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Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Review - 'Modern Fog' by Chris Emery

My first review for Tears in the Fence is of 'Modern Fog' by Chris Emery

'Modern Fog, through its “poems about landscape and animals and distant fictions” is primarily a collection about giving up “on who you think you are”, “to become something new, something estranged, maybe even something redeemed from the silly paraphernalia of midlife identity” – a time when a new vulnerability can emerge.'

Tears in the Fence is an internationalist literary magazine based in the U.K. Publishing a variety of contemporary writers from around the world, it provides critical reviews of recent books, anthologies and pamphlets and essays on a diversity of significant modern and contemporary English and American poets. Each issue features a number of regular columnists adding wide focus and independent thought on the contemporary poetry world. A wide range of book and pamphlet reviews are also published on the magazine’s blog.

My poetry reviews for Stride Magazine include a review of two poetry collections, one by Mario Petrucci and the other by David Miller, a review of Temporary Archive: Poems by Women of Latin America, a review of Fukushima Dreams by Andrea Moorhead, a review of Endangered Sky by Kelly Grovier and Sean Scullyreview of John F. Deane's Selected & New Poems, and a review of God's Little Angel by Sue Hubbard

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'. Read my ArtWay interview with artist, musician and poet David Miller here.

Additionally, several of my short stories have been published by International Times, the Magazine of Resistance, including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's mudcub sculptures (now known as Earth Angels), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford last Autumn. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

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Saturday, 16 April 2022

Deus Ex Musica: Four (Surprising) Pop Songs for Easter

For over 50 years, pop musicians in all genres have explored the meaning and significance of Jesus in their music. The result is a rich collection of songs that consider important spiritual questions like faith, doubt, and prayer in unique and often provocative ways. 

Delvyn Case and I both have a deep interest in the ways faith is expressed in and through pop music in all its many guises. In a recent series for HeartEdge we attempted to tap our differing interests and knowledge by choosing four songs for each festival we discussed.

In my latest blog post for Deus Ex Musica I share the four songs we chose for Easter. My earlier post with four songs for Lent can also be read here.

My co-authored book - The Secret Chord - on faith and music can also be found here. 'The Secret Chord is an accessible exploration of artistic dilemmas from a range of different perspectives which seeks to draw the reader into a place of appreciation for what makes a moment in a 'performance' timeless and special. The writers' experience of creativity is of disparate and often contradictory ideas being crushed, swirled, fermented, shaken and stirred in our minds in order that the fine wine of creativity results.'

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Patti Smith - Easter.

Sunday, 19 April 2020

Airbrushed from Art History: An update

This weekend ArtWay have republished an article exploring Andy Warhol's engagement with Catholicism and the impact on his art and legacy. Similarly, Artlyst have published an article exploring the enigma of Salvador's Dali's engagement with faith, while I have posted a piece on this blog about the Catholic wellsprings and work of Dali's friend, the Viennese Visionary Realism Ernst Fuchs. Each of these adds to the argument I have been making over several years that the level and extent of the engagement between the Christianity and the Arts has been more significant than is generally acknowledged.

In particular my ‘Airbrushed from art history’ series on this blog surveyed the Christian contribution to the Visual Arts which is broad and significant but is far from having been comprehensively documented. See below for the Index, links and other related writings for this series.

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:
Additional posts are at https://joninbetween.blogspot.com/search/label/airbrushed%20from%20art%20history

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 PrioryCanterbury CathedralChapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, HemChelmsford CathedralChurches in Little WalsinghamCoventry CathedralÉglise de Saint-Paul à Grange-CanalEton College ChapelLumenMetz CathedralNotre Dame du LémanNotre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,RomontSint Martinuskerk LatemSt Aidan of LindisfarneSt Alban RomfordSt. Andrew Bobola Polish RC ChurchSt. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + CraftSt Mary the Virgin, Downe, and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-SzyszkoMarc ChagallJean CocteauAntoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.


Interviews:
Articles:
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Bill Fay - Be Not So Fearful.

