Launch of Endymion Magazine 24 March 2012
The Flux Gallery Press is proud to announce the launch of our much anticipitated new literary, arts and culture magazine, Endymion. Our first issue includes essays, poems, and articles by Pamela Scobie, David Cooke, Angela Topping, Ian Parks, Cathy Galvin, T.F. Griffin, Lisa Geddes, Linda Marshall and many more. We are launching this new venture on Saturday the 24th of March 2012 in association with Headingley Literature Festival 2012. The launch will begin at 7.30 pm and will include a number of readings from the writers included. Refreshments will be available and admission is absolutely free. So please come along and enjoy yourself.
‘Factory Dreams’ Installation by The Gang of Four Art Collective
The Flux Gallery in association with the Leeds underground art collective ‘The Gang of Four’ are proud to present the opening of a multi-media art installation called Factory Dreams. Using a variety of techniques derived from a number of creative disiplines they boldly explore the reification of subjective experience implicit in the commodification of mass culture.
The private viewing begins at 7.30 pm on Friday the 20th of May 2011 at the Flux Gallery, 16A Midland Road Leeds LS6 1 BQ. There will be the usual wine and nibbles so please feel free to join us for this stimulating event.
Factory Dreams is intended as a multi sensory exploration of the physical , psychological and cultural remains of the industrial and socialist heritage of Leeds. Our starting point was the old train yard at Armley Mills, an amazing forgotten treasure full of decommissioned steam engines that testify to the richness of the imagination of the craftsmen men and women who designed and worked on these wonderful machines. We visited many of the old mills that dot the landscape exploring the way in which these industrial buildings have adapted and changed with increasing globalization and the decline of the manufacturing base in the North of England. Buildings that were originally intended for a utilitarian purpose have seeped into the collective imagination and grown in symbolic stature as distinctive cultural artefacts in their own right. It is sometimes hard to envisage the global impact of the social, political and cultural changes that emerged from the English Industrial Revolution. Modernity has its roots deeply embedded is these seemingly innocuous urban environments.
This collaborative project is designed to celebrate and reignite our collective memories of this industrial past by reflecting on certain aspects of this rich heritage using a variety of media, differing approaches, and collective responses.
‘Skin and Trace’ by Kerri Butterworth
Kerri Butterworth’s highly innovative codex challenges our narrow conceptions of how a book should look and feel. It is a stunning blend of the ancient and the modern. The combination of subtle etched copper metal binding with parchment effect paper is reminiscent of the votive book reliquaries of the Early Middle Ages. This is a book for that special occassion. This book was launched at the recent Leeds International ContemporaryArtist’s Book Fair in Leeds University Parkinson Building, where it attracted a lot of positive attention.Individual copies will be made to order, signed and numbered by the artist for only £30.00.
‘Beneath the Surface’ by Julie Taylor
‘Beneath the Surface’ is the first of a series of fine art books to be published by the Flux Gallery Press. This book was launched at the 2011 Leeds International Contemporary Artist’s Book Fair attracting a lot of interest and positive feedback. We were so pleased with the responce that we are planning a Flux Gallery stall at next years fair.
‘Beneath the Surface’ represents a new and exciting departure for the press. A series of hand made artists books is planned for the forthcoming year. Each book published will be released in a strictly limited edition of fifty copies, signed and numbered by the artist/author.
‘Beneath the Surface’ is the work of local fine art book artist, Julie Taylor, who is a founder member of the Flux Gallery Press. The combination of highly evocative abstract visualizations with classic poetry makes for a stunning marriage of image and text. Each book is hand printed on fine art cotton rag paper and hand bound using a blend of classic Western styling combined with traditional Japenese bindings . The unique book is available to purchase for the special price introductory price of £60.
A Literary Dublin: Three Irish Writers Thursday 24th of March at 7.30 pm
The Flux Gallery Press in association with Irish Arts Foundation and Headingley Literature Festival is proud to present a screening of a documentary film called A Literary Dublin: Three Irish Writers written and produced by Anthony Cronin. This film deals with the literary lives of three famous Irish writers who lived and worked in Dublin in the 1950′s and 1960′s, Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, and Flann O’Brien ,who has been described by Jules Smith as the first Postmodern writer. Admission is free and there will be refresments available. After the screening there will be an opportunity to discuss the film with Eamonn Hamilton who is an expert on Irish literature.The Launch of Sky Burial 19th of March 7.30pm
Flux Gallery Press in association with Headingley Literature Festival 2011 are delighted to announce the launch of Sky Burial a new collection of poetry by Genny Rahtz. There can be no better introduction to the quality of Genny’s work than this review by Pete Didsbury.
