Spectacle for the Solstice

The Crawick Multiverse Solstice Festival will be held at the Charles Jencks’ designed venue near Sanquhar from Friday to Sunday, June 26. It will feature performances, exhibitions, talks by leading professors and various activities. For kids, there will be a Cosmic Treasure Hunt and play time adventure. And the organisers promise ‘a spectacular Sunday event’ where Jencks will reveal his latest creation. [caption id="attachment_13213" align="alignnone" width="603"]

Charles Jencks and his new mosaic. Pic by Kim Ayres[/caption] The dance of life and death between the sun and Earth is at the heart of the new mosaic, which lies in the centre of a huge amphitheatre It reflects Jencks' deep fascination with the way the cosmos works. He said: "For Earth there is no greater agency than the sun, giving us warmth and much else besides. "But its solar wind can be a killer and the occasional Solar Flare could rip through our atmosphere destroying it instantly, if it weren’t for our magnetic shield. "Solar flares plus Earth shield equals visual beauty. The sun is less a warrior god and more a tender woman who pulls the earth along in warming, changing wave-forms." [caption id="attachment_13210" align="alignnone" width="680"]

Locals taking part this weekend include Norman Burns, chairman of Sanquhar Riding of the Marches Association; Murran Thin-Smith from Lochmaben; Lewis Sherlock of Moniaive arts company Oceanallover; Jan Hogarth, creative director at arts organisation Wide Open; Kirkconnel and Kelloholm Gala Queen Jill Watson; and Sanquhar Queen Chloe West[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13211" align="alignnone" width="680"]

Lewis Sherlock, left, and Florence Garcia Chafuén from fantasy performance arts company Oceanallover in Moniaive prepare for this weekend's festival. Also pictured is with Murran Thin-Smith, from Lochmaben and Charlie the unicorn[/caption] Photos by Colin Hattersley