ArtWay: Jonathan Evens in conversation with Roberta Ahmanson, Siobhán Jolley and Ben Quash

My latest interview for ArtWay is with Roberta Ahmanson, Siobhán Jolley and Ben Quash. The interview covers initiatives at Kings College London and the National Gallery plus the Visual Commentary on Scripture and 'Heading Home: A 21st century Pilgrimage':

"... we need to create beauty, we need to care for the earth, and we need to care for others. That's what we're supposed to be doing here.”

My other writing for ArtWay can be found at https://www.artway.eu/authors/jonathan-evens. This includes church reports, interviews, reviews and visual meditations.

My exhibitions for the VCS are: Back from the Brink - Daniel 4; Fishers of People - Matthew 4:12–22; Mark 1:14–20; and A Question of Faith - Hebrews 11. My paper for a meeting of the Interfaith Sacred Art Forum can be found here.

ArtWay.eu has been hailed "a jewel in the crown of work in Christianity and the arts," and having come under the custodianship of the Kirby Laing Centre, the much-loved publication is entering an exciting new chapter in its story with the launch of a new website in September.

Since its founding, ArtWay has published a rich library of materials and resources for scholars, artists, art enthusiasts and congregations concerned about linking art and faith. Founded by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker in 2009, ArtWay's significance is reflected in its designation as UNESCO digital heritage material in the Netherlands. 

In 2018, I interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker for Artlyst on the legacy of ArtWay itself. 

In the video above, the ArtWay team recounts the history of this much-loved resource and looks ahead to an exciting future for ArtWay.

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The Art of Creation

This one-day conference brought together speakers from a wide range of disciplines to explore the intersection of art, theology, and ecology. The event, at King's College London, fostered dialogue and collaboration between these fields and encouragement of innovative approaches.

The programme included short papers that explored the relationship between art, theology, and ecology in relation to three works of art from the National Gallery’s collection: Monet’s 'Flood Waters', Van Gogh’s 'Long Grass with Butterflies', and Ruysch’s 'Flowers in a Vase'. It also featured a reflection on the 'Saint Francis of Assisi' exhibition at the National Gallery, from co-curator Joost Joustra.

The presentations were:

• Art At Creation’s Extinction: Ecological Theologies in Ruysch’s Flowers in a Vase and Regan O’Callaghan’s St Paul and the Huia – Steve Taylor
• ‘God Saw All That He Had Made and Found it Very Good’ – Melissa Raphael
• Letting Creation Speak: A Theology of Resonance and the Ecological Art of Vincent van Gogh – Wes Vander Lugt
• Nouvelle Theologie, Van Gogh, and Artist Practice – Anna Yearwood
• Reflections on St Francis of Assisi – Dr Joost Joustra, as Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Associate Curator of Art and Religion and one of the curators of the exhibition
• ‘We Are Water Spirits’: An Ecofeminist Theological Response to Monet’s Floodwaters in Conversation with South African Poetry – Ninnaku Oberholzer

My paper 'Job 38.1-11 and The Art of Creation' explored the way in which the abundance of nature exceeds human constraints in the three images. Claude Monet depicts river waters exceeding their natural banks to flood surrounding lands in Flood Waters, Vincent Van Gogh paints an expanse of grass extending beyond his canvas in Long Grass with Butterflies, while Rachel Ruysch’s Flowers in a Vase brings flowers that bloom at different times of year together in one image. This evidence of our inability as human beings to corral nature was equated to the intent of the questions posed by God in Job 38.1-33, as these are intended to show Job (and the readers of this text) the limits to human understanding. The ways in which the three artists use their canvasses was also explored in order to contrast the limits of human understanding and the fecundity of nature with the necessity of edges, frames, and other constraints in order that human beings sub-create or co-create. In these ways, the paper reflected on the possibilities and limits to human creativity in relation to divine creativity, using the attempt by artists to depict the beauty and wonder of God’s creation on canvas as a paradigm for creation-care more generally.

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Water into Wine  Band - Harvest Time.

National Gallery: The Art of Creation conference

This one-day conference brings together speakers from a wide range of disciplines - scholars, artists, theologians, faith leaders and practitioners from different fields - to explore the intersection of art, theology, and ecology. 

The event, taking place at King's College London, aims to foster dialogue and collaboration between these fields and encourage innovative approaches.

The programme includes short papers that explore the relationship between art, theology, and ecology in relation to three works of art from the National Gallery’s collection: Monet’s 'Flood Waters', Van Gogh’s 'Long Grass with Butterflies', and Ruysch’s 'Flowers in a Vase'. It will also feature a reflection on the National Gallery's summer exhibition, 'Saint Francis of Assisi', from co-curator Joost Joustra.

I will be giving a paper on Job 38:1-33 and the Art of Creation.

Download the conference programme [PDF].

• Tuesday, 5 September 2023
• 10.30 am - 4 pm, doors open at 10 am
• Great Hall, King's College London - Strand Campus

Tickets

• Standard: £10
• Concessions: £5

Please book a ticket to attend this conference, which is taking place at King's College London - Strand Campus.

If you would prefer to watch the livestream of the conference, please book tickets here.

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Pissabed Prophet - Waspdrunk.

Three Hours: This Is My Body

Revd Professor Ben Quash, Professor of Christianity and the Arts, Kings College London, was the preacher at today's service of reflections on the passion of Christ, The Three Hours at St Martin-in-the-Fields. 