I’ve long been an admirer of Genny Rahtz’s work and looked forward to her first full-length collection. It doesn’t disappoint. There’s an exhilarating clarity about many of these pieces, akin to that of mountain or desert air. The poems are never fashionably ‘green’. Rather, she constructs truly ecological spaces, in which personal and local minutiae are constantly viewed through the long lens of human and planetary history. Dispassionate, as they have to be, the poems constantly reach towards a hard-won generosity. Rain falls on long-dried earth, releasing volatile essences to delight (‘Petrichor’); the vast stone expanses of international railway stations fail to stifle millennia-old and inbuilt human responses (‘Deserts’); the individual sounds of the mountains are lovingly enumerated, but she will not select any ‘hierarchy of decibels’ (‘Pyrenees’). If, like me, you share her belief that ‘there’s quite an art to being here/keeping thoughts wide,/allowing the breath a rhythm’ then this is the book for you.
Peter Didsbury 2010
1982 saw the publication of the by now legendary anthology A Rumoured City, which launched the careers of ten youthful poets from Hull. On Saturday, 19th March at the Flux Gallery, you can see four of them reunited in celebration. Genny Rahtz, poet and visual artist, will be launching her collected works, Sky Burial, ably supported by Professor Ian Gregson and eminent critic Douglas Houston, and introduced by our own local hero T.F. Griffin, all of whom have produced recent new collections to great acclaim. Not to be missed!
For your delectation and delight the evening will begin with a reading by Douglas Houston, a local Welsh fire breathing dragon, closely followed , with the distinct smell of leeks lingering in our collective nostrils by Ian Gregson who, of all things, has a particular interest in the creative potential of critical theory. Really! After the break the star of the evening, our very own Genny Rahtz will read from her new collection called ‘Sky Burial’ which is the latest publication by the Flux Gallery Press. Genny will be available to sign copies of her new collection during the break. Our resident jazz band Des the Miner will also be playing. So please come along. Entry is free and refreshments will be available.
Comrades 27th of November 2010 at 7.30pm
We are pleased to announce that the old comrades Douglas Houston and T. F. Griffin will be reading together in a rare spirit of solidarity and defiance at the Flux Gallery on the 27th of November 2010 starting at 7.30 pm. Douglas and Tony both appeared in the famous ‘Rumoured City’ anthology in the early eighties. Tony will be reading from his new spoken word CD which will be available for sale during the interval. There will be jazz music and the usual hospitality. Admission is free. No excuses!
The Flux Gallery presents World Story 20th November 2-5pm
Come and join Murray Edscer for an afternoon of improvisation and performance on Saturday the 20th of November from 2-5pm. The afternoon will revolve around a series of experimental exercises focused on the art and craft of storytelling. You will be delighted by the creative and informal atmosphere that pervades the Flux Gallery helping you to release your creative potential and encouraging you to enjoy yourself in the process.
An Experimental Workshop:
– how to base stories on anything;
– how to perform and improvise;
– how to use other languages;
– how to use sound effects, lighting, and music.
The session is led by Murray Edscer, writer and actor, held at the Flux, 16A Midland road, LS6 1BQ, and costs £3/£5.
Enquiries; (0113) 2744391
Ulysses Reading Group
Was this the year you were going to read James Joyce’s Ulysses? Or did you start it and get stuck at chapter two? Maybe you just dip into your favourite bits of the novel but find other parts heavy going?
If so you might well be interested in a new group starting in Headingley in November which plans to read through Ulysses chapter by chapter.
It’s not just for newcomers to Joyce, though. Even if you consider yourself something of an expert on the novel you’ll know that there is always more to discover in Joyce’s work. We will make time at the end of each meeting for discussion.
The first meeting is on: Saturday 13 November 2010 at 7.30pm.
It’s at Muir Court, Sagar Place, St Michaels Road, Leeds. LS6 3AP.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
More information from bloomsdayleeds@btopenworld.com
Events for Autumn 2010
The Flux Gallery has a number of interesting events to help while away those long autumn and winter evenings. On Sat the 30th of October Ian Pople headlines a group of contemporary poets operating out of the vibrant Manchester poetry scene. In November we are launching our latest collection of poetry ‘Sky Burial’ by Genny Rahtz. She will be reading from her collection accompanied by Doug Houston who appeared with Genny in the famous ‘Rumored City’ collection edited by Douglas Dunn with a foreword by Phillip Larkin. In December we are hosting a launch of a new poetry collection by the redoubtable Milner Place. See further details below.
