ArtWay Meditation: Deborah Thompsett

My latest visual meditation for ArtWay has just been published. This meditation is on Deborah Tompsett's A Thousand Bottles of Tears. I conclude the meditation by saying:

'Deborah began by seeking a vessel to hold our tears of sorrow and joy, our shouts of pain and grief, our questions and thanksgivings. As Williams and Etzioni state, now that our loved one is gone, we can't cry hard enough for that person to hear us now. Nevertheless our tears, as Washington Irving remarked, are not a mark of weakness, but of power: ‘They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.’ That is why there is ‘a sacredness in tears’, a sacredness that is captured and held in this installation. ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.’

A Thousand Bottles of Tears won the The Chaiya Art Awards 2018. The Awards proved hugely popular, with over 450 entries and more than 2,700 exhibition visitors. Awards founder Katrina Moss says, in an interview with me, also published by ArtWay, ‘I set up the project to uncover and promote gifted artists looking to explore spirituality, faith and social change through their creativity. It was a delight to see that fulfilled in the artwork we received in 2018.’

The Chaiya Art Awards is open to any artist and covers all mediums including painting, drawing sculpture, ceramics, glass, textiles, mixed media, photography and video. Entrants are invited to be authentic and daring as they respond to the theme ‘God is …’. There are other cash prizes as well as the main £10,000 award, including £1,000 for the Public’s Choice from the gallery exhibition. A new category for Community Groups, who can submit a collaborative piece, has also been introduced.

The culmination will be an exhibition over Easter 2020 at London’s prestigious gallery@oxo. Consisting of all shortlisted entrants it will run from 10 to 19 April 2020.

My other ArtWay meditations include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, Giacomo Manzù, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton and Anna Sikorska.

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The Williams Brothers - Can't Cry Hard Enough.