commission4mission Summer Newsletter

commission4mission's Summer Newsletter is out with news of exhibitions and commissions by Christopher Clack, Harvey Bradley, Tim Harrold, Rodney Munday and Clorinda Goodman:

'Following our successful 'Reconciliation' exhibition during Lent at Coventry Cathedral, we are now planning towards our autumn exhibition at All Hallows by the Tower in the City of London. This exhibition will be titled 'Creation' and we anticipate our artists exploring creation in terms of the Genesis and other biblical stories, the natural world, ideas and making, among other possibilities. All Hallows by the Tower are kindly hosting our autumn exhibition from 15 to 26 October 2019, with a Private View on 14 October and our AGM on 27 October.

We have recently held our third creative retreat with the Othona Community at Bradwell-on-Sea and, thanks to our Chairperson, Mark Lewis, who organised the retreat, once again enjoyed a marvellous time of reflection, creativity and fellowship.'

Click here to read the newsletter.

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Aretha Franklin - Walk In The Light.

commission4mission creative retreat 2019

Thanks are due once again to Mark Lewis for organising another creative retreat for commission4mission artists at the Othona Community, Bradwell-on-Sea.

As previously, this was time for reflection, creativity and fellowship combined with creative time. Services were in St Peter's Chapel Bradwell-on-Sea, and meals and accommodation with the Othona Community. Creative times included drawing, painting, photography, reading, writing, poetry and beach-combing etc.

Mark says, 'The Othona retreat seemed to go well. The weather was mixed, but it made for some dramatic skies. We took a lot of photographs.' The photographs above are from Susan Hitching and Harvey Bradley.

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Alison Krauss - Down In The River.

Irina Bradley: New Roots Artist in Residence for August

In partnership with commission4misssion New Roots has begun featuring an Artist in Residence each month. In August 2018 the Artist in Residence is commission4mission member Irina Bradley.

Irina Bradley is an iconographer, specialising in Russo-Byzantine style, who follows the traditional way of icon painting, which is regarded as a contemplative practice. It is a transformative process, which takes place not only on an icon boards, but also within the artist. Irina studied icon painting in Italy, Russia and the UK. Irina graduated from the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, where amongst other disciplines she studied Indian and Persian miniature painting, mosaics, stained glass, islimi, tiles, ceramic plates glazing and geometry. Irina’s successfully defended her doctoral thesis on the iconography of St George and the Dragon in January 2015. Irina is a visiting tutor for icon painting at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, where she teaches at MA level, she also teaches open program courses for general public.

Irina’s work is worldwide. She has exhibited at several international exhibitions and has presented her research and icons at Christ Church Oxford, the Temenos Academy, the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, Cumberland Lodge and the V&A. Irina’s icons are featured in an international publication Divine Temple by Kolomenskaya Versta of Saint Petersburg. Irina’s icons are being exhibited at Buckingham Palace’s summer exhibition from July to September 2018.

New Roots seeks to meet the needs of those who ‘believe but don’t belong’, nurturing a place of support, resource and encouragement. Find them here.

New Roots is excited that from July 2018 they will feature an ‘Artist in Residence’ each month and have initially teamed up with commission4mission to begin working with a number of artists. The New Roots Artist in Residence will be invited to profile a number of different works for a month with the first artists featured being from commission4mission.

New Roots are keen to work with artists using different visual mediums – so if you are interested in becoming a ‘New Roots Artist in Residence’ get in touch: bob@newroots.online.

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John Tavener - Ikon of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.

Pilgrimage exhibition at St Saviour’s, St Albans

commission4mission is exhibiting at St Saviour’s Church (25 Sandpit Lane, St Albans AL1 4DF) for the Alban Pilgrimage. The Alban Pilgrimage took place today, being held in honour of the city’s namesake, St Alban, who died on 22nd June over 1700 years ago.

Entitled ‘Pilgrimage’, our exhibition, from 23rd – 30th June (9.00am – 5.00), features work by: Hayley Bowen; Harvey Bradley; Irina Bradley; Lucy Crabtree; Valerie Dean; MaryJean Donaghey; Jonathan Evens; Michael Garaway; Clorinda Goodman; Deborah Harrison; David Millidge; and Adeliza Mole. The exhibition includes ceramics, paintings, sculptures and an installation.