Fancy and Imagination: Beardsley and the Book Illustrators
Fancy and Imagination: Beardsley and the Book Illustrators
16 November 2010 – 12 February 2011
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds University
Treasures of book illustration from the University of Leeds collections and private collections. The exhibition celebrates the richness and variety of this medium in the vibrant period between 1890 and the 1920s, including major illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, Kay Nielsen and Jessie M. King.
Opening Night: Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 6-8pm
The Gallery exhibition is complemented by a display titled ‘Printers, Presses and Processes: The Book as a Whole 1890-1900′ in the Special Collections entrance foyer concentrating on Beardsley’s contemporaries, particularly William Morris and his Kelmscott Press. The special display showcases the work of book designers, illustrators, and printers such as Morris and Charles Ricketts, the private presses they founded, and the way in which different processes affected book production and illustration in that period. The books and periodicals in this display all come from Special Collections, primarily from the Fay and Geoffrey Elliott Collection. Visitors who are not members of the library or University staff are advised to arrange their entry to the University Library in advance to avoid disappointment.
Douglas Houston Biography
Douglas Houston was born in Cardiff in 1947and grew up in the Glasgow and London areas. From 1968 onwards, his poetry appeared intermittently in various publications, but did not attract much notice until work he had begun writing on his return to Hull University as a postgraduate in 1978 was featured in Douglas Dunn’s A Rumoured City: New Poets from Hull (1982). His widely acclaimed first collection, With the Offal Eaters (1986), was followed by The Hunters in the Snow (1995) and The Welsh Book of the Dead (2000). Beyond the Playing Fields: New and Selected Poems 1980-2010 was published in 2010. His poetry has appeared in numerous definitive anthologies including Danny Abse’s Twentieth-Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry (1997), Sean O’Brien’s The Firebox (1998), and Meic Stephens’s Poetry 1900-2000.
Leeds 6 by Pamela Scobie
There are no children in this street,
No sticks start conkers from the trees,
No nappies conga in the breeze,
No breeze; only a restless heat,
Busy with flies round bursting bins,
Where some old pensioner with rotted lungs
Shuffles and wheezes, muttering among
Crushed cartons, half-gnawed pizzas, bottles, tins,
Stale newspapers, insanitary things…
A door bangs, and another perfect blonde
In footless tights and dinky little top,
Lugs out a reeking mattress, props it up
Against the portico; then glances round
A final moment at the mess of terms
She’s leaving: dingy pillows bagged
Like corpses in black plastic, duvet dragged
Onto the grass to pullulate and squirm.
Outside the gate, a broken toilet rears
Heraldic. and a slither fo CDs
Puddles the pavement underneath the trees;
Dead shoes, crunched clothes, a bike with broken gears…
A horn pips from the shiny little car
(“Prezzie from Pops for passing my exams!”).
She skips to join the giggling girlies crammed
Inside – and then they’re off to Cheltenham Spa,
Or Penge or Sevenoaks or Potter’s Bar…
Only the old, the dispossessed, the mad,
Poets, and the incorrigibly poor
Who live up steps in flats with metal doors,
Creep out now to reclaim what space they had
For a few blazing weeks this time last year.
But now come landlords in their four-by-fours,
Painters and pointers, gardeners with chainsaws,
And next term’s punters with their mums and dads,
Looking about for trendy Georgian pads.
We pass among them, faceless and ignored.
We’ve all next autumn to look forward to,
And the unresting thud of drum and bass.
This is a place youth passes through
On its way to somewhere else.
Learning from the Vikings by T. F. Griffin
In tumultuous dreams
Of a Viking past,
And nightmares
Of a nuclear blast
I know in waking,
That dark Arctic days and nights
They spent in chess and poetry,
In honour of nature,
Inhospitable,
But feeder of their souls.
And in the moment of light
After the sweating dark,
In a moment that seems
Like Eden in all its purity,
I turn to see your sleeping head,
And in Love’s knowledge
See clarified
That everything again
Has reached out to survive this hour.
Under a Child’s Summer by T. F. Griffin
There was a new heat
Which was still,
The garden empty
As the sky was full:
Unguarded, I built an open house
From an old chair
And settled for a vast dream
In a wooden place:
And then as there was no action
(No voice from the sun)
I took this gentle aim
At a tree’s bough,
And the plunging fruit
Made me fire.
I grew tired in shades
In the lessening heat;
Took my chair
And found it cold
Both inside and out.
I built a nest
From the fallen bough
And lived there as a home.
Strangeness grew there as a quilt,
Lapping my discarded chair
And the emptying sky.
I peered from the folds,
Wrapping the stars around my skin.
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