Between: ball

Showing posts with label ball. Show all posts

Monday, 27 December 2021

Artlyst - And On An Art Note: End Of Year Diary 2021

My latest article for Artlyst is a diary piece covering a wide range of exhibitions and publications including work by Marc Chagall, Giacomo Manzù, Anna Ray, and Hughie O'Donoghue. It's mainly London-based but includes a trip to St Albans Museums:

'Touring galleries in the environs of Cork Street during Advent reminded me that, in the past, galleries would often have used Christmas as a reason to show works utilising religious iconography. That seems to be no longer the case, but, as I reflected further, that seems an indication that engaging with religion is no longer a niche theme for galleries but one that has been mainstreamed. As evidence, we can look at the extent to which the religious iconography of modern or contemporary artists is now explored either as a sole focus or central strand of retrospectives, as with Andy Warhol: Revelation, which is currently at Brooklyn Museum, or Paula Rego/Josefa de Óbidos: religious art in the feminine at Casa Das Historias Paula Rego earlier in the year. Also, the extent to which the religious iconography and themes of historical collections are increasingly being researched, displayed and shared in innovative ways, often specifically with faith communities. Examples range from exhibitions such as Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist with its exploration of contacts with Martin Luther to the National Gallery’s new Sacred Art in Collections Pre-1900 Network and the developing Visual Commentary on Scripture providing online exhibitions in dialogue with passages from the Bible.’

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Articles -

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fleet Foxes - Wading In Waist-Deep Water.

Saturday, 10 May 2014

Sabbatical Art Pilgrimage: Chelmsford Cathedral

I began my sabbatical art pilgrimage in familiar territory as Chelmsford Cathedral is where I was ordained as a deacon. Since then I have attended many Diocesan services, organised exhibitions and events, and have also spoken in the Cathedral on several occasions. Despite its familiarity for me, Chelmsford Cathedral continues to surprise and entrance.

On this occasion I was one of nearly 700 worshippers from across Essex and East London communities who joined Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh for a service to celebrate the centenary of Chelmsford Diocese. The Rt. Revd. Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, said in his sermon:

"We bring good news. We sing the song of him before whom every knee must bow, and yet whose
‘coming alongside us and moving ahead of us’ gospel means, paradoxically, that he is the one who
kneels before us, who comes, if you like, as a servant, a slave, washes our feet, offers broken
bread, wipes every tear from every eye, longs for us to know that we matter, that we are loved,
that we are precious to God. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and yet, at the same time, he
is servant and shepherd. He is light in the darkest hour. Hope in the bleakest despair. A reason for

going forwards, when everyone else turns back. He is joy. He is peace. He is love itself."

Those paradoxes are imaged in the range of artwork commissioned for this church over the 100 years that it has been a Cathedral.

Peter Eugene Ball and Mark Cazalet are two names that we will encounter again on this sabbatical art pilgrimage as they are among those contemporary artists who have most frequently been commissioned by the Church in the UK. Ball is a sculptor who works with found objects, predominantly wood, which he then embellishes with beaten metals such as gold leaf. His Christ in Glory located high above the Nave with its outstretched arms is a welcoming image.

On a smaller scale and possessed of a still serenity are his cross and candlesticks for the Mildmay Chapel and his Mother and Child in St Cedd's Chapel.

Cedd is the subject of Cazalet's engraved glass window in the St Cedd's Chapel and he also has a bit part in Cazalet's Tree of Life located in a blank window space within the North Transept and mimicking the mullions and tracery of the original window. The image of a single tree has been a recurring theme in Cazalet's work, influenced, as it is, by the sense of place found within the English Romantic landscape tradition. Cazalet's image of an Essex oak exemplifies lines written by his friend and fellow artist, Roger Wagner: "And that exulting love which made all things / Whose laughter is the ocean in a tree / That rustles like a thousand angels’ wings / Stirred by a wind no human eye can see."

Earlier commissions were no less significant however. Georg Ehrlich's sculpture The Bombed Child in St Peter's Chapel and his relief Christ the Healer are particularly affecting. The commissioning by the Church in the UK of work from artists who were refugees from the Nazi's will prove to be another recurring feature of this sabbatical art pilgrimage. Former Dean, The Very Revd. Peter Judd, said of The Bombed Child: "A mother holds her dead child across her lap, and the suffering and dignity of her bearing don’t need any words to describe them – that is communicated to anyone who looks at her."

John Hutton's Great West Screen at Coventry Cathedral is one of the most notable works of religious art of the 20th century in Britain. Here his etched window is an image of St Peter. Elsewhere in the Diocese Hutton's work can also be found at St Erkenwald's Barking and St George's Barkingside.

The work of Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones also features elsewhere within the Diocese. His Woman of Samaria at St Peter's Aldborough Hatch and The Christ figure above the South Porch of St. Martin Le Tours church, Basildon are both fibreglass figures. At the Cathedral, Huxley-Jones' work includes a Christus in St Cedd's Chapel, a carving of St Peter on the south-east corner of the South Transept and 16 stone carvings representing the history and concerns of Essex, Chelmsford, and the Church. Similarly, in his sermon, Stephen Cottrell, spoke of "the faithful, tireless, tenacious, beautiful witness of Christian men and women continues to make a difference: in Chingford and Chelmsford, Harwich and Harlow, Becontree
and Basildon and Boxted, right across this complicated and glorious diocese."

The number and variety of commissions which feature within this Cathedral mean that even in a packed service, such as that on May 6, when each worshipper will only see from their specific place within the space a very small proportion of the artworks within the building, they will, nevertheless, be able to view something of significance and depth to enhance their experience of worship. Among the range and variety of works to be seen - which include, among others, work in bronze, glass, steel, textiles, and wood - are finally a significant collection of contemporary icons many of which were created by nuns from the Community of St John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights.

Bishop Stephen concluded his sermon with these words: "In the midst of war, in the relative security of peace, in hardship and in plenty, in village, suburb and inner city, today we thank God for the church, which is the body of Christ, the sign of God’s loving presence and God’s eternal purposes for the world." The artworks found within this Cathedral Church are also signs of that loving presence and his eternal purposes for the world.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John Ireland - Te Deum Laudamus.

Thursday, 3 January 2013

How music makes us feel (2)

This morning I took the funeral service of a parishioner who had been an active member of the Michael Ball fan club and, as a result, incorporated the titles of many songs recorded by Michael Ball into the tribute I gave as part of the service. This was appreciated by many of those present, including other fan club members, who not only recognised the songs this lady loved but also the connections with her own life story.

All this was a reminder to me that people can identify very deeply with songs. We see this in the way that people choose particular songs to mark major milestones in their lives (like weddings or funerals). We see it in the way that teenagers will play one song over and over and over again and we see it in the way that concerts can become corporate singalongs as the crowd knows all the words and takes over the singing from the band.

We do all this because there is something in the combination of the music and lyrics that connects deeply with what we are thinking and feeling at that time. When that connection is made the link can stay with us for a lifetime. Great songs therefore are not propaganda or sermons they are essentially about empathy and making emotional or intellectual connections that reveal to us something about ourselves and our world. In other words, the best songs are like epiphanies; moments of revelation in ordinary life which reveal something of either the wonder or the depravity of life.

For more on epiphanies and music, try reading 'The Secret Chord', the book I have co-authored with Peter Banks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Ball - Bring Him Home.