Between: August 2025

Monday, 18 August 2025

Artlyst - Millet Life On The Land National Gallery

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on 'Millet: Life on the Land':

'The National Gallery’s dossier-style exhibitions have, in recent years, added considerably to the variety and depth of means by which the Gallery has explored aspects of its Collection. Whether addressing a particular topic such as ‘Sin’, investigating a particular painting as with ‘Discover Constable and The Hay Wain’, or, as here, focusing on a key element of an artist’s oeuvre, in this case Jean-François Millet, can add significantly to our understanding and appreciation of the Collection and the works that form it.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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The Alarm - Where Were You Hiding? (When The Storm Broke).

Saturday, 16 August 2025

Windows on the world (532)

London, 2025

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Robert Plant and Saving Grace - Gospel Plough.

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Charlecote Park and Fry Art Gallery

This week I've visited Charlecote Park in Warwickshire and the Fry Art Gallery at Saffron Walden.

Charlecote Park, a family home for more than 900 years, was transformed in the 1800s into one of the finest examples of Elizabethan Revival style by its owners Mary Elizabeth and George Hammond Lucy.

Overlooking the river Avon on the edge of Shakespeare’s Stratford, it is a place of surprising treasures, which reflect the tastes and memories of the Lucy family.

The exceptionally well preserved working spaces, the laundry, brewhouse and kitchen, give a taste of past activity, while the stables still hold the family carriage collection.

In the parkland, Jacob sheep and fallow deer roam across the landscape designed by 'Capability' Brown, while the formal parterre and shady woodland garden that Mary Elizabeth loved so dearly are a haven for pollinators.

'The Library of Memories' is a brand-new display situated in the upstairs room of the House and open to the public from March 2025. It showcases the writing of Mary Elizabeth Lucy, who lived at Charlecote Park in the Victorian era, and draws on themes of making and sharing memories. We seek to inspire visitors to share their memories with us, and with each other, and find new ways to relate to Charlecote’s past residents. The display focuses on a book from the library written by Mary Elizabeth Lucy, Grandmamma's Chapter of Accidents, that has not previously been displayed.

The Fry Public Art Gallery was opened in 1987 and houses an impressive number of paintings, prints, illustrations, wallpapers and decorative designs by artists of the 20th century and the present day who have local connections and have made a significant contribution to their field. There is an emphasis on those who for a variety of reasons settled in Great Bardfield between the early thirties of the last century and the death in 1983 of John Aldridge RA who had lived in the village for fifty years.

The Great Bardfield artists were a community of artists who lived and worked in and around the village of Great Bardfield in Essex from the 1930s to the 1970s. The community included artists like Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Charlotte Bawden, and Tirzah Garwood, among others. Their work often depicted the local countryside and village life, and the Fry Art Gallery was established to showcase their artistic contributions.

The Gallery is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and is delighted to have as guest curator of the exhibition in the main gallery Ella Ravilious, with a celebration of art and design depicting or made for the domestic space ‘Finding a Home at the Fry’. In the Gibson Room they are presenting an opportunity to view and buy a selection of works by Richard Bawden from the later period of his life in Hadleigh, Suffolk. ‘Richard Bawden: the Hadleigh Years’: runs from Saturday 26th July to Sunday 26th October 2025.

A statue of the Great Bardfield artists by Ian Wolter has recently been placed outside the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex. The statue serves as a welcoming feature for visitors to the gallery, which houses a collection of art by these artists.

Other sculptures to be found nearby include:

The 'Children of Calais' by Ian Wolter, which is a life-sized sculpture of six children in poses echoing 'The Burghers of Calais' by Auguste Rodin but dressed in contemporary clothing. One of the figures holds a life jacket in place of the city key held in Rodin’s original. The piece is designed to provoke debate about the inhumanity of our response to the children caught up in the current refugee crisis.
'Mary' by Tessa Hawkes. This sculpture at St Mary's Saffron Walden portrays Mary as a young and vulnerable woman, receiving the news from the angel Gabriel that she is to be the mother of Jesus, God's Son. The artist originally intended to portray Mary at a very early stage in the annunciation of a young girl completely bewildered but the eventual sculpture is of a later stage in the annunciation, one of acceptance whilst still a little bewildered.

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The Fire Theft - Heaven.

Interviews update

Since my last Interview Update, I have had an interview published by Seen and Unseen with the sculptor Emily Young. As a result, I am updating this index of interviews.

