The International Society for the Study of Surrealism is delighted to invite you to an illustrated talk, ‘Touched by The Hand of Ithell: Writing Genius of the Fern Loved Gully,’ with Amy Hale.

“22 years ago, when I first learned of Ithell Colquhoun while having lunch with a friend in Cornwall, she was a little-known surrealist who had a rather obscure reputation in Britain’s occult underground. Since that time, and especially over the past five years, Colquhoun’s reputation has exploded not only as a unique force in the wider story of women’s surrealism, but also as a significant esoteric theorist, essayist and novelist. In this informal illustrated talk, I will tell the more personal story of my two decades of research and discovery into the life and work of Ithell Colquhoun that led to the 2020 biography Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor Press), and explore the convergence of cultural moments currently illuminating her work.” Amy Hale

Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic. She has a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA and has published academic and popular articles on a wide range of topics such as Paganism and the New Right, women’s esoteric art, Cornish cultural nationalism, Arthuriana, color theory, and occult performance art. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, notably the biography Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently editing a selection of Colquhoun’s esoteric essays. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and Spike Island, Bristol. Other essays can be found at her website www.amyhale.me.

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We look forward to seeing you on Sunday 16 October, 11.30am (EST). Please check your own timezone.