Peace and Release - The Remarkable Experience of "Les Colombes"

Friday evening's Alumni Parents Cultural Event -- a special showing at the opening of Michael Pendry's Les Colombes at the Church of the Heavenly Rest -- was truly a gift to the spirit.

The remarkable evening began with an introduction by the artist himself. Mr. Pendry spoke of how his work, which is part of the Art for Peace project, began in Munich in 2014, where he drew inspiration from the doves in the ceiling of that city's Church of the Holy Spirit.

Doves, Christianity's symbol of the Holy Spirit, are also symbols of peace. The duality resonated with Mr. Pendry, leading to the creation of a traveling installation that consists of approximately 1,500 weightless doves, suspended from overhead netting in a 45-foot pattern. Traveling the world, Les Colombes has appeared in houses of worship in Munich, Jerusalem, London, and Salisbury. It is currently short listed in the UK for a best contemporary installation award.

In each city where Les Colombes is shown, the origami doves, carrying messages of hope and peace, are made and contributed by local children and adults. For the New York exhibit, each fourth grader at Saint David's crafted and contributed doves, penning their own thoughts about spiritual release onto their creations. This project connects so meaningfully with the values and mission of our school.

The breathtaking, meditative interactive light and sound experience transforms the flight of weightless doves soaring overhead into multi-hued, suspended gems, motionless at times, then fluttering in the most gentle of ways. We were encouraged to walk around the Church to experience the doves' formation from multiple perspectives, each conveying a different sensation, but with the constant aspirations of connection, hope, and peace.

I think I can speak for everyone present that the experience was profoundly spiritual and moving. I am incredibly proud that there are doves created by Saint David's boys that will fly around the world with Michael. We can all agree that our world needs the doves' messages now more than ever.

Thank you to Alumni Parents Council Chairs Winnie Feng and Annie Haddad for organizing this unforgettable event, with the church's curator Diana Smith; and to Assistant Director of Development John Dearie. The installation, free and open to the public, runs through August 18, with the sound and light show through May 19. I urge everyone to experience it.

Comments

OLIVER!

This morning our fifth graders continued a great year-end tradition at Saint David's, The Fifth Grade Musical. The boys performed Oliver! and they were fantastic, providing impressive performances and demonstrating great vocal ability. They have been mastering the dialogue and musical numbers for weeks, and clearly gave it their all. Congratulations to the cast on a job well done, and to their Producers/Teachers James Hubbard and Jamie MacNeille, Director Phyllis Clark, Musical Conductor Jeff Moore, and the Parent Committee of Cynthia Chapman, Susan Kissane, Tara Neumann, Joyce Restituto, and Ann Roberts. Musical theater is alive and well at Saint David's!

Sixth Graders Meet with Dr. Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at the American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Carter Emmart with Saint David's Sixth Graders This past Friday, as part of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, sixth graders had the great honor to attend a private lecture given by Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at AMNH. Dr. Emmart told the boys about his passion for science along with an overview of the history of the Hayden Planetarium. He also gave the boys advice on how to take scientific information about the universe and compile it into an interesting and captivating show for an audience. The boys were able to see Dr. Emmart's original sketches, which helped create the Uniview program they are using to develop their presentations. The session provided our boys with an opportunity to learn how art and science come together in the planetarium, and to obtain expert advice on developing their own space shows from one of the creators of Uniview . You can learn more about Dr. Emmart's work and Univie...

Tales of a Good Man

"Sometime in the midst of all this, we became friends. And his story, and all its vast world passed into mine." --From the Introduction of Blood & Oil by Roxane Farmanfarmaian. "Stories are so important; they become traditions that tell about the good that often comes out of bad experiences..." So began Roxane Farmanfarmaian's fascinating talk Monday night at Saint David's Seventh Grade Father-Son Dinner. Dr. Farmanfarmaian, Affiliated Lecturer of Modern Middle East Studies at the Political and International Studies Department at Cambridge University, was introduced by her nephew, Saint David's seventh grader Cyrus '17. She spoke to the seventh grade boys and their fathers about what makes a "Good Man" through the prism of her book Blood & Oil : A Prince's Memoir of Iran from the Shah to the Ayatollah (Random House 2005), which she co-authored with her late father, Prince Manucher Farmanfarmaian. The memoir i...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog