Audio-Visual Art Exhibition 2019
In The Foyer... Post a Poem!
Surprise a loved one or friend or family members and post a poem! In an age of endless platforms for virtual interaction, receiving something in the post brings a frisson of excitement! It also brings back the beloved tradition of sending a postcard from the seaside as popularised in Victorian times. "I'm hoping people will see it as a great way to share a poem which resonates with someone else"...
Studio 2
11:30 Art Exhibition open to the public (Vincent Gray, Julie Goldsmith, Aldingbourne Trust)
Vincent Gray
With wide industrial experience including television, theatre, design and manufacturing, Vincent Gray has worked alongside some notable and highly regarded names in the arts, engineering, military and entertainment, both in the UK and in Scandinavia. His work has introduced him to many leading lights and free thinkers, which he says, ‘do not fail to inspire and influence’. He is the sculptor of the life-size statue of John Keats in Eastgate Square and Leonard Bernstein at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester. He is currently working on a bronze of Admirals Nelson and Murray and has the ambition to erect a statue of Blake’s Glad Day on Bognor Regis seafront.
Julie Goldsmith
Julie works in ceramic, bronze and found objects. Taking the forms of animals or mythic creatures, influences are from literature, music and the Gothic. “I like to tell stories. For this show I have made works that are inspired by Blake’s belief in the imagination, and his visions of fairies in his garden.”
Julie's work explores the hidden recesses of the subconscious holding both a dreamlike quality and emotional intensity. Based in London she has exhibited her widely. Last month her work was on the front cover of the International Times
Aldingbourne Trust
An exhibition of artworks created by clients attending the creative art classes of this local charity. Aldingbourne work with adults with learning disabilities to enable them to be creative, as well as exhibit and sell their work. Using Blake's famous poem as a starting point, we have encouraged them to incorporate imagery and words from this famous poem.
Find out more about Blake with our Festival Talks
11:50 Introduction to BlakeFest and the Art Exhibition Olivia Stevens
12:00 Prof Fiona Price - Blake, the French Revolution and History
History has always been important to the British, particularly when they think about politics. Blake was no exception. But his imaginative recreations were subversive. In his poem The French Revolution Blake uses allegory and allusion to challenge monarchical government and to re-imagine past and present. His poem can be read as part of the explosion of imaginative history that occurred in Britain after the French Revolution. This paper examines Blake's tactics and compares them to those of his fellow radical, Mary Wollstonecraft.
12:30 Dr David Fallon - The Road of Excess: Blake as Patron Poet of Pop Music
Blake is everywhere in pop music and has infused his flavour into a radical strain of mythic and visionary songs since at least the 1960s. In this talk I’ll look at why Blake’s works might be so inspiring and hold such appeal for pop musicians. I’ll examine some examples of pop songs inspired by the Blakean muse by, among others, The Doors, Nick Cave, and Julian Cope. I’ll be showing how Blake’s rebellious spirit informs not just the content of the songs, but the songwriters’ approach to Blake himself.
1:00 Dr Luke Walker - William Blake and British Counterculture: Poetry, Politics and the Children of Albion
William Blake re-emerged one hundred and fifty years after his death to become a presiding spirit of the transatlantic counterculture. His poetic and spiritual influence was central to the ‘new vision’ of the American Beats, but Blake was also an important part of British counterculture and radical politics in the 1960s and 1970s. This talk explores Blake’s influence on the poets featured in the 1969 anthology Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain, and shows how this can be linked to the New Left politics and radical social movements of Britain in the period.