Wikio - Top Blogs - Religion and belief

Saturday, 10 October 2026

Windows on the world (590)


London, 2026

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Joy Oladokon & Chris Stapleton - Sweet Symphony.

 

ArtWay - Nicola Ravenscroft: The silent language of art













My latest interview for ArtWay is with the sculptor Nicola Ravenscroft and focuses on her bronze sculpture at the Royal Free Hospital which stands as a lasting tribute to the courage, compassion, and dedication of NHS staff:

'As a quiet peacemaker, a sculptor, a songwriter and a mother/grandmother, I seek out the universal languages that connect, and bring us together.

‍Agape – the pure, unconditional love a parent has for their child – is one of those languages. In their acts of self-sacrifice, the “peaceful warriors” of the NHS, and indeed all health workers across the world, were fighting for the lives of others.

Children represent the future. They have an innocent perspective that, if we allow it, can tenderly inform our adult vision.

Heaven belongs to little children: they are especially loved by God.'

For more on Nicola, click here for my Artlyst interview with Nicola, and here for an ArtWay Visual Meditation on her work. Click here for a poem published by Stride Magazine that was inspired by Nicola's series of 'in the language of angels' images. I have also written short stories about Nicola's mudcub sculptures (now called EarthAngels), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes.' The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King'. The third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'.

My other writing for ArtWay can be found at https://www.artway.eu/authors/jonathan-evens. This includes church reports, interviews, reviews and visual meditations.

ArtWay.eu has been hailed "a jewel in the crown of work in Christianity and the arts," and having come under the custodianship of the Kirby Laing Centre, the much-loved publication has entered an exciting new chapter in its story following the launch of a new website in September 2024.

Since its founding, ArtWay has published a rich library of materials and resources for scholars, artists, art enthusiasts and congregations concerned about linking art and faith. Founded by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker in 2009, ArtWay's significance is reflected in its designation as UNESCO digital heritage material in the Netherlands.

In 2018, I interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker for Artlyst on the legacy of ArtWay itself.


In the video above, the ArtWay team recounts the history of this much-loved resource and looks ahead
to an exciting future for ArtWay.

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Events at St Andrew's Wickford: Art exhibition, concerts, Unveiled

 










Our cultural programming at St Andrew's Wickford has already included an exhibition viewing evening, an excellent Open Mic Night, a conversation on art and theology with Revd Lauren Hart, and a day of arts and crafts workshops with live music. The forward programme for the Autumn has now been finalised and is as follows:

Unveiled is a regular Friday night arts and performance event at St Andrew’s Church, 7.00 – 9.00 pm, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN.

See below for our Autumn 2026 programme and http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for more information

Exhibitions, open mic nights, performances, talks and more!

Unveiled – a wide range of artist and performers from Essex and wider, including Open Mic nights (come and have a go!). 

Unveiled – view our hidden painting by artist David Folley, plus a range of other exhibitions.

Autumn Programme 2026

23 October (7.00 pm) – Poetry Evening. Jonathan Evens and Tim Harrold will share a selection of poetry from their own collections. Their creative writings have been published by Amethyst Review, International Times, Red Balloon Publishers and Stride Magazine.

6 November (7.30 pm) – ‘The Great American Songbook’ with Michael Horner and Isobel Gathercole. Pianist, Michael performs regularly across a wide variety of styles. Isobel is a jazz singer who has been performing at many of London's top jazz venues since 2014.

4 December (7.00 pm) – ‘To the New World & beyond!’. Hear Ken Porter from Basildon Heritage speak about local links with the Pilgrim Fathers and others who travelled to America from the area.

18 December (7.00 pm) - ‘An introduction to …’ Jonathan Evens will introduce the work of artists with which he has worked or about whom he has written.

These events do not require tickets (just turn up on the night). There will be a retiring collection to cover artist and church costs. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

In addition, we have great concerts planned from David and Friends (Saturday 17 October, 3.00 pm) and Twilight Boulevard (Saturday 14 November, 2.30 pm).

Our current art exhibition is Autumn & Winter: The Beauty of Letting Go - Runwell Art Club exhibition. Friday 11 September – Friday 18 December 2026, St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN.

A group exhibition by members of Runwell Art Club. St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm.


