St Bartholomew the Great at Bartholomew Fair 2023

Great St Bartholomew

Visit London's oldest parish church during our open house

St Bartholomew the Great

14th of September at 1pmWilliam Blake Society talk by Stephen PritchardThis illustrated talk will introduce the poetry, prose and art of William Blake and explore his complex relationship with London through his life and work.William Blake, 1757 to 1827, was a visionary poet, painter, engraver, and musician. He had no formal education but read widely in Greek philosophy and that of his contemporaries, and studied and challenged the psychological and philosophical ideas of the age. He read the Bhagavad Gita, Jacob Boehme, the Jewish Kabbalah, the Swedish philosopher Swedenborg, and he knew the Bible intimately. Apprenticed in his youth to an engraver, Blake later used his engraving skills to invent a new method of printing. By engraving his texts and image outline backwards in ‘mirror-writing’, he was able to combine word and image on the same page. This allowed him to create a highly dynamic artwork, with the resonances and dissonances between image and text generating new and unexpected meanings. With the help of his wife Catherine, who hand-coloured some of the work, he became entirely self-sufficient in the production of his extraordinary, illuminated books. The Blakes’ unique process, in one small room, replaced the necessity for large teams of artisan specialists in two separate workshops. Blake is a champion of the creative imagination, striving to overcome the alienation between people, and between humanity and the natural world. For Blake “Nature is Imagination itself.” He strove to show us how to throw off our ‘Mind Forg’d Manacles’: both the bondage of social conditioning and the domination of our rational faculty.Stephen read English at Oxford and studied William Blake's visionary writing and artwork for a PhD. He is now Secretary of the Blake Society and has taught Blake at all levels. As a music journalist he interviewed Peter Gabriel, joining with him and four friends as co-founder of the WOMAD Festival. 'Stephen became a major creative architect of the WOMAD festival as it developed'-Thomas Brooman, WOMAD Artistic Director 1982-2008. Six years in performing arts, (music, dance, theatre), were followed by twenty-eight years of drama teaching; experimenting with a range of practitioners and exploring psychophysical work through pedagogy and performance. Stephen is a Drama Consultant, visiting practitioner and guest Director, running workshops in schools, universities, businesses, and organisations both in the UK and abroad. He has lectured on Blake and Artaud for Jungian groups in Bristol and London. Most recently, he has written a play based on the letters, poems, art and life of William and Catherine Blake, Albion, Awake! which premiered in London in October 2019 and was staged recently in Bloomsbury and at the Cube in Bristol.14th of September at 6pmBook Launch and Q+A of The Oldest House in LondonFiona Rule is a writer and researcher with a passion for social history. She is the author of five books, gives regular talks, and writes, directs, and performs in theatrical shows about the history of London. Her company, House Histories, specialises in researching the history of people’s homes. Find out more at househistories.co.uk.15thof September 7pmThe Gentle AuthorLITTLE IS KNOWN OF THE ENIGMATIC GENTLE AUTHOR, but everyone knows The Gentle Author is their intimate confidante and friend who reveals the candid stories of the remarkable people to be found in Spitalfields.Drawing comparisons with Samuel Pepys, Henry Mayhew and Charles Dickens, The Gentle Author has gained an extraordinary following in recent years by writing hundreds of lively pen portraits of the infinite variety of people who live and work in the East End of London.Since 2009, The Gentle Author has published a daily story at SPITALFIELDS LIFE amounting to over 4,000 tales about the culture of London.The Gentle Author has published numerous books including Spitalfields Life, The Gentle Author’s London Album, Spitalfields Nippers, The Cries of London, The Life &amp; Times of Mr Pussy and The Creeping Plague of Ghastly Facadism, and written features for The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, World Of Interiors, New Statesman and Frieze.THE CRIES OF LONDONThe Gentle Author presents a choice selection of images of THE CRIES OF LONDON, telling the stories of the artists and celebrated traders, and revealing the unexpected social realities contained within these cheap colourful prints produced for the mass market over the last 400 years.For centuries, these lively images of familiar hawkers and pedlars have been treasured by Londoners. In the capital, those who had no other means of income could always sell wares in the street and, by turning their presence into performance through song, they won the hearts of generations and came to embody the spirit of London itself16th of September Aeolian Winds quintetAt 14:00 there will be a free concert by Aeolian Winds, Aeolian Winds are a London-based wind quintet who strive to create imaginative and rounded concerts through their vibrant playing and inspired programming. They were formed in September 2021 at the Royal College of Music, where they were recently awarded the distinguished Woodwind Ensemble Prize. Aeolian Winds have performed in a variety of prestigious venues across London, and the South of England. They aim to perform diverse and unknown works, with a focus on 20th century, and contemporary music. Their performances have been described as “pure joy” and “something very special”. Whilst also taking a liking to more conventional programming, Aeolian Winds have also expanded into multimedia with their feature in David Bruce’s YouTube video, exploring the unique and vibrant sound of the chamber group through re-orchestration and storytelling. They are also interested in creating cross-genre and disciplinary projects, including immersive and intimate concerts in unconventional venues. The ensemble are always planning for even more music making, with concerts year-round across the UK. Exhibition in the Cloister of Archives and Artefacts of the church. Activities throughout the day.

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