Andrew Chalk, artist and founder of Faraway Press records, joins us this Autumn to present a rare exhibition of his visual works exploring otherworldly landscapes and abstract depictions of the unbridled imagination.

Across two floors you’ll find large-scale monochromatic prints, intricate pastel illustrations, and a retrospective of Faraway Press special edition releases, exposing Chalk’s dedication to the bookbinding and letterpress tradition.

This show is co-curated by Ecka Mordecai, Andrew’s long-standing musical collaborator and friend, who first encountered the pieces during a visit to his rural Yorkshire home.

“I was aware of Andrew’s black and white prints from when he was still running Faraway Press, but it was after visiting his home that I understood the scope of his creative output over the past few decades.

“As well as the monochromatic prints he’s best known for, I discovered heaps of illustrative works; landscapes washed in pastel hues, short stories written in English and Japanese next to sketches of sleeping cats…

“Andrew is accomplished in the craft of printmaking, bookbinding, letterpress and pattern design, but beyond this, there’s this delicate, whimsical, and notably domestic aspect to his work.

“The relationship of industrial processes to homely, dream-like narratives is what I really wanted to explore in the exhibition.”

The exhibition will run from 14th November 2024 – 14th February 2025 and will include a series of matinee and evening concerts.

 

PROMETHEUS TRUST: COSMIC ECOLOGY AND PLATO’S TIMAEUS

22nd November

The ecological crisis facing us and the generations to come arises directly out of our present worldview, whatever solutions we choose to adopt, we cannot afford to ignore the underlying philosophical dimension to our problems. In this study we will be looking through the Timaeus at the ancient worldview of a cosmos that is itself one living animal, called a “blessed god”, beautiful and full of intelligence.” The meeting starts at 18:15, please arrive promptly, tea and coffee will be served in our tearoom beforehand for those who wish to arrive early. You can read the paper here.

 

In this course we look at the leafing, flowering and fruiting stages, which together encompass the whole being of the plant. It is interesting to note that the cellular organisation of these three stages is quite different yet they produce a seamless journey from seed to seed. This was what Goethe referred to as the Metamorphosis of the Plant.

The plant, when observed, is able to give us a lesson that applies to spiritual, organisational and existential questions. We ask participants to choose a plant or ally and start their observations by noting and drawing the factual elements of what constitutes the plant so we can begin by comparing these insights.

The structure of the course will be as follows:

Introduction and Leafing, Saturday, November 23rd, 11:00 – 16:00, Flowering, Sunday November 24th, 11:00 – 16:00, Fruiting, Monday, November 25th, 18:00, Concluding, Tuesday, November 26th, 18:00.

The following steps outlined by Goethe which we will be exploring throughout the course are described by Evelyn in her study of the water-lily, which you can read in full here.

Exact Sensorial Perception; looking carefully to see the details of the plants outward form through drawing or sketching, focusing on the relationship between the parts. As well as using our sense of sight, we may feel the textures of the different parts of the plant, smell them paying full attention to the plant as we experience it.

Exact Sensorial Imagination; turning away from our sensuous experience of the plant and moving into our thoughts. We remember the plant precisely, and imagine looking fluidly from one part of the plant to the next, filling in the gaps between the separate parts, applying our thinking to the plant as it appeared to us.

Seeing-in-Beholding; this stage is a way of seeing which arises within us. We can still our imaginative thinking and create a receptive space in which the whole plant presents itself.

Being One With; thinking “from the whole to the parts–from the formless to the formed”. This stage corresponds to Goethe’s perception of the “idea” or “theory” of the plant, which is more in the nature of seeing a living being than finding an abstract explanation of the plant’s appearance.

Philip Franses graduated in Mathematics at Oxford University, he teaches Holistic Science as a senior lecturer whilst applying these methods as director of strategy at The FlowPartnership. He has taught at the Holistic Science Masters at Schumacher College (England) for a decade and heads the year-long online course Goethe and the Language of Holistic Science. Philip is co-editor of the Holistic ScienceJournal, author of Time, Light and the Dice of Creation and co-author of the forthcoming book The Language of Water.