Saturday, 15 February 2020

Beyond Words: A response to the apology at General Synod

Azariah France-Williams, who is currently on placement at St Martin-in-the-Fields preparing for a new mission initiative with HeartEdge, has offered his thoughts on the Church of England General Synod's apology for racism in the church.

In his post for the SCM blog he asks:

'What are the thoughts of the church and its senior members in regard to race and ethnicity - that of themselves, as well as that of others? We are used to words, and I now want to know what the deeds of the church might be?'

Read his post here. His book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism in the Church of England is published this summer.

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Eric Bibb - Migration Blues

Thursday, 7 November 2019

Poetry on 'Between'

Examples of my poetry can be found here:
Here is a taster of what you will find:

Genesis 3: 8–19

Hard labour in birth and work, sweat on our brow,
dirt on our hands. Thorns and thistles to prick and sting,
like death from a serpent's tongue,
till we return to the ground,
ashes to dust and dust to ashes.

Simeon

I have passed my days in expectation,
anticipation of a time which has not come.
Not yet come. Through long years of watching,
waiting, I have questioned my vocation,
understanding, calling, yet patience has formed
itself in me a virtue and I have been sustained.
And now in wintertime when the seed of life itself
seemed buried, my feet standing in my grave,
at the last moment, when hope had faded,
then you come; a new born life as mine is failing -
now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace.
Hope, when hope was dashed. Wonder, where
cynicism reigned. Spring buds in winter snow.
Patience rewarded. Divine trust renewed.

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Friday, 12 January 2018

The power of creativity as a catalyst for change

My most recent piece for ArtWay is about the recent exhibition by graduates of Central Saint Martins at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

In the article I explore why Central Saint Martins, a world-famous arts and design college and part of University of the Arts London, would choose to show work by its graduates in a church. It’s a question with several different answers all of which coalesce around an exhibition entitled central saint martin in the fields held at St Martin-in-the-Fields in October 2017.

The exhibition draws on historical links between the two institutions. central saint martins in the fields demonstrates the common concerns between an internationally recognized centre for art and design education and research and a church that actively engages with contemporary art in its commissioning and mission.

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Dominique Lawalrée - Listen To The Quiet Voice.

Friday, 9 September 2016

'Reflection' exhibition & 'Congruity and controversy' lecture

















































I will give an illustrated talk at 1.00pm (repeated at 5.00pm) on Wednesday 14th September at St Stephen Walbrook entitled ‘Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions.’ Modern commissions by Henry MoorePatrick Heron, Hans Coper and Andrew Varah at St Stephen Walbrook bring into focus some of the key issues and questions regarding modern or contemporary commissions. I will explore these issues in this talk, which will be in the context of the ‘Reflection’ exhibition.

Classical, modern and contemporary art and architecture beautifully combine for 'Reflection', commission4mission’s fourth group exhibition in the setting of St Stephen Walbrook (39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN). Tuesday 6 – Saturday 17 September (Weekdays 10.00am – 4.00pm, Weds 11.00am – 3.00pm).

As in previous years, the exhibition features a wide variety of work from longstanding and new members. ‘Reflection’ is intended as a broad theme open to wider interpretation. commission4mission's artists showcase their individual engagements with this theme and we hope that the range and variety of work, both in terms of content and media, gives pleasure and prompts reflection. Exhibiting artists include: Hayley Bowen, Harvey Bradley, Irina Bradley, Christopher Clack, Mary Davey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Terry FfyffeMaurizio Galia, Michael Garaway, John GentryClorinda Goodman, Barbara Harris, Tim HarroldAnthony Hodgson, Mark Lewis, David Millidge, Janet Roberts, Henry Shelton, Sergiy Shkanov and Peter Webb.

