The Blake Society at St James’s Piccadilly
Programme
2007

This year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake & the Society will be hosting a series of special events leading up to his birthday on 28th November & his christening that took place on 11 December 1757 in St James’s Church in Piccadilly, London.

Saturday 20th January 2007
Despair—the 200th anniversary of the celebrated entry in Blake’s notebook:
“Tuesday Janry. 20. 1807 between Two & Seven in the evening—Despair”
So many people are in despair for days or months or even years, but not so Blake.
At the stroke of seven he was back at his desk working again.
You are invited to an open poetry event to read some of Blake’s poems or your Own.
And at the hour of Seven, share your vision of joy …
(House of William Blake, 17 South Molton Street London W1K 5QT; 2pm to 7pm.)

Tuesday 27th February 2007
The Changes of Urizen and the Articulations of Albion
A lecture by W. H. Stevenson
Blake called for every ‘original invention’ to be ‘organized and minutely delineated and articulated’; yet Blake, in his search for perfectly expressed articulation, constantly reshapes his creations. Professor Stevenson, after 45 years’ observation, reflects on the consistency, or not, of it all.
W. H. Stevenson worked on his first edition of William Blake: The Complete Poems while Professor of English at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The third edition will be published by Pearson Longman this year. He has also taught at the Universities of Leeds and Edinburgh.
(The Meeting Rooms, Church Place—the alleyway off Piccadilly running behind the Rector’s House, St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL; 7.30pm.)

Wednesday 14th March 2007
Snapshots from the Archive: the Lost Moravian History of William Blake’s Family
A lecture by Keri Davies
Over the past few years, an extraordinary number of new documents relating to William Blake’s family have come to light. Keri Davies, will show some of this material (most, though not all relating to Blake’s mother) and the results of exploration in the Moravian Church and other archives.
Dr Keri Davies is the Secretary of the Blake Society and a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University.
(City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann’s Street, London SW1P 2DE; 7.30pm.)

Tuesday 24th April 2007
New Perspectives on Blake and Swedenborg
A Discussion with a Panel of International Experts
In a joint meeting with the Swedenborg Society, a panel consisting of Gary Lachman talking on the hypnagogic states of Swedenborg and Blake; Richard Lines speaking on Blake, Flaxman and Tulk; and Keith Schuchard exploring the cross-over between the Moravians and the Swedenborgians.
Gary Lachman’s latest book is Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg (Swedenborg Society £9.95). He was a founding member of Blondie and a recent inductee into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.
Richard Lines is Secretary of the Swedenborg Society and a frequent contributor to Swedenborgian journals.
Marsha Keith Schuchard is the author of Why Mrs Blake Cried (Century £18.99).
(City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann’s Street, London SW1P 2DE; 7.30pm.)

Tuesday 15th May 2007
Suffolk Punch: ‘The Farmer’s Boy’ in London
Robert Bloomfield, a contemporary of Blake, left farm-labouring in Suffolk to become a shoemaker in London and achieved literary fame as author of ‘The Farmer’s Boy’. In a joint meeting with the Bloomfield Society, John Goodridge will explore the parallel lives of Bloomfield and Blake, artisan-poets.
John Goodridge is Professor of English at Nottingham Trent University and co-editor of Robert Bloomfield: Selected Poems (Trent Editions). He is currently preparing an edition of Bloomfield’s letters.
(City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann’s Street, London SW1P 2DE; 7.30pm.)

Tuesday 12th June 2007
Mind-Forg’d Manacles: William Blake and Slavery
A Lecture by David Bindman in the Houses of Parliament
Blake was fervently opposed to all forms of slavery—in particular of one’s own making. In 1807 Parliament abolished the Atlantic trade in slaves. But for Blake slavery was also a mental state. To have limited perceptions, to pursue materialistic ends, to set oneself above others, to follow conventional religion or science was to be enslaved and to be held with ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ .
Professor Bindman is an art historican and editor of William Blake—The Illustrated Books. He is curating the travelling exhibition organised by the British Museum and the Hayward Gallery to mark the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Parliament in 1807.
(The Grand Committee Room, Houses of Parliament; 7.30pm.)

Wednesday 25th July 2007
Blake & the Visionary Form of Money
Some visionary questions & a performance of the epic poem: A Song for Hana.
The evening is given by George Kinder with a glass of wine afterwards.
(St Ethelburga’s Church, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG; 7.00pm.)
Nearest Tube—Liverpool Street.

Tuesday 30th July—1st August 2007
An International Conference celebrating the 250th Anniversary of WB’s birth
This Three Day Conference is a gathering of the leading Blake academics from around the world and an opportunity to delight in good company.
For more details please contact the Conference Organiser Dr Angus Whitehead:
blake250@events.york.ac.uk .
(University of York, Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, The King’s Manor, York YO1 7EP.)

Sunday 12th August 2007
Plans for a New Memorial for Blake in Bunhill Fields
William Blake was buried in an unmarked grave but not an unrecorded one—its co-ordinates are (77, 32, 9). Today we mark in stone the exact location.
“His eyes Brighten’d and He burst out in Singing of the things he saw in Heaven”
Afterwards, as is our custom, we will repair to a nearby pub.
(Bunhill Fields, 49 City Road, London ECIY 1AU; mid-day.)
Nearest tube: Old Street exit 5; buses 43, 141, 214, 271.