I have carried out a large number of other interviews for Artlyst, ArtWay, Church Times, International Times, Seen and Unseen and Art+Christianity. They provide a wide range of fascinating insights into the approaches and practices of artists, arts professionals, clerics, curators, performers, poets and writers.

They can be found at:

Artlyst

ArtWay

Church Times

International Times

Seen and Unseen

Art+Christianity

Also see my interviews with artist Henry Shelton here and here and David Hawkins, former Bishop of Barking, here, here and here.

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Dominique Lawalree - New Heaven.

Seen and Unseen - Emily Young: the sculptor listening as the still stones speak

My latest article for Seen and Unseen is an interview with 'Emily Young: the sculptor listening as the still stones speak':

'Her most recent exhibition was entitled ‘Comparative Stillness’. This title was chosen because the way the faces and the bodies she carves ‘always come out, there’s peacefulness there, there’s stillness’. ‘If you sit in this stillness of the stone’, she says, ‘you can find a great joy and a great peace’. She has asked herself, ‘What is it that I’m doing when I’m carving a human head out of stone?’ Her answer is that she is ‘finding an essential core of being alive that has in it, stillness’. ‘It’s the stillness that I’m after’, she says, and ‘out of that stillness come good actions.’ As a result, she says, ‘what I’m completely dedicated to now is to show that we do have access to that stillness and it could be our saving grace’. Everyone, she thinks, ‘should have quiet, kind symbols of internality around them’.'

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

My 12th article was 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival.

My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.

My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.

My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history

My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).

My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.

My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.

My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.

My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.

My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.

My 22nd article was a book review on Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch. 'Nobody's Empire: A Novel is the fictionalised account of how ... Murdoch, lead singer of indie band Belle and Sebastian, transfigured his experience of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) through faith and music.'

My 23rd article was entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space.

My 24th article was an interview with Alastair Gordon on the artist’s attention which explores why the overlooked and everyday capture the creative gaze.

My 25th article was about Stanley Spencer’s seen and unseen world and the artist’s child-like sense of wonder as he saw heaven everywhere.

My 26th article was entitled 'The biblical undercurrent that the Bob Dylan biopics missed' and in it I argue that the best of Dylan’s work is a contemporary Pilgrim, Dante or Rimbaud on a compassionate journey.

My 27th article was entitled 'Heading Home: a pilgrimage that breaks out beauty along the way' and focuses on a film called 'Heading Home' which explores how we can learn a new language together as we travel.

My 28th article was entitled 'Annie Caldwell: “My family is my band”' and showcased a force of nature voice that comes from the soul.

My 29th article was entitled 'Why sculpt the face of Christ?' and explored how, in Nic Fiddian Green’s work, we feel pain, strength, fear and wisdom.

My 30th article was entitled 'How Mumford and friends explore life's instability' and explored how Mumford and Sons, together with similar bands, commune on fallibility, fear, grace, and love.

My 31st article was entitled 'The late Pope Francis was right – Antoni Gaudi truly was God’s architect' and explored how sanctity can indeed be found amongst scaffolding, as Gaudi’s Barcelona beauties amply demonstrate.

My 32nd article was entitled 'This gallery refresh adds drama to the story of art' and explored how rehanging the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery revives the emotion of great art.

My 33rd article was an interview with Jonathan A. Anderson about the themes of his latest book 'The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art':

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Jeremy Enigk - Amazing Worlds.

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

Damien Jurado and David Bazan

I've written a significant number of posts about different aspects of faith and popular music. The most recent post included mention of David Bazan. This post is about Damien Jurado, a friend of and collaborator with Bazan.

'Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan have much in common, from their shared conservative Christian upbringing to their refusal to conform to the expectations of their growing fan-bases—either the college radio kids in their Weezer t-shirts or the cool church kids, squirming uneasily as Pedro breaks into “Rapture” a vividly descriptive song about adultery.

Before Bazan had college students poring over his lyric sheets, he was drumming for Jurado in a series of local Seattle bands—The Guilty, Linus and Coolidge. They’ve collaborated on most of Jurado’s records and bounced ideas off each other throughout their respective careers.'

'While this artist [Jurado] is known as a sort of darling in the indie folk scene, his roots are in the Christian punk/emo scene of the Pacific NW in the 90s. With connections to Pedro the Lion, Roadside Monument, Poor Old Lu, etc. Jurado released some 7″ singles on the then-fledgling Christian label Tooth and Nail Records. Even his debut was a co-release with Tooth and Nail and SubPop, the latter a connection that came through his friend Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate.'

