Review - Barbara Kruger

I have a review of Barbara Kruger's exhibition at Modern Art Oxford  published today in the Church Times.

In the review I explore how Kruger's work leads naturally into reflections on the nature of belief. The words BELIEVERS, DOUBTERS, AIRHEADS are at the very centre of her main installation while an earlier Kruger installation contained the equation BELIEF + DOUBT = SANITY. Kruger’s work refuses cheap solutions to that balance and the question of our own identity. 

I also refer to work by Rose Finn-Kelcey and Caroline Richardson which can be viewed here and here.

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Woven Hand -  Obdurate Obscura.

Facets of faith: the gospel in modern and contemporary art

My most recent article has been written for the latest edition of franciscan, which is published three times a year by the First Order brothers and sisters and includes articles on Franciscan themes, as well as book reviews and news of the Society. 

My article is called 'Facets of faith: the gospel in modern and contemporary art' and features the work of Ally Clarke, Caroline Richardson and Sergiy Shkanov.

Two other commission4mission members have also written articles on the arts for this edition of franciscan. Steven Saxby has written about Father Andrew the artist - the Plaistow friar who never lost his boyhood enthusiasm for all things artistic - while Helen Gheorghiu Gould's article entitled 'Re-imagining the gospels' includes interviews with Mark Lewis, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb.

To order a copy of the magazine contact the subscriptions secretary at franciscansubscriptions@franciscans.org.uk.

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Gungor - Brother Moon.

The Bible - to be continued ...

On Sunday evening I heard Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, preach on the Bible Year 2011. Bishop Stephen's sermon was bookended by two stories. The first concerned a man who had read, in 24 hours, the whole of the New Testament for the very first time and who had concluded that it was the most incredible message of love. The second was about a woman who had sung a rhyme listing the books of the Bible to the Bishop while in the Silver Ring at Royal Ascot on Ladies Day. This incident had been a trigger for this person to share something of her troubled background with Bishop Stephen and commit to opening and reading her Bible again, after many years of not doing so.

In between, he spoke about the Psalms as the love songs of the Bible and highlighted the look of love from God towards who walk in his ways (Psalm 33). This he contrasted with the look of love which Jesus has for the rich young ruler who walks away from him (Mark 10. 21). That same love was there for the woman in his story regardless of the way in which she chose to respond to the incident. All this illustrated the need for us to give away to others the Bible and its message of love and, as a result, three words should be added to the Bible; 'to be continued'.

Bishop Stephen was preaching at St Peters Harold Wood and, as part of the same service, dedicated two fused glass windows by Caroline Richardson, which had been commissioned through commission4mission.

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Sixpence None The Richer - Breathe Your Name.

commission4mission update

I haven't posted about commission4mission here for sometime but there is lots about which to update. Our latest newsletter can be found here and contains news of recent exhibitions, developments with our collaborative Olympics project Run With The Fire, a profile of installation artist Ally Clarke, and plans for 2011.

Since the newsletter was published we have also received information about the dedication of our third completed commission and have installed our fourth and fifth completed commissions. Our commissions, to date, are therefore as follows:

• Crucifixion and Do this in remembrance of me, paintings by Henry Shelton for the St Lukes Chapel at Queens Hospital Romford (September 2009). Tree of Life, fused glass windows by Caroline Richardson, are also in the St Lukes Chapel;
• Stations of the Crown of Thorns, a set of fifteen paintings by Henry Shelton, for St Pauls Goodmayes (July 2010);
• The Baptism of Jesus, painting by Rosalind Hore, for St Edmunds Tyseley (October 2010) and will be dedicated on Sunday 2nd January 2011 at 10.00am; 
• Etched windows by Henry Shelton for All Saints Hutton with icongraphy depicting Saints Cecilia, Martin of Tours, Peter, Mary, Paul, James the Great, and Margaret of Antioch (December 2010). A service at which the Archdeacon of Southend will dedicate the windows is planned for Sunday 27th March 2011 at 11.15am;
• Two windows by Caroline Richardson at St Peters Harold Wood (December 2010). This commission was for 14 fused glass panels set in steel frames forming two windows; the left window on the theme 'I am the light of the world' and the right on the theme 'I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.' The commission commerorates the completion earlier this year of a major building project at St Peters Harold Wood.

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Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life.

c4m webpage update (44)

It's been some time since the last c4m webpage update so quite a few new posts have been added to the commission4mission webpage in that time. Several posts concerned the commission dedication and networking afternoon held at St Paul's Goodmayes with the final post containing photographs from the event and of Henry Shelton's Stations of the Crown of Thorns. Exhibitions by Sergiy Shkanov, Caroline Richardson and Michael Creasey have also been highlighted with photographs of the Shkanov exhibition at St Andrew's Leytonstone also featuring in the most recent post. A profile of our newest member, Robert Enoch, has also been posted to the site. Finally, Go Well, Be Well was an exciting collaborative project involving Ally Clarke and bottled water for the Camberwell Arts Week.

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Arcade Fire - The Suburbs.  

c4m webpage update (31)

The latest posts on the commission4mission webpage concern our most recent commission and the latest Faith & Image meeting and visit. Caroline Richardson is working on window designs for St Peter's Harold Wood while tomorrow's Faith & Image meeting on Hindu Worship and Philosophy will be followed by a visit to the Neasden Temple.

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Scott Stapp - The Great Divide.

C4M webpage update (23)

On the commission4mission webpage this have been posts about press coverage of our Queens Hospital commission and Stations exhibition at St Barnabas Walthamstow in The Month plus a new profile of new commission4mission member, Caroline Richardson. Caroline is a glass and textile artist and created the Tree of Life window for the St Luke's Chapel at Queen's Hospital Romford.

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Hummingbird - Live Your Life Laughing.