The Minds Behind Inspired By Blake
In amongst all the planning and preparation, I caught up with the minds behind Inspired by Blake, Theresa Nicolson, Marketing Manager at the Ashmolean, and Zool Verjee, Sales Development Manager at Blackwell's, to chat about the whys and hows of the exhibition and festival. The pair have worked together since 2013's Stradivarius exhibition at the Ashmolean, but they've always known that Blake was going to be a particularly exciting project to work on. "There are so many aspects to Blake - his poetry, his prints, his visions, his ideas about religion, women, society," says Zool. "While the William Blake: Apprentice and Master has a strong focus on his print-making and art, the festival serves to draw back the focus to a wider overview of Blake's entire oeuvre."
There certainly are many areas of culture that Blake has inspired, from poetry, to graphic novels, to music (did you know that The Doors took their name from a Blake poem?). Theresa is thrilled that the Inspired By Blake festival allows such a wide exploration of Blake's work: "It's fascinating that Blake still continues to inspire such creativity across so many fields today. We hope that people will come to the festival and learn how wonderful authors such as Philip Pullman and Marcus Sedgwick have been influenced by Blake in their own writing and then go to the Ashmolean’s exhibition and see some of the works by Blake that inspired them in the first place." Both Zool and Theresa are particularly excited to have Philip Pullman's involvement with the festival, adding that he's been very supportive and generous with his time.
So what made Blake such an inspiring figure? Zool thinks that he was a man ahead of his time, or perhaps someone who was and is simply timeless. With his views, his philosophy, his compassion for other human beings, Blake seems to have captured the minds of successive generations through the ages. Theresa puts it down to his attitude: "He had an uncompromising honesty – TS Eliot called it terrifying. His unflinching vision of humanity, his observations of what he saw around him, the unfairness of the circumstances of people’s lives… he was not afraid to speak his mind about all of this and to call out for something to be done. This is still just as relevant today.’
What are they most looking forward to? "The recreation of Blake's studio is pretty special," says Theresa. "It's really surprising to see the conditions he worked in, and imagine him in there. We’re also having special events throughout the exhibition where you will be able to see our guest curator, Michael Phillips, demonstrate Blake’s printing techniques so it will give you an even greater insight into his world.” She also hints that the exhibition itself is slightly unusual: "It's an interesting exhibition design with dark walls – we used Ab Rogers Design... it’s very atmospheric. The works look great against this background." Zool is excited by the wide range of events the festival includes: "You jump from hip-hop to knitting to discussions to painting - there's something for everyone, not just Blake scholars. Anyone can come and be entertained and educated in really different ways."
There's so much culture about in Oxford, you have to do something really different to get people excited, and both Zool and Theresa agree on one thing: "We just want people to come and be inspired."