'Jurado originally signed with “Sub-Pop” records in 1997 releasing Water Ave S., (1997), Rehearsals for Departure (1999) and Ghost of David (2000), all of which share a standard folk flavour. In 2002, Jurado worked alongside David Bazan to produce I Break Chairs, which took a rock-influenced turn, before signing with “Secretly Canadian” records in 2005 to produce five more albums which garnered popularity and a sizable following. But in 2012, Jurado released Maraqopa, immediately noticed for its shift in style and storytelling method, sonically transporting listeners to a dream-like world.'

Jurado's 'eleventh full-length album, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son (2014) stands out as visionary and a triumph of creativity. The album is a distinct stylistic change from his previous Seattle-born acoustic folk/Americana to Jurado’s new latin-inspired, sci-fi, psychedelic spiritual folk. Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is a concept album along with Jurado’s previous Maraqopa (2012) and his newest Vision of Us on the Land (2016), forming a cohesive narrative-based sci-fi trilogy.'

'Jurado had a dream about a musician on a journey of personal and spiritual discovery, and that dream catalyzed the songs that would become 2012’s Maraqopa. And then he realized he had more of the dream left to tell, and those songs became 2014’s Brothers And Sisters Of The Eternal Son. And now comes Visions Of Us On The Land, the third installment and a conscious post-script to the original dream.

“The first two are really connected in the fact that they follow this story of this musician who sort of disappears from life and just goes out to seek and find himself,” says Jurado. “And while he’s trying to find himself, he sees the deep need for God and love, and wonders, ‘What does all that mean, and if love overtakes me, what will I become? Am I willing to let go of me for this thing called love? What if it transforms me? What is this thing called God? What if it takes over my life? What am I risking here?’ There’s all sorts of levels. The third record is really about him and his life companion going and seeking out whatever that is on what is pretty much Earth, but it’s barren and no longer inhabited by anyone. It’s pretty much an Adam and Eve scenario, I guess. This new album is sort of about experiencing a journey of the mind. What is all that you are?”'

Jurado also says: 'I’ve been a Christian since I was 17. For a long time it didn’t play a role in my music, though in some ways I can’t say that entirely because I’m under the belief that God is in everything I do, whether it is making dinner for my family, driving a car, or writing a song. God is in everything, as is creation. But where does it play in Maraqopa and the new album? It plays into the story in a big way only because the main character doesn’t know whether he’s dead or alive. When he goes back to Maraqopa there are certain things that are revealed to him that he didn’t know before. One is that they are awaiting the second coming of Christ, and it turns out that for them it’s by way of a spaceship. After his car accident the main character undergoes an inner change. He becomes a beacon, or radio tower, between heaven and earth, and the people of Maraqopa realize that they need him.

I think for me, the spiritual side of my faith opened up my music in a giant way. Looking back it’s not that strange. You have so many musical artists, from Johnny Cash to John Coltrane, who were immersed in spirituality. If you are in some ways open to letting God move through you, I guarantee you that you’re going to come up with some of the most creative music you’ve ever heard.'

'Jurado uses science fiction and mystery to open up himself, his faith, his understanding of God to speak in visions and images that are potentially uncomfortable and strange in order to better understand his own struggles with doubt and depression.'

I wrote an article on these themes for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space through a survey of inter-connections between faith and music. The article includes a link to my Spotify playlist 'Closer to the light' which includes a wide selection of the music I mentioned in this article.

My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.

Check out the following too to explore further:

Body Piercing Saved My Life
The Ocean Blue, Denison Whitmer, Innocence Mission and Sufjan Stevens
ROCK OF AGES: JESUS IN POPULAR SONGS
International Times: Dark Intense Music

David Ackles and After the Fire

David Ackles, Chris Bell, Bryan Maclean
God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
Jesus Music - 1 & 2
The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
When Jesus Met Hippies
A Rough Guide to Christian Art
Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
Pop's holy rollers
Perhaps the most underrated band ever
Rock gets Religion
Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
Electric Eden and the New Folk Revival
Salt and Sweetners
The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
Inspiration from the Psalms
'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' click here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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Damien Jurado - A.M. A.M.

Sunday, 10 August 2025

X marks the spot

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Gabriel's Pitsea this morning:

X marks the spot for hidden treasure. There is a long-standing idea that pirates buried their treasure and left maps enabling them to find it later. However, this is a myth which has been popularized in fiction, particularly in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" which was published in 1883.

