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Showing posts with label art and christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art and christianity. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 January 2026

Fear not, for I am with you: An exhibition of religious paintings by David Sowerby



The latest exhibition at St Andrew's Wickford opens tomorrow with an exhibition viewing evening from 7.00 pm and a chance to meet the artist, David Sowerby.

Fear not, for I am with you: An exhibition of religious paintings by David Sowerby
9 January – 3 April 2026
St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

View the exhibition and hear David speak about his work at ‘Unveiled’, the arts & performance evening at St Andrew’s Wickford, Friday 9 January, 7.00 pm.

St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm. https://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html 

David Sowerby

Born 24th October 1954
Studied Foundation at Middlesbrough Art College
BA (hons) Art and Design at The Central School of Art (London)

I worked as a freelance illustrator and teacher throughout my life and eventually retired as a Principal Lecturer at The University of the Arts London.

I now support a range of charities, both local and national, via my mutual interest and fascination with art and creativity. 

An earlier exhibition was just prior to the first lockdown which was held at The Transition, Chelmsford, with proceeds going towards The British Heart Foundation raised just over £6,000.

I continue to support local and national charities, contributing a large percentage of any sales to such charitable organisations and causes.  

My work can be viewed on my Facebook pages, search for David Sowerby with more available to view at Sowerbycreations (Facebook again).

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Talia featuring Brian May - Praise Your Name. 
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Wednesday, 13 August 2025

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.
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Saturday, 29 July 2023

ArtWay Visual Meditation - Gwen John: The Nun

My latest Visual Meditation for ArtWay is on the work of Gwen John, which can currently be seen at Pallant House in the exhibition Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris:

"The wisdom of quietude and purity which derives from paying prayerful attention is what we find expressed throughout John’s work and is the great gift that she offers to us."

My preview of Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris for Artlyst can be found here and my review of Reunited: Gwen John, Mere Poussepin and the Catholic Church for Art+Christianity can be found here. See also 20th Century Women Artists Challenging Conventions In Britain here.

My visual meditations for ArtWay include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Jake Flood, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, Lakwena Maciver, S. Billie Mandle, Giacomo Manzù, Sidney Nolan, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Nicola Ravenscroft, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton, Anna Sikorska, Alan Stewart, Jan Toorop, Andrew Vessey, Edmund de Waal and Sane Wadu.

My Church of the Month reports include: All Saints Parish Church, Tudeley, Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, St Michael and All Angels Berwick and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

Blogs for ArtWay include: Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions; Ervin Bossanyi: A vision for unity and harmony; Georges Rouault and André Girard: Crucifixion and Resurrection, Penitence and Life Anew; Photographing Religious Practice; Spirituality and/in Modern Art; and The Spirituality of the Artist-Clown.

Interviews for ArtWay include: Sophie Hacker, Peter Koenig and Belinda Scarlett. I also interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar Rookmaaker for Artlyst.

I have reviewed: Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace, Kempe: The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe and Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals.

Other of my writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here. Those for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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Sinead O'Connor - Take Me To Church.
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Wednesday, 10 May 2023

Artlyst: Saint Francis Of Assisi - A Timely Exhibition

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on Saint Francis of Assisi at the National Gallery:

'The National Gallery’s Saint Francis of Assisi exhibition explores how Saint Francis captured the imagination of artists, how his image has evolved over centuries, and how his universal appeal has transcended time, continents, and differing religious traditions. Through more than 40 works of art which span more than seven centuries and range from medieval painted panels and relic-like objects to manuscripts and a Marvel comic, the exhibition illustrates the claim that, apart from the saints of the New Testament, Francis is probably the most represented saint in the history of art. That reality came about because the growth of the Franciscan movement went hand in hand with the rapid spread of imagery by some of the greatest artists. Art historians have estimated that as many as 20,000 images of Francis might have been made just in the century after his death.

Francis embraced Christ, his message, and way of life – as is literally depicted for us in Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s ‘Saint Francis embracing the Crucified Christ’ – with a depth of insight and commitment that was unsurpassed in his own time and has remained so ever since. That is part of his continuing inspiration and attraction to so many, alongside the breadth of his radicalism, which embraces environmental concerns, gender equality, issues of poverty and wealth, and interfaith engagement.'

In the review I also mention Arthur Boyd: The Life of Saint Francis at the David Roche Foundation in Adelaide and Sacred Meetings - paintings by Greg Tricker at the Marylebone Theatre. For more on Arthur Boyd see here and for my Visual Commentary of Scripture exhibition that includes a piece from Boyd's Nebuchadnezzar series click here. My review of Greg Tricker's The Christ Journey for Art + Christianity can be found here. 

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -
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Mumford and Sons - The Cave.
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Tuesday, 15 November 2022

God's Collections case study

In September I led a tour of artworks at St Martin-in-the-Fields as part of a seminar in the Gods' Collections programme.

Places of worship of all traditions have always accumulated collections. Today some have generated great art museums, while others just keep a few old things in a sacristy cupboard. The Gods' Collections project looks at why and how these collections have developed, how they have been looked after, and how understanding of them has changed over the millennia.

