|
Interview:
Louise Davidson. Artist, Singer and Songwriter - November
2021
Websites
Spotify
- One Point Five
Spotify
- New World
Spotify
- Journey
Spotify
- Live in Love and Be
Louise
Davidson YouTube
Profiles
Art
Creative
Creative
Arts Music
Eastern
Beaches Eastern
Suburbs
1.
How and when did you discover your talent for creative
arts?
As
long as I can remember I have expressed creatively.
I have photos of myself aged 3 dressed up in a cowgirl
outfit strumming my toy guitar and singing and I looked
like I knew what I was doing. No one in my family
played any instruments or performed in any capacity.
I can only surmise that the seed of music was inside
and bursting to come out. I remember loving that guitar
and standing in front of my nanna pretending to be
a star.
I
loved to draw, sew, write and explore all kinds of
craft activities. I made up songs and plays and immersed
myself in a landscape of creativity. I love colour
and design.
2.
How does artistic expression help you in your overall
life, and what effects do you understand it has on
others?
Whether
it be painting, writing songs or poetry I experience
artistic expression as a powerful vehicle for healing
and giving voice, whether it be through sound or imagery,
as the expression of the Soul into the world. Art
is giving form to the formless and sound from silence.
It is a cycle of giving and receiving of the spirit
of life and love which I experience as weaving a rich
tapestry bringing people together to share in the
spirit of creation.
A lot of my artwork also ends up as designs for fabric.
3.
What do you consider to be the biggest life and career
challenges and highlights so far?
The
biggest challenge for me on both fronts has been to
trust there is a place for my art in the world. I
have also spent the majority of my adolescence and
adult life dealing with chronic pain from a spinal
injury. Living in the world with major challenges
is not easy. I would say my
hi-light was to sing Amazing Grace for a few thousand
people at a conference in Los Angeles. Getting to
that conference was a major win for me and to have
the honour to sing was the icing on the cake.
4.
Explain your connection with nature, Mother Earth,
and your beautiful song of the same name?
I
wrote Earth Mother in the early 90's. I had just started
playing guitar and experimenting with strumming chords.
I was sitting in the backyard strumming and the lyrics
and tune for Earth Mother came through. In a way it's
like a prayer for mother earth. When I consider the
planet we inhabit and what Mother Earth, both is and
represents to us all as children of the cosmos, I
feel a deep sense of grief for this land we call home
for a while. I feel as though I can hear her crying
out just as many of us cry out at various times in
our lives. Unheard, the cycles of violence are allowed
to continue. Mother Earth is our home and our mirror.
She, like the rest of us wants and needs to be loved
and respected.
5.
How do you decide whether to write songs, or draw
art, or does it just happen organically, where no
or little thought goes into that?
It's
very much an organic process. I allow myself to be
a conduit for the creative life force to move through
me.
6.
How has the internet helped spread the message of
your art and music globally, and what was the experience
like with CD Baby, in getting much of your music onto
Spotify?
CD
Baby is great. The process is pretty straightforward
in uploading music to them and they distribute it
to the streaming platforms.
7.
What's some of the best compliments you've received
on your music and art?
Generally
people tell me they like the colour, texture and diversity
of my paintings and people often comment on how unique
they are. Many people say they feel happy looking
at them and they feel drawn in by them.
Feedback
I have received about my music is that, I write heartfelt
authentic stories and the overall vibe is relaxing
to listen to. I have heard from a few people that
they find my album "Journey" good to drive
to because the music has momentum and the style of
singing is relaxing.
I
have heard from a number of people that my song New
World, which I wrote when the pandemic started, sounds
like a Disney theme song, which leads me to thinking
about Disney stories being about new and higher ways
of living.
One
Point Five was also written when the pandemic started.
It was a way of focusing on keeping active and fit
in a time of great stress, while also focusing on
the good and how to make a challenging time fun.
8.
What was the main inspiration or catalyst that led
you to write the children's book, 'Captain Featherhead'?
I
had a cockatiel named Benjamin Edward Fields's who
was a very cheeky and unique bird. He was quite stubborn
at times and one day he was sitting on the wooden
frame of a mirror I had in my lounge room. He started
chewing at the wood and was being defiant when I tried
to get him down. Eventually I got frustrated and said
"Right Captain Featherhead that's enough!"
The next thing I know I have written a poem which
I turned into a book.
The
next thing I know, a poem came pouring forth, which
after reading a few times, I saw the potential for
it to be a children's book and so I set the intention
to bring it forward into the world and followed the
steps through to completion. The process was both
fulfilling and one of expanding and growing as I kept
moving beyond my comfort zone to see it through to
the manifestation of a finished product.
9.
As both an artist and a person in general, what do
you feel is your main mission and purpose?
To
be open to allow the divine to express through me
for others to experience.
10.
What's this we hear of your community involvement
with the baths off the Coogee to Maroubra Coastal
Walk in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs?
I
have been a volunteer in various capacities at McIver's
Ladies Baths for close to 20 years. Firstly I began
by picking up rubbish around the grounds, cleaning
leaves out of the pool and hosing out the change room.
I began to get to know people who were part of the
managing committee and I began to help out cleaning
the clubhouse. I was invited to join the committee
and after considering that for a month, I accepted.
Over the last 4 years and especially over the course
of the pandemic I have volunteered in a whole new
capacity, helping to manage through extremely challenging
circumstances under NSW Heath regulations and the
general sense of collective fear in the air. It has
been a difficult time to navigate with no preparation.
The pandemic and the restrictions on peoples lifestyles
raised a high level of fear which I witnessed being
played out. To be in a position of being the recipient
of energy of fear was a very challenging place to
be. It tested my capacity moment to moment as I volunteered
almost every day of last swimming season and through
the COVID lockdown in the winter of 2020 when we operated
on restricted hours. The primary objective was to
keep McIver's safe for the patrons and give access
to as many women and children as possible. There are
a number of patrons with compromised immune systems
and women who work in the hospital. Maintaining a
COVID safe environment in an outdoor space was a big
challenge. Gratefully we had some amazing staff and
volunteers who worked with us to meet the challenges.
I
was very aware of the distress that so many people
were experiencing, including myself. It was my responsibility
as part of the management to be on duty, honestly
though I was not at all comfortable being at The Baths.
I'd have preferred to go to sleep for a couple of
years and wake up to find the pandemic over. Given
the way I felt, I stood one day looking out across
the sea and asked, "What can I give everyone
at this time to help them have a vision to carry them
through and this poem came pouring forth as my gift
to the Community of McIver's both near and far.
SOLACE
© Louise Davidson 25-07-20
McIver's
you are our solace
A beauty rare is she
Set among the cliff face
Of this land wild and free
On this ancient sacred ground
Love permeates the air
Beyond the roaring sound
Is the peace we come to share
As varied as we are
As many roads we travel
Under one bright star
We come here to unravel.
McIver's we love you
You are etched into our being
We stand by you and protect you
Our time with you is freeing
The beauty of your grounds
The whispers from your trees
The wildlife which surrounds
The marine life of your seas
You are home to much beauty
You'll be here when we are gone
We endeavour to protect you
So you may live on and on
11.
What's your motto?
To
leave things better than I found them.
12.
What's your main focus and current projects?
My
main focus is to birth the best version of myself
into the world through the vehicle of creative expression.
My current projects are more adventurous tales in
the life of Captain Featherhead. The stories have
been written. I am seeking an illustrator.
I
am working on songs and putting together collections
of poetry.
end.
Ed:
We
were delighted to make Louise's acquaintance in the
Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. In our estimation Louise
is one of the regions most creative artist types.
We expect to be hearing more of her success in the
near future. And, Louise is currently seeking the
right illustrator to work with, so if you think you
are the right illustrator for this amazing talent,
contact her today!
Contact
gracefullyrising@gmail.com
(Music)
gr8cefield@gmail.com
(Media and Business)
Websites
Spotify
- One Point Five
Spotify
- New World
Spotify
- Journey
|