Michael Garaway has posted a piece on his blog about the genesis of ‘Voice by Voice’, the diptych that he is showing at ‘Reflection’. The piece uses an antithetical version of the Lord’s Prayer, as found in the Book of Common Prayer, as if spoken by someone both driven by and driving an incessant consumerism. He had put this poem aside, not knowing how he might use it, until this year’s exhibition theme of ‘Reflection’ provided an appropriate opportunity to revise the text and develop a piece of work with it.

An exhibition reception and commission4mission’s AGM was held on Tuesday 6 September. The exhibition launch reception included a talk by writer, broadcaster and commentator Richard D. North. Richard describes himself as “a complicated conservative, and a bit hippy and arty round the edges, with an increasing interest in the idea of spirituality.”

After noting the high percentage of work in this show that he would be happy to hang in this home, Richard spoke about his evolving relationship to religious art citing the significant artworks commissioned for Chichester Cathedral and the Winifred Knights retrospective at the Dulwich Picture Gallery as recent places of pilgrimage and his developing love of stained glass as a cause for
new pilgrimages. A visit to Lourdes and an awareness of the history of devotion to St Teresa of Liseaux had given fresh appreciation of the impact that religious imagery, however sentimental, has on the devotion of believers.

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Colin Burns - Linger Here.

Thursday, 4 August 2016

Seeing More Clearly with the Eyes of Love

Yesterday saw the presentation at St Martin-in-the-Fields of ‘Seeing More Clearly with the Eyes of Love’, a new liturgy for voices based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed to mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains two significant references to the New Testament: Bottom’s misquoting of St Paul (‘The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen…’) and Bottom’s declaration taken from the Letter to the Ephesians (‘I assure you: the wall is down that parted their fathers’). In this ‘Liturgy for Voices’ these references are woven together with other excerpts from the play, words from the biblical poem ‘Song of Songs’, and elements from the traditional Christian liturgy to enable those present to explore Shakespeare’s own theme of clarifying the vision which belongs to love. The liturgy also includes five newly commissioned pieces from contemporary poets based on characters in the play: Laurence Sail (Titania), Michael Symmons Roberts (Demetrius), Sinead Morrissey (Puck), Micheal O’ Siadhail (Helena) and Jenny Lewis (Bottom); and the whole is intended to present an aspect of ‘Civic Shakespeare’, reflecting on the potentially transforming effect of love in civil society.

Andy Goodliff has posted a reflection on the experience of being present for this liturgy. He says:

"I like the ambition of the liturgy, the way we journeyed through the play and also the pattern of worship. I loved the music, composed by Myra Blyth (who for her many talents, did not know this was one). The music was suitably Shakespearian in sound, but also had echoes of Karl Jenkins and his The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. The final piece, which worked as a means of Blessing and Dismissal was wonderful. The intercessions were powerful and brought the themes of love and God into the concerns of our day."

‘Seeing More Clearly with the Eyes of Love’ was a fascinating interweaving of new and old texts, voices, music, responses, symbolic action and performance.

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Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions

I was recently invited to write a post on commissioning art for the ArtWay blog. My post draws on my sabbatical art pilgrimage, my experiences through commission4mission and the example of St Stephen Walbrook:

"The Henry Moore commission at St Stephen Walbrook ... brings into focus some of the key issues and questions regarding modern or contemporary commissions. In 2014 I explored these issues and questions through a sabbatical art pilgrimage which involved visits to significant sites connected to the renewal of religious art in Europe during the twentieth century. In Europe I have visited some of the sites connected with the groups of artists surrounding Maurice Denis, Jacques Maritain, Albert Gleizes and Père Marie-Alain Couturier, while, in the UK, I primarily visited sites which highlight the influence of innovatory commissions undertaken by Bishop George Bell and Canon Walter Hussey. These were issues with which I had already begun to grapple as secretary to commission4mission, an arts charity encouraging churches to commission contemporary art."

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Extreme - Song For Love.

Friday, 27 November 2015

Update: Sophia Hub Redbridge

Ros Southern writes:

'Hi there,

Here's a quick roundup of news and events in the business and community world of Redbridge :)

We have another fabulous Timebank skills swap on Mon 7 December 12.30 - see what's on offer!

