tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71709452026-09-04T13:13:30.471-04:00Rubies in Crystal<center><big>RUBIES IN CRYSTAL</big></center><br>
<center>Does language hover between my nerve endings and the world, or is language my skin itself?<br>
Sheath of feeling. Words groping to touch air.</center>Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.comBlogger2116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-14023149694294927002026-09-03T09:41:15.399-04:002026-09-04T13:13:30.471-04:00Elana Wolff's 'everybody knows a ghost,' in conversation with Brenda ClewsEVERYBODY KNOWS A GHOST (Guernica Editions, 2026), a book launch by Elana Wolff in conversation with Brenda Clews. Available for sale at all major book stores.Captions were autogenerated in Final Cut Pro and manually corrected by me.A full transcript of my review and questions follows.Interview Launch of everybody knows a ghost by Elana Wolff Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-79866589686920240812026-07-10T16:20:38.883-04:002026-07-10T16:20:38.883-04:00'serpent of leaves' appears in impromptu danceDancing over a rabbit warren in the roots of a green ash that was infected by the emerald borer and was cut down years ago, I wove my way up and stood on uneven ground with rabbit holes in it. Intermixed were plastic ivy leaves that a neighbour had left when she moved out. I grabbed a mat of leaves and a rhythm appeared where, later, looking at the clip, I seemed to be wrestling with a serpent ofBrenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-25019676691670134592026-07-09T12:32:20.259-04:002026-07-09T16:42:44.356-04:00unfurlflowerrings flowering soon! 2022-2026 video and photosSome photos from the video cameras yesterday for a videopoem called ‘unfurlflowerrings.' My favourite is the multiple exposure - a technique I am playing with. I’ve planned this shoot for years (since 2022, when I created and performed it at Minstrels & Bards), and now it’s done! Since I can’t afford to hire anyone, I asked a few people for help without response. And then Steve O'Brien came Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0Toronto, ON, Canada43.6548253 -79.38844715.344591463821153 -114.544697 71.965059136178837 -44.232197tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-37292098329088458112025-04-12T12:16:00.003-04:002025-04-13T10:59:54.039-04:00-oh, writing process- on Metaphorin my apartment on a dance-the-poetry-within-you day
I never know what is going to emerge that day,
ever, always a surprise
a rough draft, notes towards, an unexpected survey, touching bits, the movement churns thoughts, feelings, ideas, memories
surfacing
after, yes, I could write a whole piece
expand concepts and feeling-in-form
offer a more complete essay, sashay into & aroundBrenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-64500376323495996762025-02-24T14:56:00.004-05:002025-03-29T15:48:49.651-04:00Is there still a blogging community?It feels amazing to be blogging again. But I don't know where other bloggers who might connect to my blog might be. The crowd in the old days are gone, or the connections have withered.If you read this, and have a blog, leave a comment and I'll follow you back.Beyond tired of the commercialism of Facebook, Instagram, X and even Bluesky has become a re-posting site.Blogs are defined, created, Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-69741690859050346732025-02-24T10:45:00.007-05:002025-03-29T16:40:01.198-04:00Life-drawing at Super Wonder Gallery Feb 22, 2025I would turn this one into a painting if they had allowed photographs of the poses. Eight minutes per pose just wasn't long enough. The poses were complex - that foreshortening! (You say I should try to paint this anyway? I dunno. I suppose half-abstract is ok. Maybe is all I'll say.)Fairly happy with this drawing, except I didn't have long enough to put the right dashes and dots to get a Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-22783821057998760372025-02-12T12:06:00.017-05:002025-02-12T14:54:17.922-05:00Two Erotic Paintings in The Super Naughty Show at Super Wonder Gallery!The Super Naughty Show - 2025 is this weekend! February 14th & 15th! An erotic art show at Super Wonder Gallery, a Valentine’s celebration! I have two