PRESS KIT

Press Releases

For immediate release
March 1, 2010

Contact: Amy Kellum, Executive Producer
(919) 418-4000
ak@meinradproject.org
www.meinradproject.org

Screenings:
Monday, March 22, 7:00pm, herchurch/Ebenezer Lutheran, San Francisco
Tuesday, March 23, 7:00pm, First Congregational Church of Berkeley

NEW DOCUMENTARY SHOWS ART AS SPIRITUAL QUEST

A new documentary about mystical artist and teacher, Meinrad Craighead, is being screened at herchurch/Ebenezer Lutheran on March 22 at 7pm and at First Congregational Church of Berkeley on March 23 at 7pm. Meinrad Craighead: Praying with Images tells the story of Craighead’s artistic and spiritual pilgrimage which began in her native Arkansas, where her greatest influences were the Catholic Church, the natural environment, and her grandmother who encouraged her to draw and paint. Craighead took a teaching position at the College of St. Joseph in Albuquerque straight out of college. A year later she was offered a position teaching in Italy, and then received a Fulbright Scholarship to study Catalan art and architecture in Montserrat in Spain. Afterward, she remained in Europe, living fourteen years as a nun in a monastery in England. When she left the monastery, she knew that she wanted to come back to Albuquerque. When she returned, she knew she would never leave again. She bought a small house near the Rio Grande where she has lived and painted for the last 27 years, with a succession of dogs as her companions.

The documentary includes nearly 100 of Craighead’s paintings, shown in beautiful detail. Viewers will see images that have flowed from her dreams and visions of the Divine Feminine over the last 50 years, experience her moving images and stories of the devastating 2003 bosque fire, and travel with her on a recent pilgrimage to visit her beloved Black Madonna of Montserrat in Spain.

“If I didn’t paint,” Craighead says, “I wouldn’t know where I am in the world.” Her truly original art spans time and distance and tradition to combine imagery from Catholicism, Native American shamanism, and ancient mythology. Add to the mix her own dreams and mystic visions and the result is a unique synthesis of energy, color, and connectedness.

At her home near the Rio Grande, Craighead has led workshops and retreats, introducing women from around the globe to ancient history and images of the Divine Feminine in Africa and Europe. She has also traveled all over the U.S. and to Europe to lecture on the topic. Through this new documentary, more people will be able to meet this extraordinary artist who paints from her own inner landscape and encourages a unique way of seeing oneself and one’s place in the world.

The documentary was produced by Amy Kellum in conjunction with Minnow Media and the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South. Kellum will be present to discuss the film after the screening. The event is free and open to the public. Copies of the film will be for sale.

A ten-minute preview of the documentary can be seen at www.meinradproject.org.

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