My tour (which was originally developed for the Friends of St Martin-in-the-Fields) has now been turned into a case study for the God's Collections website. The case study sets the commissions programme at St Martin-in-the-Fields in the wider context of the renewal of sacred art within the twentieth century. The case study also develops further articles originally written for Artlyst and Art+Christianity.

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Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields - Morning Song.
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Friday, 13 May 2022

Church Times: Epstein: Stories in Stone at Coventry Cathedral

My latest piece for Church Times is a reflection on the work of Jacob Epstein based on Coventry Cathedral's Epstein: Stories in Stone exhibition:

'Epstein said that his tendency had “always been religious”, as most “great sculpture is occasioned by faith.” The curators have sought to draw out this tendency in works such as Maternity and Genesis by locating them within the cathedral’s Lady chapel to create associations with our Lady.

His Jewish upbringing in New York had made Epstein familiar with the stories of the Hebrew Bible, while his reading in his teens included the New Testament. Jacob and the Angel, on loan here from Tate Britain, is one among many sculptures on biblical themes, including later ecclesiastical commissions such as Madonna and Child for the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus in London, Christ in Majesty for Llandaff Cathedral, and St Michael’s Victory over the Devil for Coventry.'

For more on Jacob Epstein, see my April diary piece for Artlyst here.

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here. See also Modern religious art: airbrushed from art history?

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Bruce Cockburn - Us All.
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Friday, 29 April 2022

Art review: Victoria Crowe: Resonance of Time at Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London W1

My latest review for Church Times is of Victoria Crowe: Resonance of Time at Flowers Gallery:

'These are images that sit in the borderlands between permanence and transience, capturing the still point of the turning world in moments of twilight, in which the setting sun still blazes in the reflecting waters of a still lake, or snow turns blue in the early light of the moon. The varying lights of twilight create the subtle and yet vibrant colours of these landscapes, and tree studies with their immersion in this liminal time of transition, which is both now and not yet ...

Crowe is widely known for her winter landscapes, which are often painted from recollections of walking at dusk. A low blaze of crimson on the horizon will often signal the transitory moments of twilight, in which she finds elements of dream and combines these with strong visual memories of place. The twilight within her works is also reflective of an inner life, indicating a transitional and contemplative state between beginnings and endings.'

For more on Victoria Crowe, see my Church Times review of her 2019 retrospective here.

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. Those pieces for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here. See also Modern religious art: airbrushed from art history?

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Lone Justice - You Are The Light.
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Friday, 18 June 2021

Church Times: ‘Call to Holy Ground’ at St Andrew’s, Leytonstone

My latest review for Church Times is about Call to Holy Ground, an exploration of nature, sanctuary and belief, comprising installations in a church and temple, a sound pilgrimage through the fringes of Epping Forest, and a video work:

'Within the works, there is a subtle and sensitive interweaving of symbols and rituals, not a merging or blurring of faith and practice. This is art as meeting place, and as estuary, becoming a breeding ground for ideas and improvisation. The project has formed a bridge (built on existing relations between the communities) between faiths, generations, and spiritual and ecological practices for those involved, and now creates a pilgrimage for those who come through the elements, with participants and artists, exploring the sacred essence of ground that is both common and holy together with its connection to our inner landscape.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.

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George Harrison - What Is Life?

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Saturday, 20 February 2021

Exploring connections between the Arts and faith

My most recent series here explored the art of contemplation. Entitled Seeing is Receiving, this is a series about art and prayer but is not like any book on prayer you may have read. Most books about prayer are about the words we should speak or, if they are books of prayers, give us the words we are to speak. This is a series using words to bring us to silence. Why? Because when we fall silent we begin to see. Here is the index to the series:

Seeing is Receiving is the latest in my ongoing exploration of connections between the Arts and faith. To explore the contribution made by Christianity to the Arts is important because the story of modern and contemporary Arts is often told primarily as a secular story. To redress this imbalance has significance in: encouraging support for those who explore aspects of Christianity in and through the Arts; providing role models for emerging artists who are Christians; and enabling appreciation of the nourishment and haunting which can be had by acknowledging the contribution which Christianity has made to the Arts.

My co-authored book The Secret Chord explored 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. I have also posted an outline summary of the Christian contribution to rock and pop music. Pieces on contemporary choral and classical music are here and here.

Tracing the connections between artists that were either part of the Church and were engaged by the Church in the 20th century is an important element in the argument that the level and extent of the engagement between the Church and the Arts has been more significant than is generally acknowledged. Some of my posts tracing these connections include:
My key literature posts are:
The index to my 'Airbrushed from Art History' series of posts is as follows:

Additions to the series and related posts are as follows:

On my 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 documented these visits at http://joninbetween.blogspot.com/search/label/sabbatical and they resulted in a series of Church of the Month reports for ArtWay: Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, St Michael and All Angels Berwick, and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

My visual meditations for ArtWay 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, Lakwena Maciver, S. Billie Mandle, Giacomo Manzù, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Nicola Ravenscroft, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton, Anna Sikorska and Edmund de Waal.

Interviews for ArtWay include: Sophie Hacker and Peter Koenig. I also interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar Rookmaaker for Artlyst.

I have also reviewed: Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace, Kempe: The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe, and Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals.

Other of my writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here and those for Art+Christianity are here.

My pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Articles -
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King's X - It's Love.
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