When we first met with Kristy and Paul of Speak Easy Art Gallery, they excitedly shared Elisabeth Ladwig's artwork with us. At first glance we could see that her photographs were filled with deep emotion and told such powerful stories through their imagery, we knew this was going to be a great event to work together on.
We invited poets, spoken word artists, and musicians to join us as we teamed up with Speak Easy Art Gallery to present Community Musings, a collaborative event brought together through inspiration and creative reverie. Through Inspired “Introspection” the community further explored Elisabeth Ladwig’s metaphors through writing and music.
On Friday, March 3 2017, at the Speak Easy Art Gallery in Boonton, NJ - Arianne Peterson, Mike Z., and Eric Fielo put together a great musical performance of the community's poetry. Carolyn Messina, wrote and performed a song titled Walk with Me, inspired by Elisabeth Ladwig's artwork and her conversations with the artist.
It was a powerful night in Boonton, you could truly feel Elisabeth's artwork alive in the music and spoken word performances. I watched as everyone who entered the gallery enjoyed the performances by our LIFE Center Stage community and Elisabeth's art with a sense of wonder and delight. Elisabeth Ladwig watched the performances and listened to the spoken word intently with a smile on her face. She seemed happy and humbled that her work created such a spark of inspiration in us all. It was amazing to experience first-hand this co-creative experience.
We hope you will join us for one of our Creative Socials so you can experience it for yourself.
Creative Socials at LIFE Center Stage offer the opportunity for our community to come together, participate, nurture, grow, express and exchange these budding seeds of self-expression in a safe recovery-friendly environment. Our artful and inspiring gatherings are designed with the intention of sparking the seed of creative genius that lies dormant within each one of us.
There are forums for music, writing, poetry, family drumming, improv and much more in the works. It is our intention at LIFE Center Stage to partner with you, our local community, to offer an alternative to a commute into “The City” to experience the raw, passionate, emerging and brilliant talent that is available right here in our own “living room social salon.” Come join us for an interactive experience or simply listen in and enjoy “artfulness in play.”
Word Crafters hosted by Ari Petersen
We are a friendly group of writers who express ourselves through our love of the written word. Writing is our craft and poetry and prose, story and song, novels and blogs are our tools. Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Community Musings hosted by Mike Z. Merging Music, Spoken/Written Word & Visual Arts. This is a great co-creative experience you don’t want to miss! An event for you to join with your peers in eclectic and collective play with instruments, voice, movement, written/spoken word and visual arts. Held on the third Friday of each month 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
You can read the poetry submitted by our community for this event below.
Afraid by Barb J LeMasters Against Time by Laurie Hart & Kim DeCicco A Turn of the Page by JLY Beyond Bullets by Nikki Busch Haiku by Andrea Grillo Spilled Tea by Arianne Petersen Taken Till by Druven Unsigned by Arianne Petersen Untitled by Karen Hatler
Here are a few more of our favorite moments from the night!