The Stanley Spencer Gallery is celebrating Its 50th Anniversary this year with an exhibition which includes ‘The Last Supper’ and ‘St Francis and the Birds’ among the highlights. Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, preached at the service to mark the Gallery’s Anniversary and has also published ‘Christ in the Wilderness’, a series of reflections on paintings by Spencer from the series of the same name.
Bishop Stephen writes of going, in 1991 the centenary of Spencer’s birth, to see The Apotheosis of Love, an exhibition which created for the first time “a display that echoed the various plans that Spencer drew up for what he called his ‘Church House’”, which included the ‘Christ in the Wilderness’ series. This series made a huge impact on the Bishop when he saw them, as paintings about vocation, and over the past twenty years he has frequently reflected on them in talks given at conferences, retreats and study days.
One of the original inspirations for the series was the 40 panels in the chancery roof at Cookham Parish Church, which Spencer wished he could fill in some way. Bishop Stephen writes:
“Between 2004 and 2010 I had the great privilege of serving as Bishop of Reading in the Diocese of Oxford. Being Bishop of Reading essentially meant that I was Bishop of Berkshire and so this also meant Bishop of Cookham. I found it moving to lead worship in Cookham Church; to visit the place in the churchyard where Stanley Spencer’s ashes are buried and the beautifully restored and re-ordered Stanley Spencer gallery; to walk by that bit of the River Thames that Spencer knew so well. Sometimes when I was celebrating the Eucharist I would look up to the chancel ceiling and imagine these paintings looking down at me.”
Dorchester Abbey is a popular venue for music and the arts which earlier in the year hosted the exhibition ‘John Piper and the Church’. The artwork here ranges from a medieval lead font decorated with the figures of eleven apostles, a stained glass roundel dating from 1225, and C.14th wall paintings of the crucifixion to late Pre-Raphaelite Lady Chapel decorations and contemporary choir stalls, processional cross and altar frontal.
CADA (Contemporary Arts in Dorchester Abbey) commissions art exhibitions and performances to take place in Dorchester Abbey. By bringing exhibitions within the ancient walls of the Abbey, CADA nurtures and sustains the traditional relationship of art and religion. In doing so CADA hopes to establish a dialogue between contemporary art and this unique sacred space, and to broaden the spiritual experience of all who come here.
Conrad Shawcross writes: ‘The Abbey is a conceptual environment in which one is given space and time to consider the important questions that circle you. It is a place that provides the opportunity for the manifold problems and stresses of our lives to be sorted and reconciled. As an artist I am always trying to create works that, while I have specific inspirations, retain an ambiguity and resist a clear interpretation, providing a multitude of possibilities for the viewer. For me a church operates in a similar way, while being designed and built from very specific intent, it goes beyond this, and is more than the sum of its parts, its broad and layered meaning lying more in the introcosm in each who inhabits and passes through the space’.
CADA (Contemporary Arts in Dorchester Abbey) commissions art exhibitions and performances to take place in Dorchester Abbey. By bringing exhibitions within the ancient walls of the Abbey, CADA nurtures and sustains the traditional relationship of art and religion. In doing so CADA hopes to establish a dialogue between contemporary art and this unique sacred space, and to broaden the spiritual experience of all who come here.
Conrad Shawcross writes: ‘The Abbey is a conceptual environment in which one is given space and time to consider the important questions that circle you. It is a place that provides the opportunity for the manifold problems and stresses of our lives to be sorted and reconciled. As an artist I am always trying to create works that, while I have specific inspirations, retain an ambiguity and resist a clear interpretation, providing a multitude of possibilities for the viewer. For me a church operates in a similar way, while being designed and built from very specific intent, it goes beyond this, and is more than the sum of its parts, its broad and layered meaning lying more in the introcosm in each who inhabits and passes through the space’.
St Mary’s Iffley also has a significant history during which, as a living building, it has been adapted to meet the needs of those using the building and to reflect fresh emphases in Christian belief. Most recent are two Baptistry windows installed in 1995 and 2012 and an aumbry with limestone sculptures:
“The South window, by John Piper installed in 1995, shows the Tree of Life, with birds and beasts announcing Christ’s Nativity in Latin, which may be made to sound like the noises these animals make naturally... The North window, by Roger Wagner and installed in 2012, depicts the Tree of Life in full blossom, with Christ crucified, but in the glory of the coming Resurrection. From beneath the Tree flows the River of Paradise apparently towards the baptistery font, the waters of which when blessed are symbolically from that River. Sheep representing Christ’s flock shelter under the branches ... the ... aumbry ... [is] the work of Nicholas Mynheer, it has been sculpted in limestone with an oak door and depicts the angels at the empty tomb ... This is the first figural sculptural addition to the church since the twelfth century.”
Roger Wagner created his vision of the tree of life with the help of stained glass artist Tom Denny: “It was a rather daunting process, but Tom Denny, a good friend of mine, showed me the ropes. He is one of the greatest stained glass window makers in England at the moment.” Information about an art trail highlighting the work of Tom Denny can be found here.
Roger Wagner created his vision of the tree of life with the help of stained glass artist Tom Denny: “It was a rather daunting process, but Tom Denny, a good friend of mine, showed me the ropes. He is one of the greatest stained glass window makers in England at the moment.” Information about an art trail highlighting the work of Tom Denny can be found here.
There is also an additional Chelmsford Diocese connection here as the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral, Peter Judd, was Vicar of St Mary's Iffley in the period when the Piper window was commissioned and installed. He spoke about the commission during a Study Day at Chelmsford Cathedral organised by commission4mission and has overseen a significant number of contemporary commissions at the Cathedral which make it one of several examples of good practice in commissioning within the Diocese of Chelmsford (see here and here, for others).
Stephen Cottrell, in writing of the paintings of Stanley Spencer, sums up something of the way in which these artworks speak:
“His paintings are iconic, in the literal sense of that word: windows into God, or, as Spencer alludes, places of encounter, burning bushes ... They lead us to stillness, to contemplation, to a greater appreciation of God’s presence, and an increased desire to know Christ and follow in his way.”
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John Mellencamp - Paper In Fire.
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John Mellencamp - Paper In Fire.
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