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Scotian News
August 2015
Edition 126
Congratulations to the following Former Pupils who have reached milestone birthdays this month:-
75 Hugh Irving;
70 None
65 Giles Wynn-Williams;
60 David Robertson; Ivo Wynn-Williams; E Martin Landgrebe; Robin Elton; Philip Ross; Derek Millar; Michael Ward;
50 Ralph McCran; Derek Graham;
School News
Newsletter
Thursday, 20 August 2015
The Edinburgh Festival is moving at an incredible place towards the ending of its second week. Today I must attend a meeting of the Board of Trustees concerned with raising funds for Edinburgh College and encourage all those who read this newsletter to consider the attached statement I have writing with regards to Aletia Upstairs and her extraordinary contribution to the Summerhall programme.
It is inspired by the Demarco European Art Foundation Archive as a ‘gesamtkunstwerk’. It takes place in one of the galleries at Summerhall dedicated to the genius of Paul Neagu. As an artist he decided to leave his Romanian homeland during the dictatorship of Ceausescu and continue his career as an artist and teacher first in Scotland and then in England. The gallery houses an exhibition entitled, “Paul Neagu and Friends” because he inspired a significant number of his fellow artists under the aegis of the Demarco Gallery’s “Edinburgh Arts” programme and exhibitions. This exhibition will be enlarged at Summerhall later this year as part of the programme planned by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London entitled ‘Romanian Cultural Days in Edinburgh Festival’.
This exhibition will later move to the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. I regard it as complementary to the exhibition recently opened in Leeds at the Henry Moore Institute in the form of a major retrospective. This exhibition ascends to the condition of a work of art. It is an expression of what both Joseph Beuys and Tadeusz Kantor defined as the “true avant-garde”. They both were fellow teachers with Paul Neagu in the Edinburgh Arts programmes throughout the 1970s.
This weekend I am involved in the programme of ‘Beyond Borders’ which is being presented at Traquair House in Peebleshire during the period of the second week of the Edinburgh Festival and finishing on Sunday.
I am contributing to the programme of ‘Beyond Borders’ with part of the exhibition which I was privileged to present in collaboration with Mercy Corps and financed by the Russell Trust at the European Parliament in Brussels in November 2002.
The exhibition was entitled ‘Beyond Conflict’ and involved paintings by 22 Scottish artists. Many of these artists were members of the Royal Scottish Academy. I invited all these artists to consider the treasures at The Royal Scottish Museum that represented the interface between the culture of Islam and the culture of Europe inspired by the Christo-Judaic cultural dynamic. Peter Selz, Professor Emeritus of the University of California at Berkeley, wrote a statement of support which began with the following paragraph:
“At a time when the President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom stated their intention of a war of aggression, Richard Demarco organised an exhibition of conciliation for the coming together of East and West towards solidarity and peace.”
The exhibition was presented at the Edinburgh Festival 2002 with an introductory statement by Nelson Mandela:
“Nelson Mandela sends every good wish for your exhibition to be extremely successful and for it to make a major contribution towards bringing nations together and in your efforts to secure peace amongst all people and nations throughout the world.”
Congratulations to Mike Maran, Philip Contini and Raymond Ross on their performances at the Festival, and to any others who may have been involved.
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