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Sunday, 10 May 2015

Exploring Art Trails, Sabbatical Art Pilgrimage and the Guildhall Art Gallery rehang


I will be talking about the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area to the Friends of Valence House on Tuesday 12th May at 3.00pm. The Art Trail was created for the Barking Episcopal Area by commission4mission and aims to raise awareness of the rich and diverse range of modern and contemporary arts and crafts from the last 100 years which can be found within the 36 featured churches. 

Valence House was voted by the Guardian as one of the 50 best free things to do in London. The only surviving manor house in Dagenham, it dates back to Medieval times and is still partially surrounded by a moat. Following extensive refurbishment in 2010, exciting galleries tell the story of Barking and Dagenham and its people throughout the ages.

I will also be giving a presentation on my sabbatical art pilgrimage to the Faith & Image group at St Mary’s South Woodford (207 High Road, South Woodford, London E18 2PA) on Saturday 30th May from 6.30pm. Over the three months that I spent on sabbatical in 2014 I enjoyed the opportunity to visit churches in Belgium, England, France and Switzerland to see works of modern and contemporary art. 

I saw exciting work by a wide range of significant twentieth century and contemporary artists including, among others, Jean Bazaine, Pierre Bonnard, Anthony Caro, Mark Cazalet, Marc Chagall, Brian Clarke, Le Corbusier, Stephen Cox, Maurice Denis, Eric Gill, Evie Hone, John Hutton, Roy de Maistre, Alfred Manessier, Henri Matisse, George Minne, Henry Moore,Tom Phillips, John Piper, Patrick Reyntiens, Georges Rouault, Albert Servaes, Gino Severini, Graham Sutherland and Bill Viola.

The commissions that I saw during this sabbatical tell a story of a continuing engagement by the Church with contemporary art from the Post-Impressionists to the present day. This engagement has often been contentious and contested but it has nevertheless been a continuing relationship involving both mainstream artists with a Christian faith and church commissions undertaken by mainstream artists who have not professed the faith. This story is not one which has been well told, either by the Church or the mainstream art world. There are many reasons for this on both sides but my concern in making this story the focus of his sabbatical has been to encourage the Church to tell and to value this story.

Reflecting the recent Guildhall Art Gallery re-hang, the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields and I will present a service series of musical discovery at St Stephen Walbrook (39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN) exploring themes of beauty, faith, home, imagination, leisure, love and work. Each Monday at 1.10pm a new theme will be explored through music: 15 June – Faith; 22 June – Home; 29 June – Love; 6 July – Work; 13 July – Imagination; 20 July – Leisure; 27th July – Beauty. As part of the service series, a guided tour of the Guildhall Art Gallery rehang will take place on 21 July at 1.10pm. Meet in the main entrance of Guildhall Art Gallery.

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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Great Sacred Music: George Herbert.

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