Olympic Big Draw

News of use made of the Run with the Fire digital exhibition continues to come in. The most recent information comes from St Gabriel's Aldersbrook who organised an Olympic Big Draw event.

Their Vicar, Fr. Martyn Hawkes, wrote that this was a fun experience with quite a few children coming along. He enjoyed the digital exhibition, which they bought in to provide some inspiration and additional material for the curious to see. It proved a good part of their Olympic activities over the summer and he was grateful for its production.

Festival showings of 'Run with the Fire'

The Run with the Fire digital art exhibition will be shown at two events in the Art Festival for the Barking Episcopal Area and the Woodford Festival.

A Celebration of Poetry will be held on Friday 12th October, 7.30pm, St Paul's Woodford Bridge, Cross Road, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 8BT. There is no admission charge and the evening will include local poets, published poets, musical/storytelling interludes and a showing of the 'Run with the Fire' Olympic-themed digital art exhibition. Among those reading their poetry are: Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Evens, Jane Grell, Malcolm Guite, Alan Hitching, and Jennifer Houghton.

commission4mission Art exhibition - Saturday 13th October, 10.00am - 7.30pm, The Atrium, All Saints Woodford Wells, Inmans Row, Woodford Green, IG8 0NHNo admission charge. Exhibition of art works by members of commission4mission, an arts organisation which aims to encourage churches to commission contemporary art. Includes the 'Run with the Fire' Olympic-themed digital art exhibition. This exhibition will include work by Jonathan Evens, Alan Hitching, Mark Lewis, Janet Roberts, Francesca Ross, Henry Shelton, Joy Rousell Stone and Peter Webb. This exhibition is being held prior to an evening concert at All Saints by the Meljon Singers (https://www.facebook.com/events/246345185469093/).

Click here for more information about other events in the Woodford Festival.

Run with the Fire update

A Run with the Fire update is available from the Veritasse website, giving details of events in Streatham, London on Friday and Saturday this week and in Plymouth, Devon the following weekend.

Please visit the Veritasse homepage and click on the blog entry to download the newsletter, which includes some of the artwork from the Run with the Fire exhibition.

Click here: http://www.veritasse.co.uk/.

Colours of Life

On Saturday 26 May around 1,500 people gathered for Colours of Life, an assembly for the Diocese of Leicester which included the Run with the Fire digital exhibition.

With festival feel for all ages, there was plenty for people to see, listen to, explore and experience. At the heart of the day was an interactive journey through five gazebos, each of which featured actors revealing more of the good news at the heart of the Christian faith, together with activities to experience more of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

All this plus a range of excellent speakers, an 100ft inflatable noah’s ark, Velcro Olympics, Christian magician Steve Price, fire-eaters, stilt walkers and jugglers, Messy Church, sports coaching, the finals of sports races run in schools, drumming workshops, Gospel Choir, biblical storytelling with Open the Book, the Emmanuel Gospel Choir, a creative art area for all ages, Christian Aid’s Unfair Funfair looking at issues of justice in the world, chainsaw wood sculpting, New Zealand singer songwriter Rory Mallone playing live, reflective ‘Taize style’ Eucharist, ‘Run with the Fire’ art exhibition, children’s DVD room, interactive experience Breathe, a 24/7 prayer room, Evolve dance academy, and much more.

The day concluded with a ‘festival service’ which drew the various strands together, including the singing of a song specially written for Colours of Life by Revd Eleanor Jeans and which school children have been learning over recent months. Bishop Tim Stevens sent those present out with the challenge to live out God’s call to be a full part of the community that is the Kingdom of God.

Inflame

http://www.lovestreatham.org/Inflame

http://www.streathamfestival.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/Streatham-Festival-2012-Programme.pdf

Run with the Fire: Exhibition, Launch Night, Demonstrations and Art Talks

Run With The Fire is an exhibition at the Pentecost Festival in which the Run with the Fire digital exhibition will be shown alongside original artworks from commission4mission artists and invited guest artists. The Run with the Fire exhibition will take place at the Strand Gallery (32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP) from 22nd - 27th May, 11.00am - 6.00pm.

Including an eclectic mix of styles and media, this will be a stimulating and exciting show exploring the broad theme of running life's race with passion and spirit. Featured artists include Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Christopher Clack, Elizabeth Duncan Meyer, Robert Enoch, Jonathan Evens, Christine Garwood, Jim Insole, Ken James, Miriam Kendrick, Mark Lewis, Glenn Lowcock, Henry Shelton, Sergiy Shkanov, Joy Rousell Stone, Esther Tidy, Mike Thomas, Rachel Watson and Peter Webb.

A Launch Night on Monday 21st May, 6.00 - 8.00pm, will provide the first opportunity to see the exhibition and will also include music and poetry exploring the exhibition theme. Those performing include singer-songwriter and poet Malcolm Guite, artist-musician Colin Burns, artist-poet Jonathan Evens, musician-poet Steve Scott and performance poet Tamsin Kendrick. Refreshments will be available. Cost - £2.00, pay on the door.

On Saturday 26th May there will be an additional programme of art talks and painting demonstrations:

• 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 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. The programme for art talks and demonstrations on Saturday 26th May is at: http://commissionformission.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/pentecost-festival-exhibition-saturday.html.

Hard copies of programmes for the Pentecost Festival can be ordered from: http://www.pentecostfestival.co.uk/contact/order-programmes/. The promo for the Festival can be viewed at: http://www.pentecostfestival.co.uk/promo/.

Run with the Fire is an arts project for the 2012 Olympic year organised by CANA, commission4mission and Veritasse based on the image of fire which links the Church's Pentecost celebration with that of the Olympic runner. Run with the Fire provides a digital art exhibition for use in Olympic-themed events and the digital exhibition and event guide DVD can be purchased from http://www.veritasse.co.uk/cards-prints/most-popular/run-with-the-fire-dvd-pack/. A promo can be viewed at http://youtu.be/nFBGZDgFaw4 while news of the project can be found at http://runwiththefire.blogspot.co.uk/.

Pentecost Festival event listing

The Run with the Fire exhibition and launch night are now listed on the events section of the Pentecost Festival website. Click here to find our entry and other exciting events which are part of the Festival.
Pentecost Festival is a Christian led festival based in London. It is co-ordinated by registered charity, Share Jesus International (SJI) in partnership with Christian Aid and various churches and Christian organisations across the UK.

Pentecost Festival is the largest Christian led festival in London and will be running from the 18^th-27^th May 2012 across central London venues. It attracts thousands of people and showcases what the Church in the UK is all about.

Previous highlights of Pentecost Festival have included; a BBC1 live Pentecost service broadcast at All Saints church Peckham viewed by over a million, a live music stage in Leicester Square for three consecutive years and 16,000 people attending an evening of worship in the O2 arena hosted by Jesus House church, Holy Trinity Brompton Church and Hillsong Church.

'GOD in the PARK'

'GOD in the PARK' is the latest Olympic-themed event at which the Run with the Fire digital exhibition will be shown. Run with the Fire will run on their big screen at different points during the day.
‘GOD in the PARK’ is an exciting venture that is happening on Saturday 14th July 2012. It is a day, where Christians from all denominations will come together as Christ’s body to Goodmayes Park for a time of worship, fun and fellowship.

'GOD in the PARK' presents a fantastic opportunity for Churches across the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering to come together, encourage one another and grow in friendship. The day is going to be filled with worship, lots of fun, (music, dance and street entertainment etc) bouncy castles, marquees serving tea/coffee plus cakes! Speakers include Jeff Lucas and Jonathan Oloyede. Performers include Dave Bilborough and Helen Yousaf.

All events that will be happening in the day will be free, but families and various groups coming on the day are encouraged to bring their own picnics. Keep up-to-date with news of 'GOD in the Park' at their facebook page by clicking here.

Pentecost Festival Sneak Peek

The Pentecost Festival 2012 Sneak Peek is now available for download or order and includes our 'Run with the Fire' exhibition. The overview of this years events opens out into a stylish A3 poster ideal for your church window, community notice board or bedroom wall! The full listing of events will be in the full programme launched in late March.

Run with the Fire

Run with the Fire is an arts project for the London 2012 Olympics organized by CANA, commission4mission and Veritasse based on the image of fire which links the Church’s Pentecost celebration with that of the Olympic runner.

Aim

Run with the Fire aims to celebrate creativity, cultural exchange and hope for the future by providing a virtual exhibition of international artwork for use in Olympics-themed events organised by churches in 2012.

Artists

25 international artists are participating in Run with the Fire. These artists were selected, from a pool of 45 artists who applied to be part of the project, by an international jury of Dr. Dianne B. Collard (Director of Ministries – Europe, Artists in Christian Testimony International), Martin Crampin (Artist, Researcher and Designer) and Marleen Henglaar– Rookmaaker (Editor-in-Chief, ArtWay).

Artworks

The selected artists began the project by writing a statement to describe their vision of ’running with the fire’ for the other artists involved. Each artist will be creating an artwork, using the idea of another artist as a starting point. This aspect of the project simulates the idea of a relay, with ideas being passed from one artist to the next. Each artist will make their work available electronically for use in the project, so that the mapping of ideas as they travel from one artist to another can become part of the final product.

Resources

Run with the Fire will provide a virtual exhibition of international artwork available on DVD, for display on large scale HD TV or monitor, or for projection using a digital projector. This digital exhibition can be presented as part of Olympics-themed events organised by churches in 2012 plus arts events or exhibitions organized by local churches.

Run with the Fire will also provide an electronic resource package, to accompany the virtual exhibition, which will give ideas for churches on how to organize and facilitate community/arts events. These local events will enrich the experiences of those attending and will provide a context for the Run with the Fire exhibition in each venue. Optimal exhibition spaces include churches, community centres, open air venues (with some covered space), local art galleries etc.

The Run with the Fire resources (virtual exhibition DVD and electronic resource package) will be available at a cost of £50.00. Any profit on the sale of resources from this project will be donated to Oxfam. Churches will bear the costs of putting on any events using Run with the Fire resources, including venue hire, additional publicity and resources used.

Theme

The images that seeded Run with the Fire come from the celebration of Pentecost, with its tongues of fire, new languages, and promise of dreams and visions, plus the Olympic Games, with its running messenger carrying forward the burning torch and its dreams of cross cultural harmony.  The vision of Pentecost, and also of the Olympics, is one of celebration and cross-cultural understanding. As a result, our title Run with the Fire emerged.

Organisers

Three arts groups with international connections (commission4mission, CANA and Veritasse) have come together to organize Run with the Fire. More information about these groups can be found at:  http://cana-arts.blogspot.com/; http://commissionformission.blogspot.com/; and http://www.veritasse.co.uk/.