The following artists participated in the 2019 Art Exhibit:

  1. Barbara Swail, Dawson Creek, BC
    Words Rising (inspired by Erin Moure’s “Purpose”)
    Watercolour, ink, chalk & coffee on paper
  2. mary mottishaw, Dawson Creek, BC
    contemplation (inspired by Erin Moure’s “Purpose”)
    mixed media
  3. Sara Norquay, Edmonton, AB
    A Bench (inspired by Erin Moure’s “Purpose”)
    Linocut
  4. Sara Norquay, Edmonton, AB
    A Walk (inspired by Erin Moure’s “Purpose”)
    Linocut
  5. Sara Norquay, Edmonton, AB
    A Filament of Sun (inspired by Erin Moure’s “Purpose”)
    Linocut
  6. Milka Meyer, Dawson Creek, BC
    Purple Moon (inspired by Kym Gouchie’s “Purple Fingers”
    Acrylic
  7. Ilia Reschny, Rolla, BC
    My Smoke Signal (inspired by Billy-Ray Belcourt’s “Love is a Moontime Teaching”
    Acrylic
  8. Ilia Rreschny, Rolla, BC
    Rooted in the Forest (inspired by Billy-Ray Belcourt’s “Love is a Moontime Teaching”
    Acrylic
  9. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Denise Gardiner, Moberly Lake, BC
    Inspired by “X Marks the Spot” by Karl Mattson, Rolla, BC
  10. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Marilyn Belak, Dawson Creek, BC
    Inspired by “Bank Series #14” by Barbara Swail, Dawson Creek, BC
  11. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    “Alchemy” by Pamela den Ouden, Fort St. John, BC
    Inspired by “Qualicum Beach” by Kenneth Lane, Fort St. John, BC
  12. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Seanah Roper, Fort Nelson, BC
    Inspired by “REM Encounter” by Joel Leite, Fort St. John, BC
  13. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Seanah Roper, Fort Nelson, BC
    Inspired by “Winter in Pineview” by Margaret May, Fort St. John, BC
  14. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Seanah Roper, Fort Nelson, BC
    Inspired by “Trump “Making America Great Again”’ by Maureen Mohr, Fort St. John, BC
  15. Ekphrastic Writing Contest Winner
    Poem by Norma Rrae, Fort St. John, BC
    Inspired by “New Beginnings” by Margaret Mabius, Chetwynd, BC

Calling all artists region-wide – quilters, potters, painters, sculptors – whatever your discipline, we want to see your visual response to poems by three of our feature writers for this year’s Wild Words North – Billy-Ray Belcourt, Kym Gouchie, and Erin Moure. Below you will find the selected poems from which to draw your inspiration. The guidelines are as follows. For all information on submitting work, you can download our Call for Entries Words North Art Exhibit Brochure.

1. There is no Entry Fee
2. Artists can submit up to three pieces
3. Work can be inspired by one poem, a part of a poem, or a combination of lines from all three poems
4. Deadline for Registration is September 6, 2019
5. Work must be dropped off by September 21, 2019
6. Opening will be Thursday, September 26, 2019

To access our guidelines, click on the following links:

  1. Words North Art Exhibit Entry Form AB
  2. Words North Art Exhibit Artist Statement Form C

In you require any further information, please contact Donna Kane at dkane@pris.ca .

FEATURE POEMS
Billy-Ray Belcourt
Love is a Moontime Teaching
(from The Wound is a World: Poems, Frontenac Press, 2017)
love is a moontime teaching
is your kookum’s crooked smile when you pick up the phone
is another word for body
body is another word for campfire smoke
campfire smoke is the smell he leaves behind in the bed sheets
after the breakup
the word for hate sex is forest
forest sometimes means hope or lonely (depends on who you ask)
lonely is a move called taxi zum klo about white gay men
who risk tiptoeing through desire’s
minefields for ten minutes of something better than living
living is going to bingo to pay the bills after you quit your job
that barely paid the bills
paying the bills is sometimes a metaphor for cancer
cancer is a diagnosis handed down to an 18-year-old girl from the rez
the rez is another word for body
the body is a myth
is the only good news the doctor gives you when your cells run amok
amok is the border that the skin doesn’t remember how to secure
anymore
anymore is the feeling you get when a police officer pulls you over
because he thinks you’re driving a stolen vehicle
a stolen vehicle is the nickname you give to love
love is the nickname you give to the hole in the wall from that time
your cousin’s boyfriend punched it
a hole in the wall is what you call the present and the labour it takes
to survive

Kym Gouchie
Purple Fingers
Train whistle blowing loud
rain starts to fall
On this heart of mine
On this heart of mine
Full moon rising high across the northern sky
Stars shine bright
Stars shine bright
The salmon are running now             
fish camps set up on the shore
River flows by
River flows by
Huckleberry picking time
buckets sit full on the ground
Purple fingers
Purple fingers
Winter is coming soon
leaves start to fall
Around me
Around me

Erin Moure
Purpose
(from The Elements, House of Anansi, 2019)
To draw text as one draws water from the zone
beneath the house.

To articulate all the texts of a life, as they arise.
Not separating them into poems and essays.

Creating spaces for words on pages as if they were walks or
benches.

Drinking coffee.

Drinking another coffee.
Sun on the wall. Just
sun.

A sincere thanks to our 2019 Wild Words North Supporters.