a ripple runs through - haiku

a rippple runs through
the railway embankment
first lupins

paul conneally

Japan Earthquake Fundraising Event - Derby Roundhouse 5th June

Celebrate Japanese Culture at The Roundhouse Derby

Only £3 entry for adult £1 for children!
As well as all the events featured on the poster there will also be a chance to write haiku with Paul Conneally who will make a haiku wall or tree or matbe both with haiku written on the day and sent in from around the world.
If you can't make the event you can send in your haiku to Little.Onion@ntlworld.com and they will be displayed on the day.
All proceeds from this event will go to UNESCO JAPAN to help rebuild schools and other children's facilities.

The Loved Crazed Bombshell Explodes

The Loved Crazed Bombshell Explodes - Paul Conneally

From Bottoms For Topshop

Three Jars Of Coal Dust Jelly - Paul Conneally 2011

Three Jars Of Coal Dust Jelly - Paul Conneally 2011

The work is at at Snibston Discovery Museum - a former colliery near Coalville.

Three Jars Of Coal Dust Jelly comes out of Conneally's commission 'Spoil Heap Harvest' as cultural forager for Transform Snibston funded by the Arts Council and Leicestershire Museums Service.

The jars are in a specially constructed museum cabinet. During the Revealing Snibston Exhibition at Snibston Conneally also installed ART JAM where identical jars of Coal Dust Jelly were for sale. The left hand side of the counter jars were labelled ART and the right hand jars were labelled JAM. The only difference was the price. The jars from the ART side cost a shed load more than the jars from the Jam side.

Snibston has many 'real' objects on display.

Do 'real' objects remain the same when placed in a museum or gallery? Do 'unreal' objects become 'real' when placed in a museum alongside 'real' ones?

Arms Length - Braunstone Frith Junior School

Arms Length - Paul Conneally and Su marshall 2011

Arms Length - the lengths of twine are representations of children's arm spans - part of the preparation for marking out a Key Hole Garden. Paul Conneally and Su Marshall with pupils at Braunstone Frith Junior School in Leicester. Measuring without numbers.

The Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail

View Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail in a larger map

The Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail starts from Snibston Discovery Museum, Coalville, Leicestershire, and visits places associated with William Wordsworth from the time when he and his family lived nearby at Coleorton in 1806 / 1807. As well as living in the area for around a year Wordsworth also visited the area many many times to see his friend Sir George Beaumont and visit his son John when he was parson at Whitwick. The Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail was conceived and created by cultural forager and artist Paul Conneally for Transform Snibston 2011.

Art Jam - Paul Conneally 2011 for Transform Snibston

Art Jam - Paul Conneally 2011

Art Jam - Paul Conneally invites visitors to the opening of Transform Snibston to purchase one of his jars of Coal Dust Jelly. Shoppers can choose to either buy a jar as jam or as a work of art. All the jars are identical. If they choose to buy one as art it will cost them more money than if they choose to buy it as jam. Conneally does not mind what they choose to do.

The Transform Snibston exhibition 'Revealing Snibston' opens on May 14 in the Century Theatre, Snibston Discovery Museum, Coalville.

Established in 1992 following closure of the Colliery, Snibston Discovery Museum is the showcase for Leicestershire’s historic science, technology, design and fashion collections. Exploring the changing technological world in which we live, through exhibitions, events and our learning programmes, you can find out more about major technological changes which have affected our everyday lives.

Snibston is dedicated to preserving and promoting the heritage of Leicestershire

Also on exhibit is Conneally's 'Three Jars Of Coal Dust Jelly' :

Three Jars Of Coal Dust Jelly - Paul Conneally 2011

The opening also sees the launch of Conneally's Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail.

first kiss

first kiss spring shoots under a scarecrow's arms

paul conneally

May 2011

Mick Smith and William Wordsworth

MICK_SMITH_and_WILLIAM_WORDSWORTH.wmv Watch on Posterous

Mick Smith, window cleaner and former Snibston colliery worker, reads an excerpt from a William Wordsworth poem written during his time living at Coleorton, North West Leicestershire, just down the road from Snibston. The poem refers to and is inspired by Grace Dieu Priory where Wordsworth used to visit regularly with his family. Grace Diieu Priory is on the Transform Snibston William Wordsworth Trail.

The video and trail are part of poet artist and cultural forager, Paul Conneally's work Spoil Heap Harvest for Transform Snibston.

Here is the Wordsworth poem in full:

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FOR A SEAT IN THE GROVES OF COLEORTON.

          BENEATH yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound,

          Rugged and high, of Charnwood's forest ground

          Stand yet, but, Stranger! hidden from thy view,

          The ivied Ruins of forlorn GRACE DIEU;

          Erst a religious House, which day and night

          With hymns resounded, and the chanted rite:

          And when those rites had ceased, the Spot gave birth

          To honourable Men of various worth:

          There, on the margin of a streamlet wild,

          Did Francis Beaumont sport, an eager child;                

          There, under shadow of the neighbouring rocks,

          Sang youthful tales of shepherds and their flocks;

          Unconscious prelude to heroic themes,

          Heart-breaking tears, and melancholy dreams

          Of slighted love, and scorn, and jealous rage,

          With which his genius shook the buskined stage.

          Communities are lost, and Empires die,

          And things of holy use unhallowed lie;

          They perish;--but the Intellect can raise,          From airy words alone, a Pile that ne'er decays.                                                    William Wordsworth        

Channelling Wordsworth

Currently 'cultural forager' with Transform Snibston poet artist Paul Conneally is once again channelling William Wordsworth to mediate between himself, community and place in North West Leicestershire. A major part of his ongoing work 'Spoil Heap Harvest' is the making of the Snibston Wordsworth Trail.

William Wordsworth and his family lived at Coleorton Hall Farm for nearly a year between 1806 and 1807. The trail will start at Snibston and take in many of the places associated with Wordsworth and his friends and family including Coleridge, Sir George Beaumont and Dorothy Wordsworth.

Conneally uses historical poetic and artistic material foraged from the area to make links between the past, now and what might be. On the 14th of May 2011 another of the 4 artists currently working with Transform Snibston, Geof Broadway, will be installing a digital artwork illumination in the Century Theatre on the main Snibston site. Conneally along with Brendan Jackson and Jo Dacombe will also be exhibiting tasters of their own work at the event.

Below is a poem from a previous channelling of Wordsworth by Conneally:

JOANNA ROCKS

no time for streams
or those that look at hills
you learn to love
passing your early youth
amid the smoke of cities

lofty firs
taller than the old steeple
village news

the vicar's collar
a house big enough
for ten rough sleepers

autumn shadows
spray-painted on a boulder
by the rail-track
in huge red lettering
'Joanna Rocks

Paul Conneally

First Published LYNX XVII:1 February, 2002