St Martin-in-the-Fields art tour

Last night I gave a group from the Friends of St Martin-in-the-Fields an art tour around the site. I began by putting the artworks and art strategy of St Martin's in the context of modern approaches to commissioning art for churches, concluding that:

"The artworks commissioned for or loaned to St Martin’s have been part of these wider trends and debates. We will see artworks which have come because of connections between the church and the artists involved, as well as commissions from acclaimed contemporary artists. Initially, commissions at St Martin’s were occasional and opportunistic, while from the Renewal Programme onwards they have been intentional and part of our strategic plan. Since the Renewal Programme was completed we have broadened our engagement with the Visual Arts through our programme of temporary exhibitions and by working with artists and craftspeople within the congregation. Our experience, therefore, demonstrates a ‘mixed economy’; sometimes engaging, as Couturier and Hussey did, with artists perceived to be among the best of our time, whilst also working with artists with whom we have connections through our congregation and wider community."

We then viewed work by Mike Chapman, Chaim Stephenson, Shirazeh Houshiary and Pip Horne, Brian Catling, James Butler, Jon Sandford, Donald Jackson, Brad Lochore, Mark Francis, Andrew Motion and Tom Perkins, Eric Parry, Giampaolo Babetto, Gerhard Richter, wood carvings from Driefontein mission and graduate work from Central Saint Martins.

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Machanic Manyeruke - Mukombe Wapfachuka.