paintings in the show, both Tantric paintings - The Buddha and Her Consort, 18”x24”, oil on canvas, and Neon Nights, 12”x18”, acrylic on canvas. Neon Nights is a transforming painting in blacklight! There are over 60+ artists and some VERYBrenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-79829208907675416452024-06-09T09:41:00.005-04:002024-06-09T12:32:29.642-04:00Woman with Flowers 7.1(7th sketch in series, first iteration of this one)Woman with Flowers Flowers, props upholding the woman.The flowers, fragrant,imaginary.The flowers, blossominginto death. Clearly, I need to work on that hand!Below it is better drawn. Also, since the paper is a bit larger than the scanner, I photomerged two images (still issue in one corner), colour-corrected the paper and Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-9377444452297013842024-04-16T10:01:00.000-04:002024-04-16T10:01:22.419-04:00Self-Portrait with a Fascinator 2016On Monday, I walked, buying frames from two stores in different parts of the city, then went to the Art Bar Poetry Series in the evening, about 16,000 steps/13.1km. Part of a group art show and poetry reading on Sunday. I spent the morning searching for a few paintings. All I’ve done, really, is some self portraits because I belonged to a self portrait group on Facebook for a few years.Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-10449499461006450182023-08-09T10:23:00.005-04:002023-08-09T10:23:58.531-04:00A Pulsing Imagination - Ray Clews' PaintingsA video of some of my late brother Ray's paintings and poems I wrote for them.Direct link: https://youtu.be/V8iZyORoU9E___
Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-7002974541892922952022-10-23T19:04:00.002-04:002022-10-23T19:05:56.474-04:00On the Unity of Assemblage and PoemIn Split Mask and UnfurlFlowerring, the mask came first. A weltanschauung grew around it, accoutrements, fabrics, a ‘look’ enmeshed with the theme, and I felt a nascent poem emerging. When I write an afterpoem to perform in an assemblage, mask, persona, it is always about the topic that the ensemble is presenting, and there is also reference to my being inside the guise, what it’s like to be the Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-21448718415534212922022-10-22T12:34:00.005-04:002022-10-22T12:36:16.526-04:00Halloween Assemblage -Getting thereWhat I started with. Where I got to was like painting with photo programs. Two lights set up, one to the right and one on the table. Look forward to clearing the chaos of my living room and putting all this stuff away. But I still want to try long black boots and a leather corset I bought at maybe 63, my first one! Those shiny catches on the cheap Amazon one need black nail polish or Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-53548525932940145572022-10-20T10:56:00.003-04:002022-10-20T10:56:34.197-04:00Between 3 photo programs, approaching what I soughtFrom yesterday's shoot. The lighting was all wrong, but, with time and patience and a willingness to use different photo programs, I was able to get the darkness I wanted.Basically, I am trying to get some images of this assemblage so I can see what I've composed and write of the 'being' who's emerging, if that's possible. Also, it is helping to see how to tweak things - like, I'll wear black Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-12303800709372642732022-10-19T19:58:00.000-04:002022-10-19T19:58:11.680-04:00Oh, my Halloween Assemblage!I've had what seems negative reactions to the assemblage I am creating for my Halloween poetry and music event. It's been a huge amount of work, attempting to video (tons of problems spread over days) and finally I got some clips in focus - though the light wasn't right - and one person who looked at these images seemed very ticked off when she saw them, saying only, We're supposed to wear Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-58924865366488521742022-10-16T12:29:00.005-04:002022-10-16T12:52:07.849-04:00Test___
Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-9250232383904471732022-05-02T14:28:00.016-04:002022-05-11T09:04:16.895-04:00Unwindings & The Unansweringdirect link: https://youtu.be/Foyvq1uDCM8This is a video of a reading at Minstrels & Bards* Spring 2022 for an upcoming show.
For Calling In The Muse, May 1 - July 13, 2022, an on-line show by Erica Ross curated from her Open Studio sessions, I share two poems written in 2022, Unwindings and The Unanswering. These poems share my inner perceptions in, hopefully, a language that is Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-27294623713095683972021-10-22T21:23:00.006-04:002021-10-22T21:41:34.584-04:00Alchemical Wheels: A Portrait of a Painting & a Near Death Experience (a silent video)direct link: https://youtu.be/5mh83U0bhisAlchemical Wheels: Portrait of a Painting & a Near Death Experience (a silent video)Alchemical texts are riddles. Writing about visionary experience is impossible. Here goes…the circle dips down & two become oneopalescence of the self, golden pearl risingA psychic and artistic journey encircling a dream of alchemical wheels emerging on each Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-63698793693464837422021-09-05T13:57:00.006-04:002021-09-06T10:31:03.264-04:00Self-Portrait After an Alchemical DreamSelf-portrait after an Alchemical dream. ©Brenda Clews 2021. 20"x26", charcoal on Yupo paper.
[Adding the original dream & something on the process of what's appeared in this preparatory sketch for a possible painting, if you'd like to know what it's about.]
Original dream
…red spots develop under my cheeks, and as I powder them, they become raised wheels, one on each side, which the thick Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-63050239190925319062021-07-27T23:16:00.013-04:002021-08-03T09:39:42.628-04:00Fruiting BodiesDirect link: https://youtu.be/B47jC2hl2e0Fruiting Bodies is writing begun during lockdown and stay-at-home orders. When you are alone, you don't have a sense of yourself-in-context of the society in which you are a viable subject. You move through your rooms invisible to yourself, you don't think about how you look, and aren't dealing, one hopes, with your otherness among people. Race, Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-88813217209440961482021-05-11T23:00:00.001-04:002021-05-11T23:00:51.780-04:00Tulip on TulipAn open studio that my friend Erica is offering. I had no idea what I’d do this time. Sometimes showing up and allowing the inspiration of the moment is the way to go. Grabbed this and that and a chalk pastel and Taylor’s chalk of tulips wilded on paper. No plans to keep the pastel which will go out with the tulips, but they make an interesting photograph.
___
Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-65893284085241287132021-01-21T17:20:00.002-05:002021-01-21T17:20:46.125-05:00Portrait in Black & WhiteDrawn with graphite putty and a 4B pencil on yupo paper an hour or so ago.__
Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-65365728805498113932020-10-22T15:29:00.006-04:002020-10-24T17:47:53.532-04:00Archeology of Water This began with an image of memory scrawled in a notebook in April 2019 that I knew I would work with, either in a poem, or perhaps video. That note, 'memories carved on other memories like archeological layers that disintegrate, losing their definition under the press of time,' evolved into this filmsoundpoem of at least 50 layers all wrapped into each other as they dissolve. In May 2020, I Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-33991935993998879052020-08-22T15:07:00.002-04:002020-10-24T17:21:08.242-04:00'Pull Down the Northern Lights for Chandeliers,' Zoom video August 20, 2020 "I'd dance to death to evoke it." "Who in me writes?"It was a rich, varied poetry evening where we read, talked about process, and asked questions. I'm still integrating what everyone said. An evening of inspiration. I would like to thank my features, Elana Wolff, Michael Mirolla, Margaret Christakos and Jeff Cottrill for their superlative poems, readings and expressions of Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-30062925309952759642020-07-21T10:44:00.001-04:002020-07-21T10:45:14.981-04:00Crawling Out of the MorassA preliminary sketch that I hope to work on in the coming days. Photo with electric light during a dark thunderstorm. Self-portrait, stick and water-soluble graphite, 20"x26". Crawling out from a deeply troubling family crisis.___
Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170945.post-1640429881470800892020-06-20T11:00:00.001-04:002020-10-24T17:25:36.172-04:00The Book of Night Women by Marlon JamesJune 20, 2020Today I am silent. Between The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James, and the ballet dancer, Sergei Polunin, who I watch on YouTube. One, grippingly violent, a story of the slave trade in Jamaica, in beautiful prose, in a seamless, perfect and mesmerizing dialect; the other, one the best dancers in the world, spins and leaps that are superhuman, a force de majeure, but shy, Brenda Clewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01400505552810078505noreply@blogger.com0