Run with the Fire performances and art talks

We had a great launch night for the 'Run with the Fire' exhibition. It was a packed event with some memorable performances in the context of a stimulating and eclectic show. I read The Mark, a Mark of the Cross meditation and my Run with the Fire poem:

Stripped down - free of weights and encumbrance -

muscles taut and trained, eyes on the prize -

on track, no turning back - forgetting what is behind,

straining toward what is ahead, winged feet

bearing tongues of flame - inextinguishable flickers

of hope, the torch passed on through generations,

message of victory - peace, goodwill to all.

How lovely are the feet - run red-raw, blistered

and calloused, dust-encrusted yet lithe as leopards

and fleet as foxes - which pound the mountains,

hills, valleys and plains, echoing through history

from Marathon to London via Jerusalem.

It was great to read poetry to an audience which included Steve Turner, whose poetry and music journalism - including Up To Date and Hungry for Heaven among others - I've appreciated greatly over the years.  

The Launch Night provided the first opportunity to see the exhibition which includes ceramics, paintings and sculptures, together with a digital exhibition on Olympic/Pentecost themes. Performances by singer-songwriter and poet Malcolm Guite, artist-musician Colin Burns, musician-poet Steve Scott and performance poet Tamsin Kendrick added to the exploration of the exhibition's theme - running life's race with passion and spirit.

Tamsin Kendrick performed vibrant, earthy poems based on the parable of the Prodigal Son and Psalm 139, Steve Scott shared work in progress based on incidents from John's Gospel, Colin Burns played three pieces from his debut CD Emerald&Gold, while Malcolm Guite made a great job of linking themes from the artworks and other performances with poems from his sonnet sequence for the Church Year and from his CD Dancing through the fire.
I'll be giving a talk at the exhibition as part of a programme of art talks and painting demonstrations on Saturday 26th May:

• Painting demonstration – Harvey Bradley, ongoing throughout the day. See Harvey work on a painting and discuss his approach with him.
• The Spiritual Image in Modern Art - Mark Lewis, 11.30am. A broad overview of the spiritual impulse in the art forms of the modern world and their potential to turn our minds to higher things.
• Run with the Fire – Steve Scott, 12.30pm. A talk about the ‘Run with the Fire’ project and DVD.
• Stanley Spencer – A Visionary of our Time – Mark Lewis, 2.00pm. A talk which examines the life and work of one of Britain’s most renowned and eccentric 20th Century painters. The main themes include Spencer’s time as a war artist, and his extraordinary paintings which envision the Christian Gospels played out by the people in his beloved home town of Cookham.
• Praying with our eyes open – Glenn Lowcock, 3.00pm. A talk on using images as an aid to prayer.
• Emotional Tourist – Steve Scott, 4.00pm. What I am learning about art, life, spirituality, Trinity, and relational aesthetics from my travels in Bali and elsewhere.
• Christian influences on modern & contemporary art – Jonathan Evens, 5.00pm. A broad overview of modern and contemporary art and artists which engage with Christianity.

The Run with the Fire exhibition is at the Strand Gallery (32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP) and can be seen from 22nd - 27th May (11.00am - 6.00pm, Sunday 11.00am - 2.00pm), as part of the Pentecost Festival. The event listing for the exhibition and launch night can be found at: http://www.pentecostfestival.co.uk/ai1ec_event/run-with-the-fire-exhibition/?instance_id=873. Directions to the gallery are at: https://www.proudonline.co.uk/contact.aspx.

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Tamsin Kendrick - This City Needs A Hero.