The Parsifal Project: a community arts project
2022-06-13 - 2025-05-04 | Living Arts Centre, Mt Barker School, 27 Sims Road, Mount Barker, SA, 5251
The Parsifal Project

The Parsifal Project is a community project that aspires towards a contemporary envisioning of the famous medieval legend, one that recontextualises the Parsifal legend for a modern multicultural audience.
What is it about?
Writers, poets, philosophers and artists tell us that myths and legends hold spiritual insights into the sacred wisdom of past cultures, but what about the spiritual insights we need to navigate our current world? Drawing on the cultural heritages we bring with us, the Parsifal Project seeks find meaningful resonance between this medieval myth and contemporary intergenerational audiences.
Using the talents of a diverse cast and a script written by playwright Peter Oswald, the project aims to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the Parsifal legend in light of Anthroposophy, as a cosmopolitan Michaelic impulse and as a metaphor for modern human development. The story is our future; if so, its mythic themes could be critical to today’s youth, to all of us.
Whether your interest is in the spiritual foundations of the legend, the literature, creative writing or performing, there is something here for anyone and everyone fascinated by the whole collection of Grail legends and its interpretations, medieval or modern, book or film.
Timeline for the project
The project has five stages highlighting different arts and media:

June – July 2022: Parsifal Unpacked
Completed. Explored the original story through performance, literary text and thematic discussion.
September – November 2022: Parsifal Reimagined
Completed. A series of writing workshops where we reimagine the story through the lens of current cultural perspectives.
January 2023 – November 2023 : Parsifal Rescripted
Ongoing script development in conjunction with performance-based creative development intensives with on-the-floor exploration on the themes explored in Stages 1 and 2.
February 2024 – February 2025: Parsifal Reinterpreted
Auditions, eurythmy and music workshops from February. Rehearsals begin in April 2024, using the script based on Parsifal Rescripted.
April -May 2025: The Parsifal Project performance
Saturday 26 April at 5.30 pm ACST
Saturday 3rd May at at 5.30 pm ACST
Sunday 4th May at 2.30 pm ACST
Venue: Living Arts Centre, Mount Barker Waldorf School, Mt Barker, SA

Project Director: Jo-anne Sarre, Artistic Director of Ink Pots Arts
Jo-anne Sarre has worked in the performing arts sector as a freelance director, actor, storyteller, playwright and educator since her four-year Speech and Drama training at The Harkness Studio, Sydney in 1986. She has a Diploma of Teaching (Primary 1980-1982), a Diploma of Creative Speech and Drama (The Harkness Studio in conjunction with The Goetheanum School of Spiritual Science 1983-1986) and first-class Honours in Drama (Flinders University 2009). Other trainings include MICHA in the US and various Michael Chekhov practitioners in the UK and Europe (1997-2009).
Jo-anne has performed in local, national and international arenas as an independent performing artist including as a freelance storyteller, with the Aphaia Eurythmy Group (Poetry Recitation), and as an actor with Ink Pot Theatre, The Rose Theatre Company and Portal Productions UK (The Soul’s Awakening). During her career, she has trained Steiner/Waldorf teachers across Australia (Rudolf Steiner College, Sheoak College), in the UK (Emerson College), India and China. This includes supporting teachers in their own artistic development in poetry recitation, storytelling, acting and directing as well as assisting in classrooms, directing plays etc with both primary and high school students. In 2016, she was also Assistant Voice Coach at Flinders University Drama Centre with Dawn Langman.
As co-founder of Ink Pot Theatre (the professional touring company) and founding Artistic Director of Ink Pot Arts Inc (a community arts not-for-profit), she has been actively engaged in bringing high-quality theatre as a catalyst for personal transformation and community cultural development inspired by Anthroposophy.

Feature image credit: Seamus McArdle
Photo credit: Jo-anne Sarre

“Most societies have come to define themselves by their historical myths and national narratives. We are, who we say we are… People grow up believing they live within a story … what is the story we believe we are living within? Where is our narrative going? “
Prof. David Blight, 2009

Working with Steiner's Seven School Sketches - further training for the artist
2022-09-02 14:00 - 2022-11-25 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A masterclass studio with artist Fiona Campbell
The Seven School (or Friedwart) Sketches motifs were given to the teachers as part of Rudolf Steiner’s new impulse for understanding both Art and Nature, to help students explore objective spiritual laws, where form arises out of colour, not the reverse. The series moves from nature moods through the four elements to culminate in a Madonna and Child motif.

What are the Training Sketches?
Theses sketches are part of a comprehensive portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists. The Nine Training Sketches (Nature Moods) and the Goetheanum epochs motifs form a substantial part of this portfolio.
But these sketches are not images of external natural events; they refer to acts that are effective in nature and human, says Christiane Haid, head of the Visual Arts Section and the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities at the Goetheanum. She believes dealing with the creative forces can become the starting point for facing tasks in healing the world.
You are invited to join artist and researcher Fiona Campbell for an online masterclass (seven sessions) as she works with these motifs as culmination of a year-long project to bring Steiner’s sketches and motifs to celebrate the centenary of Steiner’s gift to visual artists of the comprehensive portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists.
You don’t have to be a professional artist, or even very experienced, to enjoy this course.
A training for the configuration of the soul
They are called training sketches, but sometimes people wonder what it is they are training. They are not guides to technique, nor are they supposed to be copied literally. They are not answers to what artworks of sunrises and trees and people should look like. Rather, they are a training for the soul. What does this mean?
Through working with each sketch, the painted is lead towards an inward experience of the motif. This opens up the way to true moral and spiritual experiences. By learning to unite herself with the inner essence of these motifs, the artist can reveal through her work traces of her soul experience of the cosmos.
Historical background
In June 2022 it will have been one hundred years since the painter and sculptor Henny Geck asked Rudolf Steiner for a course that would bring about a renewal of the art of paining. Steiner gave a series of motifs to the artists in the form of rough sketches, as a foundation for the renewal of the art of painting. the foundational program for painters seeking to work out of Anthroposophy. This program is comparable to the indications he gave to the eurythmists and has been practiced in different forms in anthroposophic art trainings since Steiner first gave the Nine Training Sketches to artist Henni Geck 100 years ago.
These masterclasses are part of a worldwide movement this year to celebrate Steiner’s artistic impulse, including the Goetheanum motifs, on the centenary of the burning down of the First Goetheanum. They are also offering lectures and courses to help realise Rudolf Steiner’s vision of a new impulse in the arts and make these motifs visible to the wider public.
Who are the masterclasses for?
For artists, Steiner teachers, art therapists and art students looking to find a path in soul/spiritual development through the arts; and for anyone interested in understanding more about Rudolf Steiner’s impulse in Art.
To get the most out of this course, it is anticipated that participants work alongside Fiona in-class and on their own between sessions.
Required

familiarity with Steiner’s or Goethe’s colour theories
basic watercolour wet-on-dry skills (you can use wet-on-wet or any other painting media, such as oils or acrylics, if you prefer but technical advice is not directed towards these media)

This is not a step-by-step instructional class so not suitable for beginners.
What dates are the classes?
2-4pm AEDT Friday afternoons
2/16/30 September, 14/28 October, 11/25 November.
Session 1: Sunrise
Session 2: Sunset
Session 3: Trees in Sunny Air
Session 4: Trees in Storm
Session 5: Sunlit Tree by a Waterfall
Session 6: Head Study
Session 7: Madonna and Child
How much does it cost?
Online series: $250 for 7×2 hr masterclasses or $42 for individual sessions.
Where do I register?
Register here!
Please register online. If you are a new participant please also complete the enrolment form.
You can download the enrolment form here (payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings included). The Zoom link will sent to you a few days before class.
Edited versions of the masterclasses are recorded but live participation is preferred, unless your time zone makes this impossible.
For more information
For more information about the masterclass or for any questions, please contact Fiona Campbell
You may also like to share this flyer with others.

About Fiona Campbell and her work

https://www.anthroposophyau.org.au/wp-content/uploads/CampbellSunMoonTreesVideoV6.mp4

Fiona Campbell is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition. She has been a professional artist and arts educator for over 30 years.
She is also teaches interdisciplinary research training and consciousness studies. She is a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where her focus is phenomenology and creative cognition.
You can find out more about Fiona, read about her teaching work at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College (where she has taught since 1994) or listen to a recent ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

‘and in the creations of the artist t here will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos’
(Steiner 1-4 January 1915).

Photo credit: Sunlit Tree by a Waterfall, © Fiona Campbell

Seeking resonance: the life-architecture of Gregory Burgess
2022-09-15 - 2023-01-01 | Dulux Gallery, Masson Road, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia
Two exhibitions of architect Greg Burgess’s lifetime works

Seeking resonance: the life-architecture of Gregory Burgess.
15 September – 19 October: an architecture exhibition at the Dulux Gallery at the University of Melbourne. Please look here for more information or register to attend the opening here.
Gregory Burgess: From the Coalface
July 2022 – January 2023: An archival collections exhibition of Greg Burgess’s work at the Noel Shaw Gallery at the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.
Profile
Greg Burgess has been the principal designer for Gregory Burgess Architects, with an emphasis on architecture as a social, healing and ecological art. His international reputation has been established through a body of work including housing, community, cultural (including indigenous), educational, health, religious, commercial, exhibition design and urban design projects.
For more information about Greg Burgess’s practice, look here.