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The Isobel Gathercole Trio - My Heart Stood Still.

International Times: Re-Awoken Stories

My latest book review for International Times is on 'Arthur: A New Life' by Amy Jeffs:

'Tales of King Arthur continue to enthral. Amy Jeffs’ retelling of Arthur’s story emerges in a similar time period to the four-volume epic in ballad form that the poet Malcolm Guite is currently undertaking in Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad. It has ever been thus, with troubled times in particular regularly calling out clusters of works about the once and future king.'

My earlier pieces for IT are: an interview with curator Jacquiline Creswell; an interview with the artist Alexander de Cadenet; an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay, plus reviews of:
Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

IT have also published several of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:
These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

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Daniel Pemberton - Knights Of The Round Table.

Wednesday, 7 October 2026

STEPS: the Spiritual Journey of Peter Howson









Having already been to the PV for Peter Howson's Salvation exhibition and writing my review for Seen and Unseen, it was great to return this evening for the launch of STEPS: the Spiritual Journey of Peter Howson by John Miller.  

STEPS is a new biography of the artist by Miller, who for thirty-seven years was a parish minister in Glasgow’s Castlemilk housing scheme. In 2001-2, he was the Moderator of the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly. 

They met when Howson was part of a group exploring the 'meaning of life', and they became good friends. Over the next 20 years the two had many conversations and Miller's book contains the story of Peter's life and the deeply felt and electrifying insights revealed in his paintings. Having been, for over thirty years, a minister in a working class community shaped by poverty and violence but redeemed by acts of love, Miller is uniquely placed to understand Howson's conflicts, and to articulate his ambitions, artistic and religious. 

Salvation presents a new series of interconnected oil paintings on gesso panels, these works chronicle the life of Christ as depicted in the Gospels, through a sequence of intensely personal encounters, marking one of the artist’s most sustained examinations of biblical narrative to date.

In my review of  Salvation I wrote:

'these paintings and drawings are deeply relational depictions of the life of Christ. In ‘You must be born again’, Jesus looks at Nicodemus with eyes filled with deep love and infinite longing. He looks at Judas askance and quizzical, as Judas turns to kiss him on the cheek (‘The Kiss of Judas’). The up-close focus on two heads filling the picture frame that is a feature of several scenes emphasises the relationship between Jesus and another, always loving, even when angry, as is the case in ‘Hypocrites!’.'

My interview with Howson can be read here, my review of his retrospective - here, my VCS exhibition including a Howson work - here, and reviews of earlier exhibitions here, and here.

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Deacon Blue - People Come First.

Monday, 5 October 2026

Artlyst: October 2026 Art Diary

Here's my October 2026 Art Diary for Artlyst, 

'October is a stunning month for art linked to aspects of spirituality, with several of my favourite artists exhibiting. Solo shows mentioned in my October art diary include Anthony Lawrence, Peter Howson, Richard Kenton Webb, Rob Floyd, Mimmo Palandino, Antony Gormley, Hilma af Klimt, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Rachel Feinstein, and Liz Larner, among others. There are also group shows in Malta and Finland focusing on aspects of the spirituality of women artists, along with the Laing Art Gallery’s survey of ‘Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Poetry‘, which surveys artists and poets for whom spirituality was often central to their practice.'

See also my review, for Church Times, of Anthony Lawrence (1951-2022): A Retrospective at Palais des Vaches, Lower Exbury. Also read my exhibition review for Seen and Unseen on Peter Howson's 'Salvation' exhibition at Flowers Gallery. My interview with Howson can be read here, my review of his retrospective - here, my VCS exhibition including a Howson work - here, and reviews of earlier exhibitions here, and here. 

Read also my exhibition review for Church Times of Richard Kenton Webb: ‘Passion’ drawings + ‘English Iconoclasm Paintings’ at Benjamin Rhodes Arts. Read my interview with Kenton Webb for Art+Christianity here, my article on Kenton Webb's exhibition at Milton's Cottage is here, and my Church Times review of an earlier Kenton Webb exhibition here. Kenton Webb is part of a group of artists who create in the tradition of British visionary art, for more on this group see here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

My articles about the Pre-Raphaelites can be read here, here, here, here, and here.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -

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Iain Archer - Frozen Northern Shores.