Monday 24th September 2007
Blake & Dante—Habitus
A lecture by Professor Donald John
Blake shared a lifelong affinity with the vision of Dante & in particular the search for the space where our souls are created.  The formation & nature of our essential selves is one of today’s most engaging debates & William Blake & Dante Alighieri are still key to any discussion. “What I was alive, I am in death,” laments Dante’s Capaneus. And so it is with Albion, Blake’s everyman.
This lecture by Professor Donald John who was educated at Oxford & lives in the Napa Valley in California, is part of our celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Blake.
(The Italian Cultural Institute, 39 Belgrave Square, London SW1Z 8NX; 6.30pm)
There will be wine afterwards & conversation.  The event is free but booking is essential on 020 7396 4430 or rsvp.icilondon@esteri.it

Friday 28th September 2007
Arresting Journeys
A recreation in a sailing boat of Blake’s river journey down the Thames and up the Medway on a drawing trip with Stothard in September 1780.
Whenever Blake travelled far he would get into trouble and on this occasion he was detained on suspicion of sketching the military installations on the Medway.
The Royal Navy is generously providing two ships HMS Tracker & HMS Raider to recreate Blake’s Journey in September 1780 when he travelled with Thomas Stothard on a sketching holiday down the Thames & up the Medway where they were arrested near Upnor Castle on suspicion of spying for the French.
This day trip takes place on Friday 28 September. We will leave at 8 am from Tower Bridge & arrive at the historic Chatham Dockyards at about 1 pm.  We will make our way back by train.
Each Patrol Boat can carry a maximum of ten people & you must be in rude health. If you would like to come, then please contact the Blake Society by email on chair@blakesociety.org.uk or telephone Tim Heath on 0207 495 5654

Tuesday 16th October 2007
Every Image Ever Created
Every Image Ever Created is a new series of occasional lectures where we look in detail at one particular image in Blake’s body of work.  To launch the series, Luis & Carol Garrido will be talking about The Last Judgement—a facsimile of this painting was sent to all our members earlier in the year as a special 250th anniversary gift.
The Talk will be held in The Drawing Room where an exhibition has just opened of works by 5 contemporary visionary artists who claim influence from Blake. The show is entitled: Every Eye Sees Differently As The Eye.
The evening will consist of a Talk on The Last Judgement followed by an introduction to the work of the international artists in this new exhibition given by the curator Irene Bradbury. There will then be the opportunity for questions & a discussion of the relationship between Blake & contemporary visionary art.
Slides of enlarged details from the Last Judgement will be projected, & the whole lecture will take place in the gallery alongside—& in counterpoint to—the current exhibition of visionary art.
Luis & Carol Garrido are the Membership Secretary of the Blake Society & the discoverers of the lost grave of William Blake.
(The Drawing Room, Brunswick Wharf, 55 Laburnum Street, London E2 8BD; 7.30pm.)
Directions: Liverpool Street Station then Buses 26, 149 or 242 or Old Street Tube then Buses 55 or 243

Monday 26th November 2007
All that we See is Vision
Private View:
In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake, the Blake Society is proposing an international prize.  The intent is to acknowledge the visionary imagination wherever it is found—in art, poetry, film, horticulture, money, divinity, nissology …
‘Isaiah and Ezekiel Dined With Me’: to share a simple lunch with a poet, an artist or a visionary on Mon, Wed or Fri at the House of William Blake please phone 020 7495 5654 (because we can only accommodate 4 people at a time). The intent is to discuss how such a Prize might be organised (so that a man like Blake might be a contender today).
To launch the prize an exhibition is being held in Blake’s only surviving London house. The show will feature contemporary paintings & illuminated poems in the visionary tradition. There will also be an artists’ book for sale in a limited edition of 250 copies.
Artists & Poets include : Felicity Bowers—Brian Catling—Jane Dowling—Aidan Dun—Helen Elwes—Polly Gould—Tim Heath—Michael Horovitz—Parul Jani—George Kinder—Linda Landers—Andrea McLean—Micalef—Adrian Mitchell—Chris Orr RA—Stan Peskett—Tom Phillips RA—Martin Sexton—Christopher Twigg—Roger Wagner—Robin Williamson—Partou Zia.
Exhibition Open: Tues 27 Nov – Tues 11 Dec 2007 Daily 11–6 (Sun 12-4)
(House of William Blake, 17 South Molton Street, London W1K 5QT; 020 7495 5654; 1pm—8pm)

Thursday 29th November 2007
The Blake Society Annual Lecture
Blake & The Bible
This year’s Annual Lecture will take the form of a conversation between the Poet & Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams & Professor Christopher Rowland of the University of Oxford.
The Lecture is free to members of the Blake Society & a ticket will be sent out to each member in the autumn.
Tickets for non-members will be available at the door priced £10 each.
Christopher Rowland is Dean Ireland Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. His latest book, soon to be published, is a study of the Bible & Blake.
(The Church of St James, 197 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LL; 7:30pm.)

Tuesday 11th December 2007
The Christening of William Blake
The final Blake Society event in this 250th Anniversary year is a celebration of his Christening. The Society has commissioned an Ice Sculpture to adorn the font where Blake was baptised on 11 December 1757.  This sculpture has been created by the artist & Blake Society member Martin Sexton. For more details, please see
http://www.martinsexton.co.uk/Site/Blake_250th.html .
(St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL; 12 noon until meltdown.)
Afterwards—& during the remains of the afternoon—members of the Blake Society are invited for a glass of wine at the House of William Blake where they may also see a small exhibition of Blake-inspired visionary art & learn more about the inchoate Blake Prize.  For more information please contact Tim Heath, Chairman of The Blake Society, 020 7495 5654.
(House of William Blake, 17 South Molton Street, London W1K 5QT; a 15 minute walk from St James’s.)

Last edited 01/04/2008 23:09:42