His talks on the theme of 'This is my Body' included images by Unknown artist, Rogier van der Weyden, Stanley Spencer, Sebastiano del Piombo, Matthias Grünewald, Lorenzo Veneziano, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Unknown artist, Graham Sutherland, Gionvanni Bellini, Michelangelo, Dirk Bouts, and Norman Adams.

I made the following notes via twitter:

• Active ministry of Jesus then passive - fulcrum is The Transfiguration. Jesus's body a treasure of great price.
• Jesus' feet carry good news - beautiful. Mary Magdalene adored the feet that brought her good news.
• What makes you kneel in your daily life? Like children kneeling to play, we need to kneel more to pray.
• Spencer - Consider the Lilies. Huge + humble Christ delights in flowers for what they are. Child-like use of knees.
• Brought to our knees by life. Weight of world's rejection forces Jesus down. We are implicated.
• Hands some of the most creative parts of our body. Hand of God from Sistine Chapel raises Lazarus in Sebastiano's painting.
• Grunewald's hands of Christ violently immobilised. Baptist does what Christ can no longer do - signals life. 
• Sides of Jesus exposed on the cross; place of protection + formation. By Jesus' side the shared position of Jesus' disciples. 
• Thomas' finger touches Christ's pierced side - his preparation for new life, being born again.
• Jesus' body was and is the message - God's language of preference in The Transfiguration + Crucifixion. Our bodies compatible with glory.
• Jesus' body compatible with love - his body on the cross asks us to attend to it, to lean in to it, like the beloved disciple.
• The at-homeness of God with himself invites us to take up our abode and rest. 
• Crucifixion the most tragic event but within is salvation. Full meaning of active ministry only seen in passivity.
• Mother-Child relationship deeply formative - intimate, reciprocal relationship. Our God contracted to a span.
• God placed in our hands. Jesus' body born from Mary's. No one's heart closer to Jesus'. Her God made flesh through her.
• Difficulty of being looked at by suffering Christ - exposed by Christ's gaze. Called to seek God's face - this is heaven.
• Salvation begins with fall - creation groans. Liberation into light - Christ redeems thorns into gentleness.

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William Walton - Drop, Drop Slow Tears.

Why Do So Many Jewish Artists Like Creating Works for Churches?

Jews have created a startling number of works for churches in the modern era.  Some of the most prominent artists include Jacques Lipchitz, Marc Chagall, Jacob Epstein, Mark Rothko, Louise Nevelson, and Anthony Caro.  In fact, Rothko even declared he would only create work for a church, never a synagogue!  While these artists negotiated their Jewish identities differently, against distinctive Christian backdrops, the tensions that emerged from such engagements yielded fecund results, both artistically and theologically.

In his talk for the Art and Sacred Places AGM, Dr. Aaron Rosen will survey some of the most intriguing Jewish church commissions, including the Nevelson chapel in New York City, the subject of his forthcoming edited book, Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan (Ashgate, 2015).  He will also draw on insights from his monograph Imagining Jewish Art (Legenda, 2009) and another forthcoming book, Spirituality in 21^st Century Art (Thames and Hudson, 2015).  Dr. Rosen is the Lecturer in Sacred Traditions and the Arts at King’s College London, and formerly taught at Yale, Oxford, and Columbia after receiving his PhD from Cambridge.

Date:  Wednesday 9th April 2014 from 18.00 to 20.00:  Room K0.18 (South Range 3), Building A, Strand Campus, Kings College London, WC2R 2LS.

Dr Rosen's talk will be immediately preceded by the Art and Sacred Places' Annual General Meeting.

The programme for the evening is:
18.00 - 18.15  Annual General Meeting
18.20 - 18.30  Introduction to Dr Aaron Rosen
18.30 - 19.00 Talk by Dr Aaron Rosen
19.00 - 19.30  Questions and Discussion
19.30 - 20.00  Refreshments

All are Welcome. There will be a small charge of £2.50 for members and £5 for non-members.

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Ravel - Kaddish for Cello and strings.

Seek the Welfare of the City

"Inspirational"..."great"..."brain and soul food"... these were some of the responses to the Seek the Welfare of the City conference organised by the Greater London Presence and Engagement Network, King's College London and St Mellitus College last week. Many of the talks - including keynote addresses by Bishop Doug Miles and Bishop Richard Chartres, and sessions with Lucy Winkett, Giles Goddard and Russ Rook are online here. Over 250 people attended the event, held at Holy Trinity Brompton and St Paul's Hammersmith, with presentations on the theology and practice of urban ministry.

Earthed in practice this was an opportunity to reflect on urban mission and ministry through a mix of case studies, keynote speaches and panel discussions. The venue for the first day was Holy Trinity Brompton and the keynote speaker Bishop Doug Miles, Koinonia Baptist Church, Baltimore. Panel topics were:- Missional church in practice; Christian Social enterprise - developing sustainable and resilient forms of social welfare provision; Urban spirituality and discipleship - beyond the rural and the monastic.

The venue for day two was St Paul's Hammersmith. Panel topics were Christian social and political engagement in multi-faith contexts and a roundtable and plenary discussion of Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilites of Faithful Witness by Luke Bretherton.

You can follow the conference Twitter feed here. Luke Bretherton's comments summed up the mood of the conference well: "Something rather special emerged as people began to connect outside of stereotypes and listen afresh - together."

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After The Fire - Life In The City.