The Artists' Gathering 2022

ABOUT

Gathering theme: At Home

As artists of Christian faith, we often occupy the margins of society, the church and the art world. The margins are a necessary and fruitful space for creative practice, but can leave us asking where we truly belong. Is there a place where we can experience being at the center? Being at home?

A home is the local place of belonging and sanctuary from which we move outwards and engage with the world around us. It's where we can be most truly ourselves, and give full expression to the different sides of our being. Home is also where we experience family and the reality of being known by God and others.

For this year's Artists' Gathering we explore how as artists we can integrate our spiritual and creative practices, nurture meaningful relationships and contribute to the life of our local communities within a global world. By doing so we can discover how our calling to create from the margins gives us an important and central role in our world today.

A summary of what to look forward to at the Artists' Gathering 2022

Our Keynote speakers will be dealing with the theme of At Home from a variety of Theological and Visual Culture perspectives. We are excited to have Professor Jorella Andrews, from Goldsmiths, University of London presenting (www.gold.ac.uk/visual-cultures/j-andrews/), as well as our very own Dr Stella Viljoen of Stellenbosch University and Dr James Krohn, Theologian and founder of Krux.

Prof Jorella Andrews , Dr Stella Viljoen , and Dr James Krohn

This year we are also going to enjoy some art appreciation together: Elinor Speirs, Jazz Violinist will be talking about her creative journey and doing a private improv performance (www.classicjazzviolin.com/). Jarrod Howard-Browne, the Design Editor of KLC's Big Picture magazine and film enthusiast, will be presenting on Transcendent Style and facilitating a film viewing and discussion.

Elinor Speirs, Jazz Violinist

Something new to the Gathering for this year, will be the inclusion of dedicated times for personal reflection, group discussion and devotional activities.

You can also look forward to the usual favourites that make the Gathering such a special time: Artist presentations, fellowship and discussion over meals.

Weekend schedule

Friday

12:00 - 13:00

Registration and Lunch

13:00 - 13:15

Opening Address: An Invitation to our Home

Jonathan Griffiths

13:15 - 14:15

A Theology of Home + Personal Reflection

Dr James Krohn and Jonathan Griffiths

Dr James Krohn provides a theological orientation to the theme of Home and its significance. This will be followed by an opportunity for personal reflection on the theme and preparation for the weekend. 

Speaker Bio: Dr James Krohn is a theological educator, former pastor, and the founder-director of KRUX. He studied visual arts before moving on to focus on Theology; first studying under Dr JI Packer in Canada and later completing a DTh on Calvin’s Trinitarian vision in Stellenbosch. He has served on the faculties of the Bible Institute of South Africa and George Whitefield College, and as sessional lecturer at Regent College in Canada. James is married to Corli, and together with their five children they are avid outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers

14:15 - 15:30

Artist presentations

Tiana Goosen and Heidi Salzwedel showcase and discuss some of their recent work.

15:30 - 16:00

Tea and Coffee Break

16:00 - 17:00

Building Sites: On God's call to return, and the book of Zechariah as a manual for contemporary artists

Prof Jorella Andrews

Talk description (via Zoom): Images and words from the Book of Zechariah (which pick up on and extend those of Haggai delivered just months earlier) are very much on my heart. Not only do they call God's people home after generations of exile (what have we been running from?) and not only do they insist that this homecoming must centre on rebuilding God's house before our own, I believe that this book can also be approached as something of a manual bringing insight, hope and courage to artists working in devastated and devastating times and contexts.

Speaker Bio: Jorella Andrews is Professor of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Originally trained as a painter and printmaker, she is involved in both academic and arts-related community-based work. Recent publications include the essay ‘Interviewing Images: How Visual Research Using IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) Can Illuminate the Change-Making Possibilities of Place, Space, and Dwelling' (2020) and two monographs: The Question of Painting: Rethinking Thought with Merleau-Ponty and Showing Off! A Philosophy of Image (2018 and 2014, both Bloomsbury). Among various community-facing activities she is Chair of Albion Millennium Green Trust which cares for a public green space in London and since 2013 she has co-facilitated a church-based arts forum with artist Walter Hayn.

17:00 - 18:00

Free time

18:00 - 19:00

Dinner

19:00 - 21:00

Film viewing: First Reformed, written and directed by Paul Schrader.

Film description: The filmmaker Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver and wrote and directed Hardcore. In this film he returns to the spiritual roots of his upbringing after a lifetime of making films which challenge a Christian worldview.

Introduction by Jarrod Howard-Browne

Saturday

08:30 - 09:00

Registration, Tea, and Coffee

09:00 - 09:30

Opening Address and Devotional: An Invitation to our Home

Jonathan Griffiths

09:30 - 10:30

First Reformed and Transcendental Style in Film

Jarrod Howard-Browne

Talk description: A close look at the film First Reformed by Paul Schrader and the Transcendent Style in Film. "What the Transcendental Style attempts to do is to create space for the spiritual amidst the everyday material, even the painful and profane, via the elements of its form."

Speaker Bio: Jarrod Howard-Browne is the Design Editor of The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology's Big Picture magazine. He has a Masters Degree in Theology and is an avid film enthusiast.

10:30 - 11:00

Tea and Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00

Is the male gaze still a thing? A feminist game of dress-up and what we can learn from it.

Dr Stella Viljoen

Talk description: In this presentation, Stella Viljoen revels in the art of two ground-breaking and enormously successful artists who each embody a specific era of feminist politics. Both are photographers and both are interested in cultures of looking but one is an American who gained renown in the 1970s and the other a South African working in the post-everything 2020s. How do these artists court and critique the camera? Do they really subvert the ‘feminine ideal’ or merely play-act at feminism? What is the project of feminism, how has this changed over time and what can we learn from this, particularly when thinking about desire? The camera both engenders intimacy and is in violation of healthy intimacies and it is perhaps useful to consider the basic dictates of the instrument that has so shaped the inclinations of the heart, especially via the screens that fill our homes.

Speaker Bio: Stella Viljoen is an associate professor in Visual Studies at Stellenbosch University where she play-acts at feminism. She writes about the capitalist imagination in art and media.

12:00 - 12:30

Morning Reflection: Small group discussion

12:30 - 13:30

Lunch

13:30 - 15:00

Talk: Faith is spelt R. I. S. K.

Elinor Speirs

Talk Description: God loves risk. And though it took me a long time to realize it, God loves jazz. Something so demanding, creative and risky could only come from His heart. Going to New York to play jazz as a female violinist is risky business extreme; come and hear my journey of faith intertwined with a passion for this art and its ability to to move people in beautiful and intimate ways.

Artist Bio: Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and jazz and free music trained at New York University and New England Conservatory, Elinor is an experienced orchestral and chamber music performer with a burgeoning career in jazz, world music fusion, free music, new music and interdisciplinary arts. Based primarily in New York and Boston but active internationally, Elinor has performed, composed and recorded in a multiplicity of styles including Klezmer, Yiddish, Balkan, Flamenco, Brazilian, Afro-Peruvian, Bulgarian, Korean, Scottish and Swedish. Some career highlights include performing solo at Schøn Conference Augsburg, duo at the Boiler House Jazz Series, recording Instantiation: Paradoxical with the Joe Morris Ensemble, interdisciplinary arts with Masary Studios at the Museum of Fine Arts and as contemporary improvising soloist with the NEC Symphony at Jordan Hall.

15:00 - 15:30

Tea and Coffee Break

15:30 - 16:15

Artist Presentation

Michelle-Lize Van Wyk

16:15 - 17:30

Art and Motherhood: A Panel Discussion

Michelle-Lize Van Vyk, Elbie Visser. Facilitated by Ydi Carstens.

17:30 - 18:00

Free Time

18:00 - 19:00

Dinner

19:00 - 20:00

Performance and Reflection

Elinor Speirs Improvisational Jazz Performance

Sunday

09:00 - 09:30

Tea and Coffee

09:30 - 11:30

Communion Meal and Reflection

Join us around the table, where James Krohn will lead us in a communion service, followed by a time of reflection on the weekend, its significance and the vision for our community moving forward.

Spouses welcome for the Sunday morning communion meal.

Further information

If you would need any further information, please feel free to contact Jonathan Griffiths at 0769070149 or email us at [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you there!

DIRECTIONS