Our exhibition gives personal insights into what pilgrimage means to the artists involved. David Millidge has been directly inspired by the martyrdom of St Alban and Irina Bradley has painted an icon of St Alban. Others, however, have treated the theme in terms of pilgrimage more generally or have been inspired by the journeys of other figures from Church history.

Concerts are being held at St Saviour’s during the period of the exhibition on Saturday 23rd and 30th June. Today’s concert begins at 7.30 pm and is ‘An Evening of Sibelius’ by St Albans Symphony Orchestra. More information can be found at http://saso.org.uk/events/an-evening-of-sibelius/. On Saturday 30th June at 7.30 pm St Albans Chamber Choir will perform ‘Light and Love, Music for Midsummer’. More information can be found at http://stalbanschamberchoir.org.uk/.

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Kamasi Washington - Truth.

Icons: The Symphony of Divine Light

commission4mission member Irina Bradley is exhibiting at Christ Church Cathedral Oxford until 28 May 2018. The exhibition is entitled ‘Icons: The Symphony of Divine Light’.

Irina will also teach an Icon Painting Course during this time period. This course will introduce students to fluid egg tempera techniques with the aim of finishing a small icon depicting St Frideswide of Oxford in Russo-Byzantine style to take home. The course is organised in conjunction with the exhibition 'Icons: The Symphony of Divine Light' which features icons ‘written’ by course leader, Dr Irina Bradley.

Dr Irina Bradley is a visiting tutor for icon painting at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, where she teaches at MA level. Her work is on display in churches, places of private worship and collections worldwide. See www.irinabradley.com.

Cost: £400 per participant, payable in advance. For more information, contact jacqueline.holderness@chch.ox.ac.uk or 01865 286003.

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John Tavener - Ikon Of Light.

Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions

I will be giving a talk entitled Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions at 2.00pm, Monday 1 May in the Weston Room at Norwich Cathedral as part of commission4mission's exhibition 'The Cross: designs & reflections'.

St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London has been described as one of the few in which the genius of Sir Christopher Wren shines in full splendour. As Priest-in-charge at St Stephen Walbrook, I am regularly called on to tell the story of how this English 17th-century masterpiece by Wren acquired a modern altar by Henry Moore complemented by a circular re-ordering and further commissions from Patrick Heron, Hans Coper and Andrew Varah. In this lecture I will show how this story brings into focus some of the key issues and questions regarding modern or contemporary commissions while furthering discussion of those same issues.

Other talks in the exhibition programme include:

Icons in the Making – 5pm, Saturday 29 April (Weston Room)

Icons in the Making by Dr Irina Bradley: The lecture will explore the history of Byzantine art as well as the icon painting process with its rich symbolism and spirituality. Dr Bradley is a scholar and an icon painter, who was awarded a PhD for her thesis Spiritual Striving in Icon Painting with the emphasis on images of St George and the Dragon and a series of icons and contemporary paintings she created. Upon her graduation Dr Bradley’s work was exhibited at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, where she undertook her studies and where she is a visiting tutor for the MA and general public programs. Dr Bradley’s work is worldwide including churches, private chapels and private collections.



Exposition on ‘The Bridge’, 12 & 19 May, 1.00pm (The Hostry)

Exposition of ‘The Bridge’: Anthony Hodgson will take the viewer on a journey exploring the themes of his painting ‘The Bridge’ by using spoken word, poetry and song.

Interpretations of the Cross in Contemporary Art and Culture, 2.30pm, 20 May (Weston Room)

​In today’s secular society, it is perhaps surprising that artists still find themselves drawn to the Christian cross as a means of expression. The cross has never been an event about which one can remain neutral; from the start it was an offence. Contemporary artists’ interpretations have taken many forms. Wendy McTernan will look at some examples and see how, in unexpected and sometimes shocking ways, Jesus’ story becomes part of theirs – and ours.​

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Lou Reed - Dime Store Mystery.

The Cross: designs & reflections

The Private View for the latest commission4mission exhibition was held in The Hostry at Norwich Cathedral on Wednesday.

Harvey Bradley, curator of the exhibition, outlined the basis for the show and I thanked Harvey for all his work before also thanking the Cathedral staff for their support and for the opportunity to show work in this marvellous space. I then said:

“‘The Cross: designs & reflections’ is an exhibition with two objectives. The first, because commission4mission is an organisation which exists to encourage churches to commission contemporary art, is the attempt to display a range of designs of the cross which have the potential to be commissioned by churches.

