September News

September News

Saturday September 22
FILM PREMIERE
BASIL KING : MIRAGE
co-directed by Nicole Peyrafitte
&
 Miles Joris-Peyrafitte 
at Anthology Film Archives 
32 2nd Ave – NYC
More below

Sunday September 30
PERFORMANCE
Arts for Art In Garden Series presents:
Reflect  Remember Mark
Nicole Peyrafitte & Michael Bisio
4PM @ 6BC Botanical Garden
6th St. (between Av. B & C) NYC
More below

Saturday September 22
FILM PREMIERE
BASIL KING: MIRAGE

We are really exited about the premiere of our 22 mn documentary film on painter & poet Basil King at Anthology Film Archive.
This is a family affair since Miles & I directed the film & Joseph Mastantuono (my elder son) is the associate producer.
The film was commisioned by The Friends of Basil King  & shot in Basil King’s studio in January.
It will be part of day celebration of the visual art of Basil King, now in his 77th year. Starting at 12pm on Saturday September 22 at Anthology Film Archive, the program includes panel & presentations on King’s art by noted critics and poets. The celebration will culminate in the debut screening of the film at 5:00pm.
The full schedule of the event is availalble here & more info on the film here.
A few words about Basil King:
King’s syncretic aesthetics have been shaped by his early childhood in WWII London, friendship with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, apprenticeship to Abstract Expressionist painters Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko in New York, and by his mentors and friends at Black Mountain College, including Robert Creeley, Charles Olson, and John Wieners.
Participants in the program at Anthology include Edna Augusta, William Benton, Laurie Duggan, Tom Fink, Harry Lewis, Tom Patterson, George Quasha, Barry Schwabsky, and each of The Friends of Basil King.
For more information visit these websites:
Film website 
BoogCity special issue 
Basil King website
TIME: 12-6 (film at 5PM)
LOCATION: Anthology Film Archive I 32 Second Avenue (at 2nd St.) I New York, NY 10003 I  (212) 505-5181 I See Google Map | Subway Directions
This event is free & open to the public

Sunday September 30 4PM
PERFORMANCE
Reflect-Remember-Mark
Nicole Peyrafitte & Michael Bisio

Magnificient bass player Michael Bisio will provide his rich layer of bass improvisation for a new instalment of R-R-M.
This series of performances is site/theme specific. They usually revisit events or people, traumatic or not. The performance focus is generally announced at the begining of the show.The reflection & remembrance of the chosen focus will generate visual, text & voice markings. The first installement of RRM was performed on Sept 11 2010 at Erika’s Loft & published in Emergency INDEX 2011 – Ugly Duckling Presse 2011.
Arts for Art In Garden Series
LOCATION:
6BC Botanical Garden
6th St. (between Av. B & C) NYC
($5)

 

Nicole Peyrafitte: Poems and Poetics from “Bi-Valve” | Jacket2

Nicole Peyrafitte: Poems and Poetics from “Bi-Valve” | Jacket2

Nicole Peyrafitte: Poems and Poetics from “Bi-Valve”

[Nicole Peyrafitte’s move from the French Pyrenees to the United States came in 1987, and from California to New York in the 1990s. She has emerged in the new millennium as a multifaceted collagist, painter, singer & multi-media performer, and in her newest incarnation as a poet/verbal artist who moves readily between two worlds & languages. The following, then, is in recognition of my own witnessing to that career & life & to the energies behind it. (J.R.)]

read more here
Nicole Peyrafitte: Poems and Poetics from “Bi-Valve” | Jacket2.

End of Certitude

End of Certitude

There is not much time for blogging these days, but I thought I would post an older piece I had totally forgotten about. Fin de certitude dates back to 2002 & is the prequel on how I combine visuals, texts, voice & food today.  The piece was published in the Masthead literary arts Ezine-Issue #6.  The painting -material/colors, triggered words; words triggered material/colors, then all was assembled & sung. Looking back, the end of certitude is an important dimension I need to add to things fall where they lie especially when dwelling & re-occupying my feminine folds. Definitely an a®titude I’ll pursue.

Click here to have for the full version, that included two paintings, text & translation & the song.

Whipped Cream, Crêpes & Paintings

Whipped Cream, Crêpes & Paintings


“Pensées” Oil on Canvas- 36X40
(at the Chancelerie du Consulat de France NYC)

On Saturday December 4th,  I participated to the event “Poetry-Sound-Music Intersections” at A Gathering of the Tribes organized by Chicagoan poet/trumpet Dan Godston. The performers included:
1st set: Kristin Prevallet (poetry) and Edmund Mooney (electronics)
2nd set: Nicole Peyrafitte (vocals, poetry), David Boykin (reeds), Dan Godston (trumpet).

