c4m webpage update (21)

This week's posts on the commission4mission webpage give the opportunity to sample Henry Shelton's current Stations of the Cross exhibition at St Barnabas Walthamstow and to find out about the work of Peter Webb in original commissions and community artworks at St Marys Woodford.

Regarding the Shelton Stations, Revd. Steven Saxby writes:

"I have been given permission by contemporary artist Henry Shelton to negotiate terms with any church interested in purchasing his Stations of the Cross, currently on temporary exhibition here at St Barnabas and previously displayed in York Minster. Henry and I are very keen to find these wonderful contemporary and spiritually engaging paintings a permanent home in a proper church context.

You can find information about and photos of some of the Stations via http://commissionformission.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html. St Barnabas already has a splendid set of Arts and Crafts Stations. We realise that not every church would be happy to display the non-Biblical Stations and would be willing to sell the set excluding these. Henry is also open to painting a final Station of the Resurrection for any church which would want this as the final Station.

The link above also contains information about Commission4Mission which several of us in Chelmsford Diocese have founded as a means of encouraging the commissioning of art and its benefits in furthering the mission of the church. The organisation was in part founded to raise money for a children's hospice. Experience is several places suggests that in return for some record within the church, all sorts of people are willing to give generously for the purchasing of art in memory of loved ones. We are seeking around £300 for each painting, half of which will go to charity. The paintings have a much higher commercial value. We are also open to negotiating a lower price and of suggesting ways of raising funds for the purchase.

If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, please let me know. The paintings are on display here till the end of September for anyone who would like to come and see them. I trust that the Stations will be a tremendous aid to some church in its devotion to our Lord and in its mission to the world."

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James Macmillan - Seven Words from the Cross Part III.