Water Response(ability): Poets and Artists Respond to the Beauty and Decline of Water and Ice

Donations welcome

This event is presented in partnership with Yvonne Blomer and sponsored by Caitlin Press, the publisher of Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice and the other two anthologies in the trilogy. 

On the weekend of World Poetry Day (March 21) and World Water Day (March 22) Yvonne Blomer and Open Space Arts Society will pull you into a new revolution, where language and metaphor are the vessels from which we celebrate and engage with water: sweet, oceanic and frozen, to deepen our understanding and enact our activism for the future of our most precious resource, water.

The weekend will include a celebration of a trilogy with the launch and readings from Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice, the final instalment in Yvonne Blomer’s third water-focused poetry anthology, alongside visual art, video installations, water education and public engagement.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, March 21, 2026 (World Poetry Day)

12 - 5pm   Exhibit of visual art, videos and knowledge displays

• Visual art by Natasha van Nettan
• Cover art and poster art by Sharon Montgomery
• Videos by Slava Bart, Gary Barwin, Fiona Tinweil Lam, and Grace Salez
• CRD “One Drop” Water Table
• Water Hope and Fear Display

12:30 - 2pm Ekphrastic poetry and collage workshops

• With Yvonne Blomer, Julie Paul, Regan Rasmussen, and Marie Metaphor Specht

5:30pm Evening program

• Book sales by Munro’s Books

7 - 9pm Poet Readings and Performance Art

*Attending remotely?
Watch the Poet Readings and Performance Art via Zoom
Meeting ID: 825 5350 8160
Passcode: 948800 

• Poets in order of appearance:
• 1st set of readers: Lorne Daniel, slava bart, Fiona Tinwei Lam, John Barton, Marlene Grand Maitre, Barbara Pelman
• 2nd set of readers: Marie Metaphor Specht, Barbara Herringer, Danielle Janesee, Cornelia Hoogland, Jeremy Loveday, Julie Paul
• 3rd set of readers: Christine Smart, Pamela Medland, Rhona McAdam, Arleen Pare, Catherine Owen, Kyeren Regher
• Performance Art: Judith Price, Grace Salez, Jane Storey

Sunday, March 22, 2026 (World Water Day)

12 - 3pm   Exhibit of visual art, videos and knowledge displays

• Visual art by Natasha van Nettan
• Cover art and poster art by Sharon Montgomery
• Videos by Slava Bart, Gary Barwin, Fiona Tinweil Lam, and Grace Salez
• CRD “One Drop” Water Table
• Water Hope and Fear Display

12:30 - 2pm Ekphrastic poetry and collage workshops

• With Yvonne Blomer, Julie Paul

3 - 5pm Poet Readings

• Poets in order of appearance:
• 1st set of readers: DC Reid, Erin Brown-John, Judith Lapadat, Ulrike Narwani, Andrea McKenzie Raine
• 2nd set of readers: Kate Braid, Cynthia Woodman Kerkham, Jennifer Cassidy, Murray Mann, and Heidi Greco

Thank you to all the volunteers!
Lorne Daniel, Kelly Edwards, Rupert Gadd, Danielle Janess, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Kevin Logie, Marie Metaphor Specht, Julie Paul, Regan Rasmussen, Faro Sullivan