To assist in imagining potential commissions and the process involved, we have included within the show concept drawings and designs to indicate how initial ideas are developed and revised in forming fully realised creations. We have included a wide range of designs, concepts and media to suggest the way in which our artists can lead you into new ways of understanding and perceiving the Cross, should you choose to commission them.

That brings us to our other aim which is to challenge you to view and perceive the cross from a wide range of different perspectives. This is what artists bring to a church and to commissions. There is no point in commissioning art which reinforces our existing understandings of the cross, as these are already received and understood. Instead artists and artworks are at their best when they take us out of our comfort zones and into new places which bring new understanding. We believe that that is what commission4mission’s artists do and what we hope is apparent in this exhibition with its variety of media, styles, perspectives and understandings.”

‘The Cross: designs & reflections’ is an exhibition of works, talks and seminars by members of commission4mission which is being held in The Hostry at Norwich Cathedral from 20 April to 29 May 2017.

The exhibition is based on personal responses to the cross through designs, concept drawings, digital prints, wood & stone carvings, pottery & jewellery, textiles, sculpture, paintings and drawings.

The exhibition is free to attend. It will be open from 9.30am – 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10.00am – 3.00pm on Sundays.

The exhibition includes work by: Hayley Bowen, Harvey Bradley, Irina Bradley, Jonathan Evens, Terry Ffyffe, Rob Floyd, Dorothy Gager (USA), Maurizio Galia (Italy), Michael Garaway, John Gentry, Michelle Gillam-Hull, Clorinda Goodman, Judy Goring, Deborah Harrison, Tim Harrold, Anthony Hodgson, Jean Lamb, Mark Lewis, David Millidge, Victoria Norton, Colin Riches, Janet Roberts, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb.

In addition, a church congregation project has been completed by members of St Mark’s Church, Oulton Broad, Suffolk where people of all ages contributed individual crosses for a large banner to be displayed at this exhibition, as well as later in their church.

commission4mission is also organising a programme of art talks during the exhibition. These include interpretations of The Cross in contemporary art and culture, exploration of issues in contemporary commissioning, and an exposition on themes from ‘The Bridge’ using spoken word, poetry and song.

The programme includes:

• Icons in the Making – 5pm, Saturday 29 April (Weston Room) – Icons in the Making by Dr Irina Bradley: The lecture will explore the history of Byzantine art as well as the icon painting process with its rich symbolism and spirituality. Dr Bradley is a scholar and an icon painter, who was awarded a PhD for her thesis Spiritual Striving in Icon Painting with the emphasis on images of St George and the Dragon and a series of icons and contemporary paintings she created. Upon her graduation Dr Bradley’s work was exhibited at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, where she undertook her studies and where she is a visiting tutor for the MA and general public programs. Dr Bradley’s work is worldwide including churches, private chapels and private collections.
• Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions – 2.00pm, Monday 1 May (Weston Room) – St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London has been described as one of the few in which the genius of Sir Christopher Wren shines in full splendour. As Priest-in-charge at St Stephen Walbrook, Revd Jonathan Evens is regularly called on to tell the story of how this English 17th-century masterpiece by Wren acquired a modern altar by Henry Moore complemented by a circular re-ordering and further commissions from Patrick Heron, Hans Coper and Andrew Varah. In this lecture Jonathan will show how this story brings into focus some of the key issues and questions regarding modern or contemporary commissions while furthering discussion of those same issues.
• Exposition on ‘The Bridge’, 12 & 19 May, 1.00pm (The Hostry) – Exposition of ‘The Bridge’: Anthony Hodgson will take the viewer on a journey exploring the themes of his painting ‘The Bridge’ by using spoken word, poetry and song.
• Interpretations of the Cross in Contemporary Art and Culture, 2.30pm, 20 May (Weston Room) – ​In today’s secular society, it is perhaps surprising that artists still find themselves drawn to the Christian cross as a means of expression. The cross has never been an event about which one can remain neutral; from the start it was an offence. Contemporary artists’ interpretations have taken many forms. Wendy McTernan will look at some examples and see how, in unexpected and sometimes shocking ways, Jesus’ story becomes part of theirs – and ours.​

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Good Charlotte - We Believe.