Evelyn Roe describes her work thus; “Plants express themselves uniquely through their dynamic interactions with their environment. By paying attention with careful sensing, we come to see plants in their wholeness, and find that they have much to teach us, this is at the heart of my inquiring work as a botanist inspired by Goethe’s way of science.”

Admission is free, but we encourage those who can to make a donation.

 

DANIEL O’SULLIVAN & RICHARD YOUNGS

30th November

In celebration of the Andrew Chalk exhibition, Dreams Unseen, we are hosting a series of matinee and evening concerts by friends and collaborators and those inspired by his work.

Ahead of Daniel O’Sullivan and Richard Young’s new album Persian Carpets, which evolved out of their last performance here in June, they are back to continue they’re collaboration in an ever changing new form.

The first performance will start at 16:00, after which there will be a break before the evening performance at 20:00. Sliding scale tickets start from £5 and will cover both halves as the event is continuous and not a repeat performance.

“Daniel O‘Sullivan is a composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer living and working in London and has been contributing a vibrant, chameleonic brew to the experimental music landscape since the late 1990’s, writing, recording and performing in a myriad of ensembles including Ulver, Sunn O))), Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses, Miracle, Æthenor, This Is Not This Heat and with Charlemagne Palestine.”

“Born in Cambridge and raised in the Fens, Richard Youngs began making music at the start of the seventies. His early work centred on the family piano. When this was sold in the late seventies, however, the classical guitar and cassette recorder became his instruments of choice, along with anything at hand that made a sound. His catalogue of releases wanders into all kinds of zones over a vast array of albums on various labels including his No Fans imprint: they include accapella, guitars, pipes or electronics and come out of solitude and in partnership with atmospheres that range from fragmental folk to all-out fuzz.”

 

UNITED LODGE OF THEOSOPHISTS: THE ASTRAL BODY AND ASTRAL LIGHT

Saturday 6th December

U.L.T. meetings continue every third Saturday of the month at 14:00.  This is the third study in the series of four meetings on the functions of the astral body and the astral light. You can read the paper here.

 

IKEBANA, JUNKO POPHAM

Evolving out of Zen ritual, Ikebana, meaning “Way of Flowers”, is a century old tradition in the the art of Japanese flower arrangement. Junko has been teaching for over 15 years having first studied in Kyoto under Sakurako who with her husband, is the 15th generation of one of the oldest Ikebana familes, the “Kuwahara Senkei Ryu”.

Classes are held on the second Thursday of every month at 18:00. Admission is £50. To book a place contact Junko directly at ikebanaeastwest@gmail.com.

 

THEORY OF COLOUR, PHILIP FRANSES

3rd – 6th August 2024

Led by Philip Franses

Philip Franses graduated in Mathematics at Oxford University, he teach- es Holistic Science as a senior lecturer whilst applying these methods as director of strategy at The FlowPartnership. He has taught at the Holistic Science Masters at Schumacher College (England) for a decade and heads the year-long online course Goethe and the Language of Holistic Science. Philip is co-editor of the Holistic ScienceJournal and author of Time, Light and the Dice of Creation published by Floris Books.

Wolfgang von Goethe is the author of Faust, Elective Affinities, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, The Sorrows of Young Werther. His works include plays, poetry, novels and treatises on botany, anatomy and aesthetics. His exploration in the dynamic of “whole” and “part” establishes the foundation of fields such as process philosophy, Holistsic Science and non-numerical logic. The dynamic of “whole” and “part” goes beyond the physics of an explanation which is static and in seeking for harmony in relationships it makes a natural bridge with art, science and philosophy. Goethe’s work on colour was paralled in his books where darkness and light are explored from the perspective of the human spirit.