It was a very fun gig. David and Dan created great music, I enjoyed weaving my texts through their complex and adventurous sounds. You can have the proof of the cream (no pudding here!) & listen to the first segment uploaded by Dan Godston here. Thanks to audience member and dear friend Paige Mitchell, we have a video of the event and I invite you to watch the last piece of our set at the end of this message… really, don’t miss it!

Whats cooking next? Voilà zee program for next week:

Monday, December 27 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Evolving Music / Evolving Voice
The Local 269

269 East Houston Street (corner of Suffolk)
New York, NY

7pm – Vocal Improv Session # 7
Nora McCarthy (voice), Andrea Wolper (voice), Nicole Peyrafitte (voice), Francois Grillot (Double Bass)
8pm – Jason Mears Group
Erika Dagnino (poetry), Steve Dalachinsky (words), Jason Mears (sax and clarinet), Ken Filliano (bass), Satoshi Takeishi (drums)
9pm – Grassroots
Darius Jones (alto sax), Alex Harding (bari sax), Sean Conly (bass), Chad Taylor (drums)
10pm – Steve Dalachinsky & Ken Filiano Duo
Steve Dalachinsky (poetry), Ken Filiano (bass)

January 1st 2011
We will wish you Happy New Year at:
37th ANNUAL NEW YEAR’S DAY MARATHON READING
This year Pierre Joris, Nicole Peyrafitte & Miles Joris-Peyrafitte will be performing as a trio. We are scheduled between 3 & 4PM.
Also, I have done for the past three years, I will be making crêpes in the back and this year I will also make a soup ! Why make it simple when it can be complicated, right!

The event starts at 2PM and goes until past midnight and below is the impressive list of poets & performers:

The Poetry Project
St. Mark’s Church
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003

Poets and Performers for 2011 include: John Giorno, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Philip Glass, Suzanne Vega, Taylor Mead, Eric Bogosian, Anne Waldman & Ambrose Bye, Vito Acconci,  Foamola, Anselm Berrigan, Ariana Reines, Peter Gizzi, Liz Willis, Ted Greenwald, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, The Church of Betty, Thom Donovan, Tim Griffin, Todd Colby, Tom Savage, David Shapiro, Jonas Mekas, Josef Kaplan, Judith Malina, Albert Mobilio, Alex Abelson, Maria Mirabal, Bill Kushner, David Freeman, David Kirschenbaum, Diana Rickard, Don Yorty, Dorothea Lasky, Douglas Dunn, Alan Gilbert, Alan Licht w/ Angela Jaeger, Charles Bernstein, Christopher Stackhouse, Citizen Reno, Cliff Fyman, Corina Copp, Aaron Kiely, Adeena Karasick, Bill Zavatsky, Bob Holman, Robert Fitterman, Rodrigo Toscano, Brenda Iijima, Brendan Lorber, Brett Price, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Curtis Jensen, Dael Orlandersmith, David Vogen, Derek Kroessler, Diana Hamilton, ARTHUR’S LANDING, CAConrad, Akilah Oliver, Douglas Piccinnini, John S. Hall, Samita Sinha, Sara Wintz, Secret Orchestra with special guest Joanna Penn Cooper, Shonni Enelow, Bob Rosenthal, Brenda Coultas, John Yau, Julian T. Brolaski, Evelyn Reilly, Filip Marinovich, Douglas Rothschild, Drew Gardner, Eleni Stecopoulos, Elinor Nauen, Eve Packer, Jo Ann Wasserman, Joanna Fuhrman, Dustin Williamson, E. Tracy Grinnell, Ed Friedman, Edwin Torres, Eileen Myles, Elliott Sharp, Emily XYZ, Erica Hunt, Erica Kaufman, Evan Kennedy, Joe Elliot, Joel Lewis, Frank Sherlock, Gillian McCain, Greg Fuchs, Janet Hamill, Jeremy Hoevenaar, Jessica Fiorini, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Jim Behrle, Julianna Barwick, Julie Patton, Michael Lydon, Lisa Jarnot, Maggie Dubris, Marcella Durand, Marty Ehrlich, Merry Fortune, Michael Cirelli, Kristen Kosmas, Laura Elrick, Lauren Russell, Leopoldine Core, Nina Freeman, Paolo Javier, Patricia Spears Jones, Paul Mills (Poez), Michael Scharf, Mike Doughty, Karen Weiser, Lewis Warsh, Linda Russo, Penny Arcade, Peter Bushyeager, Rebecca Moore, Mónica de la Torre, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Nathaniel Siegel, Nick Hallett, Nicole  Peyrafitte, Pierre Joris & Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Kathleen Miller, Katie Degentesh, Kelly Ginger, Ken Chen, Kim Lyons, Kim Rosenfield, India Radfar, Tonya Foster, Stephanie Gray, Susan Landers, Tony Towle, Tracie Morris, Valery Oisteanu, John Coletti, Rachel Levitsky, Edmund Berrigan, Jamie Townsend, Macgregor Card, Wayne Koestenbaum, Will Edmiston, Yoshiko Chuma, Nicole Wallace, Arlo Quint, Stacy Szymaszek and more T.B.A

General admission $20/Students & Seniors $15/Members $10.

