

I'm very excited about the exhibition, in my opinion Bryan has been at the forefront of graphic novels ever since the startling Alice in Sunderland, a blending of history, magic realism and Lewis Carroll. It was one of the first graphic novels that expanded the limits of what graphic novels are capable of - besides Watchmen and Persepolis. Graphic novels can explore ideas stories and biography that other mediums cannot touch, and it grinds at me that so often mature is understand as "graphic". 

Information about the exhibition, and the many other cultural highlights coming to Medway are available in the June edition of WOW - What's on Where

The exhibition is going to be graphic - and it coincides with the start of FUSE festival, Medway's marvelous summer arts festival. Details available here

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Image sourced through Morguefile

Silent Sunday - Bluefooted boobies

Image credit: SM Jenkin

An assemblance of judicious heretics…

The Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know are coming to Medway... and it is a work in progress

Image credit Doctor_Bob

As part of the Rochester literature festival, the ME4Writers are curating an intriguing exhibition, and they would like to invite you to take part. Are you interested?

The assemblance of judicious heretics is an open access collaborative project. The idea is to encourage artists of all styles to send in work to complement a series of writing pieces on the theme of Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know.

The exhibition will be displayed in Rochester during September and October. If you would like to know more, please see the details on the ME4Writers blog here. You don't have to be based in Medway, you can send in work as long as you can deliver the art to Rochester. 

Good luck!
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Image source: Morgue file.com

Cabaret Club

I can't believe the Cabaret club is coming up to its first anniversary. Have you been? If not, you are missing out on Medway's premier night out!

Tina Turner, Tea Lady. And Zeus
Image credit: SM Jenkin

The Cabaret club runs roughly every couple of months at the Oasthouse community centre  in Rainham, and each night is given a  theme. The theme for May was South Pacific, and the line-up was a real delight for the senses. There were singers, burlesque performers, perverse puppetry and my particular favourite Tina T'urner Tea Lady. You can see her there, above this text, with her new beau. Zeus, aka Steve.

I would have used a photo of the delightful Dark Sugar, rocking the grass skirt and coconut bikini but excitement made me shake the camera too much to find a usable picture.

It's very slick, with nice touches through the evening such as the free photographic booth, hosted this time by the talented Nikki Price (I'm sure she got a shot of dark sugar. No - a photographic shot! Oh, behave!), the snack shack and well-priced bar.

So do you fancy adding a bit of glamour to your Saturday night? Their first year anniversary show is on Saturday, 09 August. Their theme will be "glamping" - tickets available from eventbright here

Irish tutor needed - can you help?

As part of our funding from the big lottery, the Medway St Patrick parade agreed to showcase and encourage Irish culture. Part of this culture was the Irish language, so we planned to have two Irish lessons after the parade. One for absolute beginners to introduce them to the language, and the other aimed at intermediate students. This lesson was to encourage people with rusty Irish or people who had been learning a while and wanted to advance.

Image credit: Cohdra

The tutors that we booked have let us down. We need a recommendation from someone for a reliable Irish tutor who can deliver a lesson for beginners. (Edit: we would welcome someone who can also provide a lesson for intermediate learners, but this isn't compulsory)

We've tried the adult learning services for Medway and Kent, but turned up nothing. Can you recommend someone?

Thank you

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Image sourced through morguefile.com

Whitstable May Day Celebrations 2014

We do something a certain way once and then twice and them before we know it we have developed a habit. These habits go, to paraphrase the Talmud, from the lightness of a spider's web to the strength of a cable.

Tristan Gooley The Natural Explorer: Understanding Your Landscape

Dead Horse Morris in Whitstable high street
Image credit: SM Jenkin

I've been reading a fantastic book, the quote from which is above. It's an exploration of exploration, asking how people forge their own personal connection with the places they visit. It's a fascinating journey into different landscapes and the ways that people impact on them, are affected by them and share them with others.

So after reading the chapter about customs and habits, I decided to brush away the cobwebs, avoid the engineering works into Rochester, and try something new. I visited the May Day celebrations in Whitstable, revived back in 1976 and running yearly ever since. It was a fantastic day with Morris sides dancing and parading in the sunshine from the library to the harbour, through the high street to the castle. They escorted Jack-in-the-green, Robin Hood and maid Marion, the hobby horse (oss) and a bear.

What is the deal with the bear - is it related to  the straw bear? The straw bear has been described as a personification of the winter, but is that all there is to it?

The Oyster Morris Jack-in-the-green can be viewed courtesy of the company of the green men. Some information about British Traditional events can be found in the: Calendar Customs

Jack in the Green - Blue Bell Hill

Now winter is over I'm happy to say
And we're all met again in our ribbons so gay
And we're all met again on the first day of spring
To go about dancing with Jack in the green

Wake up Jack!
Image credit: SM Jenkin

On mayday every year at 5.32 am precisely, while the first rays of sunshine are starting to illuminate the picnic spot at blue bell hill, the spirit of summer is summoned.

The spirit of summer, embodied in an 8 foot high walking bush called Jack in the green, is woken up with the recitation of a beautiful song. Jack is crowned with a beautiful circle of red flowers before he joins in with the enthusiastic Morris Dance sides, who are ready to dance in any weather!. For the rest of the sweeps festival, Jack - in - the - green will be seen joining in the dance up and down Rochester high street until the final parade on Monday afternoon.

Every year, we have the debate about how old the ceremony is. How similar is it to the rituals people must have performed here years ago, before the romans, going back to a time as nebulous as the lwo level mist that surrounded us that morning. It's hard to tell - the sources of information are either missing or written from a bias perspective. The current sweeps festival revival dates back to 1980 and was inspired by a description of the sweeps festival in Dicken's work. Like so many other activities "revived" in the Victorian era, its hard to tell if they were revived, inspired or simply invented because they "should" exist.

But does it matter if we are doing something different to what has gone before? The organisers are obvious in their respect for those who arranged similar celebrations before the revival, and have worked hard to make something meaningful for people to connect with now. And long may it continue!

An interesting article about the sweeps festival is in the KM here
Some information about Jack-in-the-green all over the UK is available from The Company of the Green Man