Sophia Hubs is co-hosting the Big Business Networking Event on Wednesday at Enterprise Desk - 40 booked already! Info here

You are invited to the Chamber Christmas slap up dinner! Info here I'm going

There's a lot of interest in our first meeting of Redbridge upcyclers this week, to see if we can get some green enterprises going. info here.

As it's Black Friday and Redbridge really needs local trading with independent companies, we've found 3 Christmas markets coming up. There's no central info point for our markets and bazaars so we may try to do this. If you know of more please tell me and I'll add and tweet Info here

Want to see who's been on our Sophia course and their ideas? info here

Thanks to Celestine Ekpenyong for his valuable input and contribution at entrepreneur's club this week. info here

As I keep saying I am happy to let you write on this blog with your news, info here

It's the business show next Thurs and Friday, info here

And LAST BUT NOT LEAST - We have a FABULOUS and INTERESTING White paper business discussion on different ways of doing the economy. In partnership with Enterprise Desk. Weds 16 Sept. Click here for info.

I regularly update our Help & Support page on the website

Oh, and please find more people to sign up to this e-news!

Have a great weekend,

Ros
Coordinator, Sophia Hubs Redbridge
E: ros.southern@sophiahubs.com M 07707 460309 / 0208 590 2568 (answer phone)'

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Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Goin' In The Right Direction.

Saturday, 1 August 2015

Update: Sophia Hub Redbridge

Ros Southern writes:

'Hi there,

We had a really great Timebank social on Tuesday and fantastic offers will be coming up online soon. Guest blog by Sam Cowan - must be read! Info on Timebank surgeries included.

East Thames has started a fab new social enterprise providing cheap, recycled furniture and house items. Click here for info.

We are looking for cafes/venues for co-working spaces and an enterprise-club-on-the-road show. Your help is needed - please read here! Times/dates of 2 summer enterprise clubs to be advised!

The Ilford market opportunity next week, including Saturday 8th, stilll has stalls available. Prime location. You will need to ring the organiser. Info here.

Have a good weekend!

Best wishes,

Ros Southern
Coordinator, Sophia Hubs Seven Kings
M: 07707 460309 T: 0208 590 2568 (answer phone)
ros.southern@sophiahubs.com'

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Belle and Sebastian - Seeing Other People.

Friday, 24 July 2015

Update: Sophia Hub Redbridge

Ros Southern writes:

'Hi there,

Please do come to our Timebank social and induction on Tuesday evening - 28th. Info here. It's going to be very enjoyable plus very practical.

The Ilford community market from 2-8th August is definitely worth booking a stall! Fantastic trading opportunity. Info here

There's a business adviser at Ilford Library (open to all Redbridge of course) every Wednesday. Must be booked. Info here.

There will be an enterprise club on Tuesday but I have not found a speaker! Keep the date and I will update you. Info on enterprise club here. Get in touch if you have a suggestion.

A Redbridge social enterprise Inspired By Sports are having a launch of a new arm a clothing range - read the Director Jeffrey Nkrumah's blog here .

A Redbridge arts/events start-up Kim Judge has opened a fantastic art exhibition in the Cauliflower pub. She plans to find spaces all around the borough for local artists. Info here.

Our Director Aidan Ward has written a blog about what Sophia Hubs means by 'economic community development'. Please read it! You can find out what makes us tick and get excited by the vision! :)

My campaign for Independent retailer month seems to have come to nothing but there's still time to take an Indie Selfie! Click here if you want to help a campaign take off in the last week!

I am currently looking for contacts and opportunities to support start-ups in Hainault area. If you want to help or have ideas please do get in touch.

And don't forget it's the Chambers breakfast this coming Tuesday. Info here

More guest bloggers always welcome.

Best wishes,

Ros Southern
Coordinator, Sophia Hubs Seven Kings
M: 07707 460309 T: 0208 590 2568 (answerphone)
ros.southern@sophiahubs.com'

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Blondie - Union City Blue.