And last, but not least, 4 large paintings and two framed collages are now at the Chancellerie of the French New York Consulate.  If you are French and  need to renew your passport or any other admin stuff you will  see them. I am very grateful to our consul, Mr Philippe Lalliot,  to have taken the initiative to have  contemporary art instead of posters! Merci to Mr. Le Consul and merci to his team for having my work displayed in their work space where 15 000 people come through each year. I have set up a webpage for information on the paintings here.

Voilà! And now Joyeux Noël and enjoy the whipping!

My Montanha & My Soup

My Montanha & My Soup

I arrived Monday afternoon in Bourg d’Oueil after a long but pleasant trip. My Pyrenean home is closer to Spain than to Paris and I am not kidding: it takes 15 minutes by car to reach the Spanish border and about 8 hours to reach Paris!  My travels began Sunday at 1:30 p.m. from our Brooklyn home and I finally reached Bourg d’Oueil on Monday at 3:30 p.m. local time or 9 a.m. Brooklyn time. After taking two planes, two buses, and two car rides I reached our little house in the village at the far end of the Valley. As my intention was to cook a soup on a live fire, the priority was to light the fire.

I had planned to get some veggies in town before my last climb up to the mountains. I arrived too late to get to the market, so my only option was the local supermarket. The offerings where pretty sad and I couldn’t come to terms with buying any of these mass produced veggies. I placed a call to my good friends Joseph & Paulette asking them if they had anything left in their Bourg d’Oueil garden. They had already winterized the garden but had plenty of veggies in their Luchon garden. Not to worry, said Paulette, Joseph will bring me leeks, celery, potatoes, chards, carrots & onions later on. Great! I can always count on them. I did hit the cheese counter and was pleased to be able to get a couple of local cheeses.


The most delightful part of the trip is the 17 kms climb from Luchon to Bourg d’Oueil. Despite the weather forecast there was neither rain nor snow but a slightly overcast sky that let me have a partial view of my mountains. Driving through the villages triggers images: In Benqué Dessus et Benqué Dessous,  it is Jules’ face, the Fournier’s house, and the cromlecs above them. Before Saint Paul d’Oueil,  the sign for Saccourvielle brings up my friend Emingo, who makes the best goat cheese I ever had, and Mme Labry, a writer who was my French teacher in high school. In Mayrègne,  I look at the old “kiosque” where I use to go eat crêpes in the summer as a child; I also think of the recently deceased mayor who was key on having me perform the Bi-Contimental Chowder/ La Garbure Continentale in the Valley.  Then comes Caubous, Cirès, and at this point I can’t think of anything else than trying to get a glimpse of the Peirahitta (my totem!)  that sits at the pass of Pierefite. And finally I reach Bourg d’Oueil the very last village at the end of the valley. I park the car and start schlepping my stuff to the house. It is almost impossible to reach the house by car, the street is so narrow,  evidence if need be that this place was not build for car traffic!



After a quick tour of the house, I lit the fire — we are at 1400m or 4600 feet  here, so the air is nippy on this November afternoon. Once the fire was going strong I started opening my stuff, got my art supplies out, opened a bottle of wine, got the cheese out and waited for Joseph et Paulette who brought the veggies at around 5:30 p.m. — they had added a jar of duck fat and one of honey, all home produced. While the soup was cooking I worked at a drawing that includes some attempts at writing in Gascon.
And then, accompanied by the sound of the stream running under the house, the crackle of the fire and the occasional ringing of the church bell, I savored my soup. The flavors are indescribable. They call on all my senses and the experience is totally gastoorgasmic!

So here is my soup:
2 generous spoons of duck fat
1 onion
2 small leeks
3 carrots
1 branch of celery
3 leafs of chard
Salt & fresh ground pepper
Grated brebis cheese

Sauté all the vegetables in order in the duck fat then add water and let cook until done. The soup is even better the next day, and of course feel free to add other veggies like beans, turnips, cabbage….

Now can you smell? Just try:

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