I have just had the most inspirational and creative time at Hawkwood as the Artist in Residence. I had hoped to put the final touches to my poetry pamphlet, The Presence of Absence, a collection focusing on Alzheimer’s—based on my lived experience and work I had just finished doing with biomedical researchers at my local university. I had planned to work on the final layout and do some edits but ended up doing much more.
Being able to walk in the woods, enjoy the natural spring, and meet fellow creators led to plenty of new work as well. I had my own study, and all my time indoors was spent working with words. Days were punctuated only with walks on the grounds and the nurturing food created by the wonderful kitchen team.
Artists, Retreat
(And the same day the first COVID vaccine was administered in the UK)
The puppeteers have been unable to come, they're in Bristol, which is tier 3,
so, I'll have to create the puppet poem on my own, imagine the talk of strings
and tangles and the potential problems of outside influences, like the wind.
And the importance of lying the puppets out flat especially as they get older
and their joints become creakier if left unoiled and exposed, or out in the cold
and how really old ones are made from wood and are very costly to maintain, and how some people don't see puppeteering as an art and labour in its own right they don't value the effort it takes to be controlled completely by something else.
Jane Thomas
Jane Thomas is currently working on a pamphlet on the subject of Alzheimer’s, drawing on her lived experience and collaborating with researchers and clinicians in the field. This year, her poems have been published in magazines including Stand, Envoi, The Rialto, Mslexia, ASH, Notes 62, Oxford Review of Books, ORbits, The Oakland Arts Review, and The Oxford Magazine. In 2020, she was commended in The Poetry Society Stanza Competition by Heidi Williamson and shortlisted in the Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition by Will Harris.
Jane has recently been an artist in residence at NAHR (Val Taleggio) and Hawkwood. She has completed a diploma in creative writing at the University of Oxford and is an active member of The Oxford Stanza II and Ver Poets. She is also an occasional reviewer for Sphinx.