Walbrook Art Group Talks

The Walbrook Art Group spans the e-congregation of the London Internet Church and the St Stephen Walbrook community bringing both together. Twice a year people gather at Walbrook for a presentation on artists and faith and make visits to galleries, artist studios etc to reflect further on the connections between art and faith. Talks this Lent have been given by: Revd Stephen Baxter, Lynda Keen, Sarah White and Dharshan Thenuwara.

Last Wednesday Alan Everett and I both gave talks to the group. Alan spoke about his 'Foundations of the City' exhibition in terms of its origin in his recent sabbatical and inspiration gained from 'The Dream of the Rood'. I gave a brief summary of modern sacred art in order to give a context for the viewing of Alan's exhibition. 

In relation to Alan's work I said the following: In inviting Alan Everett to exhibit here I was engaged by the organic nature of his work as he combines the deliberation of his rhythmic mark marking with the more random effects of drips and splashes; all cohering through his overall perception of the evolving work. Nicholas Cranfield, too, has noted that Alan Everett’s “technique is to bring some definition to a range of splashed and thrown paint that explodes into shapes, some more legible than others, making marks that appear both out of focus and out of time and yet never stray far from the first idea.” This brings the work of the Abstract Expressionists, and Jackson Pollock in particular, to mind. Nicholas Cranfield also sees that "There is something Mark Rothko-like in the way that the artist has explored the contrast between the coloured shape of the cross and the stark background of unrelenting darkness.” As a result, Alan seems to be engaged with that non-representational sense of the divine which has links to the idea of art as a window into the divine.

At 1.00pm on Wednesday 9 March and Saturday 12 March Art Group member Dharshan Thenuwara is offering tours of the outside of William Morris' Red House and garden. The tours will last about an hour and a half and will cost £3.00 a head. This does not include admission to the house.
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M Ward - Confession.