mountain masala

gift vouchers

it's a Mitchell tradition that if you can't give someone an actual gift on the day, because you're giving them money to choose something themselves, or it's an experience, etc, you make them a voucher.

the girls excel at making vouchers...

the Bible for idiots who like to watch

jim le page is making a poster of each book of the Bible. they're remarkable. and when i dont like them, they remind me that the book, more so than jim's art, is from a foreign place and time. thanks to maggi dawn via Facebook for this.

 

CRASSH

I've just stumbled across CRASSH - the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge University. Loads of interesting stuff. Manuel Castells is about to give some lectures about . All kinds of interesting conferences and symposia... discussion about how creativity and innovation are measured as social capital, 'digital humanities' research... definitely worth watching and a visit next time I'm in the UK.

A Menagerie of Dreams

I'm helping Pilgrim Uniting Church run another Fringe Festival event in 2012.

A Menagerie of Dreams

A wild garden of fantasy and dread. A multi-sensory encounter filled with hope and despair. Art works by local College students curated as a journey of dreams and nightmares of the soul. The exhibition features artwork by senior school students along with music, multimedia and provocative prose.

Dates: Monday 5th - Thursday 8th March, 12.00-2.00 pm, 6.00-9.00 pm. Friday 9th March, 12.00-2.00pm. Free admission.

Photo by Jonny Baker.

Our aim is to get senior students from local Uniting Church schools to submit artwork on the theme and then curate the space with additional elements so it becomes a reflective journey. The twins have joined the curation team and we're recruiting some others. Let me know if you'd like to participate!

romans 8

theology and the arts

Professor Jeremy Begbie of the Divinity School, Duke University has worked with one of Duke's senior librarians to create a WWW portal for the study of theology and the arts (DTIA - Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts). Begbie came to Duke recently from the UK and is particularly noted for his work in the area of music.

The portal is here. It contains lists of recommended readings, links to online resources such as Oxford Art Online, a fantastic list of image databases, etc.

There are also links to other arts studies areas at Duke, such as visual arts and media and the Visual Studies Initiative.

Clearly it will be a dynamic and evolving rather than static list of resources. Brilliant.

 

daily david

david lynch is apparently posting daily videos about all kinds of Qs. is he trying too hard? not sure yet, but this is a bit underwhelming... perhaps he's not trying hard enough. or perhaps it's a dream sequence that I'm not getting yet. WAIT A MINUTE. It LOOKS like david lynch...

gospel images

Asking lay preacher students to pay $50 for a textbook seems a bit steep, but Mark Allan Powell's Introducing the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2009) is such a superb book that we've done just that in our new Certificate IV unit. Powell teaches at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He has a PhD from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

Powell's writing is sharp, comprehensive, detailed and witty. "If Jesus has written his Sermon on the Mount for an English composition class, he probably would have gotten it back marked with red ink." The chapters are filled with sidebars highlighting historical, theological and interpretive issues. It's well-referenced (including Internet links) and has its own website with resources for teachers and students.

What I love about this classy, hardcover book are the colour images. It's full of both classical and contemporary (eg. He Qi) gospel images of all kinds, many of which I'd never seen before. Watch a video about the book by the author here. Thanks to Vicky and Liz from Uniting College for finding the book and putting the study unit together.

beggar inc

grace is doing introductory sculpture this semester, and this somewhow includes performance art

beggar inc is a simple but clever idea that suggests further possibilities, to me at least.

his litter mandala appeals to me a lot.

it remains to be seen whether grace's public rundle mall performance art video will see the public realm!

art galleries must embrace cyberspace

continuing the quotes about museums and galleries as stimulation for thinking about church, sacred space, mission, worship, etc.... but also with a digital edge.

"Art museums are fundamentally about space: the space a painting takes up on a wall; the space occupied by a sculpture; the space between exhibit and viewer. Increasingly, as museums embrace the digital age, that space also means cyberspace."

art galleries must embrace cyberspace

not unexpectedly, the whole conversation reflects what has, is or will take place in the church.