I will be retiring Poetry Apothecary at the end of 2020! It's been an inspirational, alchemical journey since I started the project in 2016. Creatively, I've achieved what I set out to do, and now feels like a good time to document that, while making space for other things to come in. Will I still be working with alchemy and perfumery? I dare say, yes! They remain core interests of mine, and will likely continue to find expression in my work in some shape or form. I've written a short history of the Apothecary below. I will be letting this website close in December 2020, but will create an archive page over on my main website. So keep in touch at: www.rebeccajoysharp.com.

 

In 2016 I was invited to be Poet-Perfumer in Residence for StAnza: Scotland's International Poetry Festival, following work I'd been doing around poetry and perfumery (and I'd like to thank artist Jean Johnstone for coining the 'Poet-Perfumer' title!). StAnza Festival Director Eleanor Livingstone invited me to create a site-specific installation within the St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum, which amazingly, happens to house a reconstruction of a Victorian chemist's shop. It was there that I first created Five Charms for the Potingair, an interactive installation of poems and scent-blends, inspired by the medieval alchemists. In 2017 I released this work as a limited edition box-set of the poems and scent-blends - "irresistible" Times Literary Supplement. I went on to release other limited edition literary perfumes-as-artworks: Kimberley, made for the Patti Smith song; Bosco's Tower, after a passage in The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, referencing Henri Bosco's novel l'Antiquaire; Mackinaw, after the song Kimbie by Jackson C Frank; and POETA after writer Muriel Spark (with artist Michael Curran). Now sold out, I'm happy to make these to order while supplies last - please enquire: [email protected]

 

In 2016 I also launched the Poetry Apothecary workshop, where we explore connections between poetry and alchemy; working with essential oils to compose original scent-blends with writing. The workshop has taken place several times at Falkland Centre for Stewardship in Fife; at The Ecology Centre (Kinghorn); Beckside Books (Penrith) with Wild Women Press; Wall Projects (Montrose) and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. I would like to thank everyone who has supported and participated in the workshops - I really enjoyed sharing those experiences with you all!

 

Finally, in 2019 I was invited by Fife Contemporary to bring Poetry Apothecary into a project called CARE: Making For Good - working with a group of adult carers in Fife, supporting them in the design and creation of their own range of products. It was a joy to spend time and work with the group; allowing us to connect through ideas and creative practice in exactly the way I always hoped Poetry Apothecary would. Fife Contemporary has future plans for the CARE project, so it seems like the perfect note to end on, as well as a way for the Apothecary to continue to evolve.  Wishing you fragrant travels! - RS