The origins of this commonly held belief stem from a story concerning the pirate Captain William Kidd (c1655–1701), who, it is said, tried to escape a spell of imprisonment by writing a letter to the governor of New York and Massachusetts, Lord Bellomont, claiming that he had buried a cache of gold and jewels on Gardiner’s Island, just off the coast of New York.

Although stories of buried pirate treasure are probably fictional, plenty of people have spent time and money searching for such hidden treasures, including Captain Kidd’s hidden horde. This demonstrates the truth of Jesus’ statement, that where your treasure is, there is your heart (Luke 12.32-40).

It is an important question for us to ask of ourselves and to explore today, as we stand to gain an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. The answer to the question, the solution to the puzzle, the place where X marks the spot on the map, lies not so much with us, however, as with someone else and to discover who that is we need to remind ourselves of another story about hidden treasure.

Jesus once said that: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13.44).

It’s probable that most sermons we have heard preached on this parable told us that our salvation is the treasure and we are those who have to give up all we have to possess it. It may be that we think of Jesus as the hidden treasure. After all, we can no longer see him but we can find him. So, it may be a case of ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’, as Jesus said to doubting Thomas.

But let’s stop and think for a moment about the story told in the New Testament and who it is who gives up everything to gain something precious. The answer to that wondering is Jesus! Jesus is the one who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross. Jesus is the one who gives up all he has – even to the point of death - to seek and save us; the lost, the hidden.

We are the treasure for which he seeks because to him we are of great value; treasure, though we may not know it. In the Eucharistic Prayer shortly we will hear that the ever-present and ever-living God is with us, for we are precious, honoured and loved. We know this because Christ gave up all he had in order to be with us, even in death.

I learnt that truth and that reality in my teens. I was a child who invited Jesus into my heart but who, as a teenager, felt I was unworthy of his love. I felt like that because I was very aware of my own failings, fallibilities, and sins. Fortunately, a youth leader talked this through with me one evening and showed me Romans 5.8 - God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us. I came to realise that God loved me; loved me so much that he gave up his own life for me. I was the treasure and he was the one who sold everything in order to purchase me. I was the treasure and he was the who sold all he had to buy me. Later, I had an experience of uncontrollable laughter in the Spirit for what seemed like hours on end as I became aware of the weight that had been lifted from me and the love that had filled me.

Once we become aware that we are God’s treasure for which Jesus gives his life, then Jesus becomes our treasure and our hearts become his.

The X that marks the spot for us as Christians is Jesus. Jesus came into our world as the Word of God to live a life of self-sacrificial love as a human being. He shows us what true love looks like and he shows us that human beings are capable of true love even when most of the evidence around us seems to point towards the opposite conclusion. But he did not come solely as an example or a description of love. He is love itself, the reality of love, and, therefore, as we come into relationship with him we come into a true relationship with love. This why he came, that we might receive him; that we might receive love. He is then in us and in him. Love in us and we in love.

We are to make Jesus central to our lives and experience. In speaking to would-be disciples Jesus is emphatic about making God central to our lives. Before commitments to home and to family, God comes first. This is the practical implication and application of Jesus’ summary of the Law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul; and with all your mind.” That is the greatest and most important commandment. Love for others follows on from it, as we are then told to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

It is as we live in relationship to him, following in the Way that he has established, that we are sanctified, become holy ourselves, become ‘Little Christs’, which is what ‘Christian’ literally means. That is what it means for us to know Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are not sanctified by the Truth, meaning that sanctification is not about knowing and accepting truths that we are to believe. Instead, we are sanctified in the Truth, meaning that we are made holy as we inhabit, experience, practice and live out the Truth; with that truth being Jesus.

It was in my ordination training that I first discovered and experienced the reality of these things in a new way for myself and found Jesus as the X that marks the spot in a new way. Through debate and discussion with others on my course I was able to re-examine my faith while also being held by the sense of unity that we quickly developed despite our differences. Those relationships have proved extremely strong and necessary as our ordained ministries have later been lived out. My fears about my personal inadequacy and the pressures there would be for my family were eased through a sense that we were on an unfolding journey of discovering God’s love which protects and sanctifies.

I moved from an understanding of God as being there for us – the one who fixes us and who fixes the world for us – to an understanding that we are in God – that in him we live and move and have our being. May we, each one, become aware that we are the treasure for which Jesus gives his life and allow Jesus to become our treasure and our hearts desire. Amen.

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John Davis - I Hear Your Voice.