S p i r i t
  

Shoreham Church, near Sevenoaks, Kent
June 4 to July 8 2006
Elusive essence
SPIRIT was made specifically for Shoreham Church in collaboration with the Rev. Richard Freeman as an experimental response to Pentecost, the Feast of the Holy Spirit.
Soon after Susan’s exhibition, PASSION, which took place in Shoreham Church in 2004, Richard invited her to make paintings in response to Pentecost.  They talked about the possible ways in which Pentecost could be thought about but it quickly became clear that what interested Richard in particular was the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Hidden within the dance
  
Movement with movement
Early on in the project Susan was introduced to the idea of perichoresis which is commonly thought to mean ‘a continuous or circular dance between the three persons of the Trinity‘.  SPIRIT is a joyous celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit represented by a dance, with the paintings linking together around the church like a golden thread;  pale and delicate shapes intertwining and mirroring each other in a floating, hovering presence.  While on a train Susan was overawed by the sight of the beginnings of a sunset of yellow, pale violet and grey and she felt that this symbolised the Holy Spirit more closely than anything she had encountered while thinking about her show.
Dance of Perochoresis
A full programme of collaborative events was presented throughout the exhibition and included concerts, talks and musical improvisation workshops.
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
 
John 3: 8