Parsifal Reimagined: Stage 2 of The Parsifal Project
2022-09-17 15:30 - 2022-11-12 17:30 (Australia/Adelaide) | Online
presents
Parsifal Reimagined
A series of 5 creative writing workshops
reimagining the Parsifal legend for today’s world
Workshop facilitator: Fiona Campbell

“A journey of life and transformation
The light and darkness in our souls
The careless hero, the broken sword
The suffering king, the wasteland, the rite of life
The many maidens on the hero’s path
From dullness through doubt to glory”

How can we portray these many forms of ‘Grail’ experiences for our time? What is the story we are telling ourselves? And where will our narrative take us? Through creative writing, we seek to answer these questions for ourselves while also contributing together to the development of a new and original performance artwork.
Participate in this creation of performance art!
Come join our online fortnightly writing workshops to be part of this process as we work towards developing a script for our stage production in 2023. You don’t have to be a writer to enjoy these workshops, just a love of literature and bringing it to life.
Find out what it is like to be part of interactive community building working towards a multicultural, multimedia stage performance, as we explore the themes and our own meanings of the Parzival and Grail legends through the creative word.
A Poetry and Prose Reading
We anticipate the workshops will culminate in a Poetry and Prose Reading event on 26 November for participants to share their works with family and friends. This will be a hybrid event, online and on-the-ground in Mt Barker, SA, hosted by Ink Pots Arts.
Tell me more …
This series of fortnightly workshops builds on the material introduced in Stage 1: Parsifal Unpacked. Having deconstructed the interwoven storylines of the Parsifal, Grail and Arthurian legends, we now use this material as inspiration for reimagining this medieval epic using our own words and cultural contexts.
Each workshop uses one key theme elicited from Stage 1 as a prompt to explore its mood and meaning, using different techniques to evoke poems, short stories and imaginative word pictures.
These workshops will also provide the foundation for the Stage 3 script development.
Who are they for?
For anyone who wants to explore the Parzival legend through the creative word; who would like to deepen their own relationship to this story; or who enjoys being creative through crafting imaginative word pictures in community with others.
You do not have to be a practised writer to enjoy these workshops. The workshops provides both structured and unstructured exercises to help you learn how to craft with words.
Budding writers and poets of all levels of experience welcome!
Participation in Parsifal Unpacked is not prerequisite, but you do need a working knowledge of the story to get the most out of these workshops. Here are some helpful resources.
Readings and resources
Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach
Perceval le Gallois by Chrétien de Troyes
Parzival: An Introduction by Eileen Hutchins
The Camelot Project, a digital library guide to people, places and images
Parsifal the opera, an online resources with background notes
Christ and the spiritual world – the search for the Holy Grail, GA 149, a lecture by Rudolf Steiner
When are they on?
Saturday afternoon 3.30-5.30 pm ACST
Webinar workshops: 17 September | 1 October | 15 October | 29 October | 12 November
Poetry and Prose Reading: 26 November, time to yet decided
How much does it cost?
$200 full workshop series or $160 for students (proof/documentation required)
Where do I register?
You can register here

Find out more …
Download the flyer and share!
Find out more about The Parsifal Project here
Contact Artistic Director Jo-anne Sarre

This course is Stage 2 of The Parsifal Project, a year-long multimedia community project.

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth.” Rumi

About the facilitator
Fiona Campbell, workshop facilitator and project creative consultant
Fiona Campbell is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and has been a professional artist, writer and arts educator for 30 years.
Fiona trained in visual arts at Tobias School of Art, England and is a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio which explores the phenomenological nature and spirituality in human life; she also teaches research training, cultural and consciousness studies in higher education.
Fiona has taught writing for audiences and worked on a number of creative writing research projects at the University of Technology, Sydney as well as writing blogs, articles and a descriptive form of characterisation used in phenomenological studies.
As well as her doctorate (UTS), she holds a BA Honours in English & Linguistics (Macquarie University), a MA in Information Science (UTS) and a diploma in Waldorf Education (Emerson College), a diverse range of studies and trainings that inform her teaching, creative work and research work. She also has specialist knowledge in Communications, Anthroposophic studies, sacred art and cultural studies, notably the Arthurian and Grail legends.
You can find out more about Fiona at Painted Space, read about her teaching work at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College or listen to an ABC Soul Search interview about her anthroposophic-inspired approach to painting.

Featured image: In the fog, courtesy Creative Commons (CC)
Inserted mage: Parsifal, Odilon Redon, c. 1891, courtesy of Getty Images
Photos: courtesy of Fiona Campbell

Eco-Tourism and Wellbeing Program
2022-09-21 09:30 - 2022-11-16 15:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Claret Ash Farm, 1680 Strathalbyn Road, Flaxley, SA, 5153, Australia
Ink Pot Arts Eco-Tourism and Wellbeing Program 2022

Ink Pot Arts in partnership with Janesce and Brother Bear Café, and supported by Country Arts SA offer this unique Wellbeing Experience for both visitors to the region and local residents, that will refresh & lift your spirits!

Walk through a honeysuckle-covered archway into the Janesce Pavilion and relax… and be nurtured by the natural beauty that surrounds you as you paint or draw, make clay pots, or explore Aboriginal or textile Art. All this is on offer under the skilled guidance of our fabulous team of artists!
Program
Meet the artists and what they are offering by downloading the program here.

When

Wednesdays, 21st September – 16th November, 2022 at various times

Location
The Janesce, Pavilion, Claret Ash Farm, an organic and biodynamic farm near Flaxley in the Adelaide Hills.
Claret Ash Farm
1680 Strathalbyn Road
Flaxley, SA 5153 Australia
Costs
Booking is essential for each workshop and costs vary, according to event. Please check the program for booking details and costs of each workshop.

This event is sponsored by Janesce – organic plant-based skin care & Country Arts SA

Sun, Moon, and Tree: An Exhibition of Works
2022-10-18 18:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000
Archetypal processes in Nature
Nine Nature Moods following the seasonal shifts
between Earth and Cosmos
An Exhibition

The Nine Training Sketches motifs were given to the painters as a new impulse for understanding both Art and Nature, to help the artist explore objective spiritual laws. They are a training for the soul.

You are invited to the opening of the exhibition of works by artist and researcher Fiona Campbell as part of the celebration of the centenary of the founding of a new direction for artists concerned with exploring the interplay of cosmic and earthly laws through painting.
There will be a short talk at 7pm about the works, followed by a lecture on Steiner’s sketches and motifs, particularly his epoch motifs from the ceiling of the first Goetheanum. This lecture is part of the After The Burning program of events being run by the Sydney Branch.
This series was painted during Fiona’s online masterclass (six sessions) earlier this year and owe a debt of gratitude to the participants in the course for their dedication and inspiration.
Location
The exhibition opens at 6pm Tuesday 18 October at Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex St, Sydney 2001.
How much does it cost?
Entry by donation
For more information about the exhibition
Please contact Fiona Campbell

About Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition. She has been a professional artist and arts educator for over 30 years.
She is also teaches interdisciplinary research training and consciousness studies. She is a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where her focus is phenomenology and creative cognition.
You can find out more about Fiona, read about her teaching work at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College (where she has taught since 1994) or listen to a recent ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.
Fiona is concurrently offering Working with Steiner’s epoch motifs as a training for the ordering of the soul for people interested in the spiritual history of humanity, a topic on which she has been giving lectures and workshops for 25 years.

‘and in the creations of the artist t here will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos’
(Steiner 1-4 January 1915).

From the Burning - What lives now?
2022-10-18 18:00 - 2022-12-31 23:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000
100 years since the physical destruction of the first Goetheanum
A series of lectures, artistic presentations, exhibitions and workshops commemorating the centenary of the burning of the first Goetheanum in Dornach on New Year’s Eve, 1922.
Dates

Lectures: 7pm Tuesday evenings, 18 October – 20 December 2022
Exhibitions: Opening hours of Rudolf Steiner Book Centre
Workshop: Saturday 12 November
Panel: 7.30pm Thursday 17 November
New Year’s Eve vigil: 31 December
Program
You can download the full program here

Location
Sydney Rudolf Steiner House
307 Sussex Street
Sydney Australia
Please note: most lectures will be live streamed, but not all. Check the booking page for details
Booking
Book here
For more information
Please contact Annet van Kesteran or the Arts Impulse Group

This program is sponsored by the St John’s Group board, Sydney Branch and the ASinA

I would enkindle all human beings
From out of the Spirit of the cosmos
To become a flame
And unfold in fire
The very nature of their being.

Verse excerpt from Truth-wrought-words, Rudolf Steiner 1925

Feature image: The only remaining sketch of the burning Goetheanum, Helmut Lauers © Verlag am Goetheanum, 1993.
