Collaborating with the Muses:
A Constellation of Word, Sound and Image
Studio 116 will host “Collaborating with the Muses… A Constellation of Word, Sound and Image” on Saturday, November 14 at 5pm, bringing together three local creatives for an evening that explores the ways poetry, imagery and sound can inspire and transform one another.
The event features poets and writers Tenzin Z Morgana and Karen Luke Jackson, along with Priscilla Yokote, creator of the Cloud Moon New Beginnings YouTube channel. Through readings, video and conversation, the three artists will share a collaborative process that has unfolded over the past several years.
Morgana and Jackson have each recently published collections of poetry and prose, while Yokote has created montage videos inspired by their work. Combining their words with imagery and sound, Yokote’s videos offer another way to experience the poems—allowing the written word to move beyond the page and into a multi-sensory world.
At the center of their collaboration are themes of the unseen: creative energy, spirit, mystery, nature and the elusive presence often called the muse. The evening will invite audiences into that creative space through readings from the authors, screenings of Yokote’s videos, and a conversation about the process of bringing the three disciplines together. The evening will include light refreshments and an opportunity for attendees to experience the work, meet the artists and join the conversation.
Karen Luke Jackson has led programs and retreats for clergy, nonprofit leaders, teachers and interfaith groups for more than twenty-five years through the Center for Courage & Renewal, founded by Parker J. Palmer. Her most recent book, You First: A Love That Will Not Let Me Go, combines poetry and essays drawn from her spiritual journey. Her previous poetry collections include GRIT, The View Ever Changing, and If You Choose To Come. Her work has appeared in more than forty journals, and she lives in Flat Rock, where she draws inspiration from the Blue Ridge Mountains, home, community and the natural world.
Tenzin Z Morgana, a native of New Orleans who now lives in Flat Rock, has spent nearly three decades immersed in contemplative and mystical traditions, including Tibetan Buddhism, Indigenous teachings, nature-based traditions and the Path of the Priestess. A lifelong writer, Contemporary Priestess: Whispers from Outside of Time is her first venture into sharing her writings with a wider audience. Her work seeks to weave ancient and archetypal wisdom into everyday life and give voice to things that can be difficult to express in conventional terms.
Priscilla Yokote, through her Cloud Moon New Beginnings YouTube channel, has translated the written work of Morgana and Jackson into video montages that bring together their words, imagery and sound. The videos became a creative conversation of their own—an exploration of what happens when poetry is experienced not only through reading, but through sight and sound.