mountain masala

spirituality, creativity and culture

in march next year we'll have jonny baker and cheryl lawrie here, partnering with steve taylor (who will then be a 'local') and tim hein for a week of seminars, public conversations and art installations titled "a spirit of wonder."

A Spirit of Wonder: Brochure (1.2mb)

a central part of the week is an Adelaide Fringe Festival event. called "the landscape of desire", it will be an interactive, multi-sensory installation space at Pilgrim Uniting Church in the centre of the city. jonny and cheryl will curate it with support from me.

really looking forward to the whole thing. if you like the look of it, come along or send some people.

tord bootnje

thanks to maddy for the link to the website of dutch artist tord boontje, currently living in france. wonderful installation stuff!

coming events

details of some coming events:

in a few weeks time we have a visitor from Oxford, Revd Henry Kirk here to lead a couple of sessions on using are in preaching, teaching and pastoral care. monday 27 and tuesday 28 july.

Download Henry Kirk brochure

we have several topics in for aged care chaplains and volunteers starting at the end of july.

Download Aged Care brochure

Steve Taylor will be back in town for a week in early August as the keynote speaker at "breathe", our national in-service for children, youth and family workers. we'll be taking the opportunity for these:

"Culture with a K(iwi)" - a day seminar on mission as local culture-making - Sat 1 August. Brochure out later this week.

Download "Culture with a K" poster

[re]generate with steve will be monday night 3 august. postcard out soon!

there'll also be a coaching session for those who participated in steve's coaching series last year. we know who you are - you'll be contacted shortly.

also a reminder that mark pierson will be in town 14-18 september, son we'll have a [re]generate mon 14 september. more details soon!

a remarkable afternoon

since being crook, i haven't posted regarding my time on the sunshine coast. during our meeting, a couple of people ducked out one afternoon to visit 'a local artist'. i found out when they returned that in fact they were visiting the widow of renowned indian christian artist frank wesley. i have known of frank's work for years, through asian christian art books, the "imaging the word" series and "seasons of the spirit". i had always assumed that frank lived in india!

it turns out that in the early 1960's a young nurse from meadows (near where we live in SA) went to india as a methodist missionary, to work as a nurse with dr geoff pike, another local from SA. her name was athalie brown and she ended up marrying frank wesley. then in 1973 they moved with two young kids to the sunshine coast, where they had to cope with the reaction to a mixed-race marriage (in Queensland in the 70's!). so while I was visiting my grandparents at caloundra, going to camps at Alex Headlands, etc, this world-renowned artist was making a meagre living in nambour! frank would paint all year, they would have an exhibition in the Anglican church hall, and that would give them money for the year. they didn't feel welcomed by the methodist church in the area. in recent years dr gerry wheeler, (now retired) UC minister in Nambour and herself an artist, became a great friend and support for them.

of course, i had to go and visit athalie (hence this story), along with alison whish who tagged along. this remarkable woman walked us through their very humble old queensland weatherboard house and showeds us painting after remarkable painting in every room in the house, then took us to frank's small studio where he had painted for years and years. (he died several years ago).

world peace on north terrace

i had a great meeting and conversation today with mark and sue, two minister-artists, about mark pierson's forthcoming visit 14-17 september. i am trying to build a loose network of churches/ministers close to the city who have an interest in the intersection between creative arts, theology and mission. somehow there are quite a few who fit that category, and who are progressive in a good sense (not just in a weird christian-label sense).

we're asking mark to work with us on 'alternative worship' and on public sacred spaces/events, something we plan to continue with jonny baker in march 2010, hopefully involving womadelaide and the fringe.

spirituality and the arts

our synod monthly magazine has a focus on spirituality and the arts, including a very short article by me on digital media...

download a copy of the issue here. (5.25 mb PDF) the edition is mainly stories - they rarely do a 'think' piece.

ocean without a shore

when we were in melbourne I spent some time at the national gallery of victoria (NGV)and the australian centre for the moving image (ACMI).The NGV has an installation of bill viola's work 'Ocean without a Shore' running for 12 months. for the uninitiated, bill viola is a world-renowned multimedia, video and installation artist and I plan to reference his work in my PhD thesis.

'ocean without a shore' was created for the 2008 venice bienniale. the piece was originally presented in a centuries old chapel above three altars. at the NGV it is in a darkened room on three walls. each of the three screens features a succession of people who appear and disappear, in ultra-slow motion (as is viola's signature). apparently there are 14 hours of video.

see images here.

the figures represent ghosts, or the dead, they walk slowly as shadowy figures towards some kind of barrier (which turns out to be a sheet of water - another viola signature). they push through the water and appear in full view, drenched and dripping, gazing in slow motion with varied expression, and then, with individuality, turn and leave.

advent in art

cityside baptist church in auckland, new zealand, does wonderful things in worship and learning, thanks in part to the leadership of mark pierson, who was the pastor there (and one of the authors of "The Prodigal Project, SPCK).

for a few years they have been making lenten and easter stuff to help people pray and learn.

here is their stuff from Advent 2008, and you'll see links to other years and events.

of course, steve taylor does lots of wonderful stuff with art and prayer and spiritual practices with his church down in Christchurch too.

starting to plan my trip to kiwiland....

this one's for mike and claire

don't you just love christian t-shirts.....

anyone for venice?

The Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale