The natural flow of the ongoing residency is so energizing.  Everyday unfolds a spontaneous and yet structured sense of common purpose.  This involves the quest to map the mental process conceived and evoked by individual and collective experience of Caversham and beyond.  Intertwined with the introductory session, the 23^rd kicked off with the Dialogue process.  This was a means to further share individual areas of interest through individual presentations.  Thus paving a path to collaborative work and resonating Caversham’s notion of ‘inspiration in the individual and the individual as inspiration’.  Given the intensity of the dialogue process and brainstorming sessions, the need to digest the information became essential, rendering Thursday a day for Reflection.  The gist of this process was to present the fellows with an opportunity to stop and reflect in silence, thus, a pause to confront oneself beyond the creative self.  Believable or not, the evening saw the guys playing poker in total silence! The physical and spiritual navigation of Caversham continued on Friday, further manifested through preparatory visual imagery. Last on the day’s activities was an awesome barbecue party that Fahamu prepared outside the front veranda of the Orchard cottage.  Pitch black sky, the sound of the river, conversations and a mouth- watering smell blended beautifully, rhythmically folding the first week of the residency.

Under the theme A Journey of Inspiration, the very first residency in 2008 began yesterday (21st). This International Residency will end on the 8th of February. During these three weeks, a group consisting of two writers and three visual artists will embark on a collaborative process which will culminate into both the spiritual and tangible product. This is in terms of self affirmation, visual and literal expression. On the night of arrival, a welcome dinner was held at the main house. This communal setting allowed the fellows to settle in after their long journey. Despite their culturally diverse backgrounds, the commonalities highlighted in today’s introductory session were intriguing. Foremost being the zest and determination to engage Caversham as a creative and inspirational space.

The  first residency  of 2008 got off to a good start last night as two artists from Atlanta and a writer from Michigan in the US met our  South African writer and artist and Witty Nyide, our new intern, over a ‘welcome’ dinner on the veranda at Caversham. As usual, Ros produced her trademark high standard of cuisine inspite of Eskom’s vagaries! Discussions around the table went on late into the evening, a good sign for the weeks ahead.

For non-South African readers,  Eskom is the national supplier of electricity.They are currently experiencing difficulties which result in country-wide load shedding, making them the singular most popular topic of conversation in SA at present!

Things are in full swing once again at Caversham! Our staff have all been back at work for over a week now, after an enjoyable break over the festive season. The first residency of 2008 ( artists and writers) starts next week and preparations are well advanced.Keep an eye on this space for comments from our participants!

We wish you all a happy and creative 2008!

Jill Sachs, Caversham’s early years specialist, was invited by Richard Mealy to workshop the newly appointed Craigavon SPLASH Sure Start Team in N Ireland. This workshop session entitled “Inspiration- A Journey to South Africa” was designed to provide a deeper understanding of the commonality and contrast on early years matters in both countries and to… [Read more →]

They said, from a rather ill-informed position that there were crocodiles in the river. That the reptiles have a healthy appetite for human flesh. That however is not a picture I had of Caversham… To read more please click this link to Kasiekulture.
 

Congratulations to Gabi and the Ulwazi CreACTive™ Centre on their excellent results in the recent Michaelhouse Community Partnership Art Competition!!!  Ulwazi walked away with 8 of the 15 prizes in the 5 sections, as well as three merit Certificates!! There were a total of 1300 entries, so Ulwazi’s achievement is truly outstanding, and a tribute to Gabi’s dedication to the CreACTive™ Centre as well as the enthusiasm of the children. 

At last Caversham has an interactive communications site! We invite all those involved with Caversham to use this to keep in touch, share ideas, and comment on absolutely anything and everything that may be of interest to the Caversham network.Our thanks go to Gary Morrison whose expertise has brought us this far in setting up the blog, now its up to everyone else to take it to the next level!