Word & Image with Tamar Yoseloff and BlueGate Poets
Surrounded by one of the best collections of 20th century British art outside London and in the company of Tamar Yoseloff one of the most critically acclaimed poetry tutors in the country, twenty poets responded to art at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery in Bath Road. Yoseloff drew from her own poetic practice and her vast teaching experience to lead the group through art focused poems by WH Auden and Frank O’Hara. Discussions opened up about the artistic process, drawing interesting comparisons with the previous day’s Suki – Life Drawing and Poetry event which many confessed to being very sad to have missed. After Tamar had talked about some of her own projects it was time to explore the collection ourselves and to enjoy the luxury of having such a high quality gallery all to ourselves. The atmosphere was perfect for creativity with a whole two hours being allocated for lunch and to study the varied artworks on display. Once the group re-convened, ideas had germinated, drafts had been written and even poems which sounded very complete had emerged. Tamar was a generous tutor, making time to discuss in full the efforts of each group member. The event finished with a brief reading from the tutor’s Jackson Pollock inspired collection ‘The City With Horns’ where her own technique when seeking inspiration from art was a pleasure to encounter. The results of the workshop will feature in this year’s BlueGate Poets’ anthology which promises to be a very interesting read. This was another high quality poetry event for the Swindon Festival of Literature which suited those members of the group who had never been to an art gallery before and those who would live in the Old Town building given half the chance.
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