c4m webpage update (39)

There are a number of interesting new posts on the commission4mission webpage beginning with photos of the first exhibition to be hosted in our ongoing exhibition space at All Saints West Ham. Sergiy Shkanov is our newest member to join and be profiled. He has also added worked to the West Ham exhibition. Two posts (here and here) highlight forthcoming exhibitions which will feature work by c4m members - Colin Burns, Valerie Dean, Sarah Ollerenshaw and Peter Webb - together with the Northwood & Northwood Hill Art stns which featured my meditations. Finally, the latest post features our response to the recent Arts Council England consultation.

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

Ben Harper and Relentless7 - Shimmer & Shine.

Northwood & Northwood Hills Art Stns (2)

My 'Stations of the Cross' meditations are being used, for the second year running, by the Northwood and Northwood Hill Art Stns.

This community art project involves a trail of artworks exploring some of the events in the final hours of Jesus' life. The artworks include paintings, photographic exhibits, drapes, metal sculpture and collages and will be displayed (from Friday 26th March - Friday 2nd April) at Holy Trinity Northwood, London School of Theology, Northwood Library, Northwood Methodist Church, Brisa Cafe, Northwood Bookshop, Northwood Station, St John's Northwood, Emmanuel Church Northwood, Hillside School, Northwood Hill Library, and St Edmund the King, Fairfield Church. Each artwork will be accompanied by one of my meditations and an explanation from the artist.

From Saturday 3rd - 12th April, all the artworks will be displayed together at Fairfield Church. The Northwood and Northwood Hills Art Stns are part of a passion for life. Admission is free. Check website for opening times. Contact Rachie Ross on 01923 824306.

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

Gillian Welch, David Rawlings & Ricky Skaggs - By The Mark.

c4m webpage update (33)

Two new posts on the commission4mission webpage this week. The first has photos of the panels being erected for the tryptich that will be the centrepiece of Henry Shelton's Stations of the Crown of Thorns commission at St Paul's Goodmayes. The second is an update of member's activities and includes details of exhibitions involving Colin Burns and Sarah Ollerenshaw together information about my recent Church Times exhibition review and the use of my Stations of the Cross meditations for the second year running in the Northwood & Northwood Hills Art Stns.

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

The Technos - Foreign Land.

Martin Wilson

Martin Wilson is an artist that I met at last year's Greenbelt. He also contributed a piece to the Northwood & Northwood Hills stns which used my Stations of the Cross meditations during Holy Week this year.

Martin has one of his pieces in The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which is now open to the public. His work can also be seen in Leicester at Bishop Street Methodist Church in July.

Martin trained as a graphic designer and works is an art director for a large publishing business, but during his free time he is busy creating photographic artworks that tease meaning from the urban jumble.

His work captures words and letters from urban typography, such as road signs, number plates and billboards, or crafts new letter forms from material as unpromising as rubbish and road markings. He then re-appropriates these to spell out unexpected, but often familiar, messages.

His pictures are painstakingly created frame by frame on 35mm film, with the final images appearing only when the completed film strips are laid out side by side on contact sheets. Each work usually takes months to complete, as each word letter or image is obsessively taken in sequence, rather than pasted together after the event. If he makes a mistake or takes a frame out of place he starts the film again from the beginning. His works are all records of real journeys, the visual remnants of hours walking or cycling round town, bringing to life the unheard voices of the city.

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

Stevie Wonder - Living For The City.

C4M website update

This week on the commission4mission website we have posted the following:

• profiles of commission4mission artists Rosalind Hore and Mark Lewis;
• links to interviews with commission4mission's patron, the Bishop of Barking, and it's founder, Henry Shelton; and
• feedback on my meditations as used in the Northwood & Northwood Hills stns.

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

The Call - Tore The Old Place Down.

Northwood & Northwood Hills stns

Jesus falls for the first time by year 6 pupils from Hillside Juniors.

Your face, set like flint,
set towards Jerusalem,
bears the mark of the cross.
You carry the cross
in the resolution
written on
your features.
Death is the choice,
the decision,
the destiny,
revealed
in the blood,
sweat and tears
secreted from
your face
in prayerful questions,
prophetic grief,
pain-full acceptance,
as you
fall
for the
first time.

Simon helps Jesus carry his cross by ‘Edify’ (a group of local inter-church youth)

Take up your cross:
accept and use
your suffering and pain;
become a servant -
wash the feet of others;
give yourself
for the benefit of others;
don’t walk by on the other side;
give away your shirt and coat;
go the extra mile;
turn the other cheek;
love your enemies;
do good to those that hate you;
love God
with heart, mind,
soul and strength;
love others
as you love yourself.
Take up your cross.

Jesus falls for the second time by students from RNIB Sunshine House School.

Gravity pulls at your head.
Sweating blood,
questioning
whether this cup can be taken from you.
Not your will, God’s will.

Gravity pulls at your shoulders.
Red raw,
wicked wood
splintering in lacerations.
Weight of wood pressing down.

Gravity pulls at your legs
having walked
the length and breath of the country,
having knelt
in prayer in Gethsemene,
having stood
while beaten and whipped.
Gravity pulls you down.

Jesus meets women of Jerusalem by a local family.

Do not weep for me.
I go to prepare a place
for you to wait
in my Father’s courts.
I go to reveal a temple
not made with human hands.
I go to return and bring
the Holy City
from heaven
to earth;
God’s home with
humankind –
no death, no grief
or crying or pain,
tears wiped away,
the healing of the nations.
Do not weep for me
but pray.
Pray for the kingdom come,
on earth
as it is in heaven
for I go to reveal the Temple
as it has always existed –
the creation and human story;
His story.

Weep only for yourselves.
For the foot of human pride
will soon descend
as the armies of the Empire of power
ring this city
to crush this Temple
and destroy.
How terrible for mothers
in the violence
of those days;
it would be better
for children not to be
than to suffer
in the killing fields.
Cry for yourselves
and for your children,
cry for the mountains
to fall and hide you,
cry,
for the terror
inflicted by
the Empires of power
will be great.

Jesus dies on the cross by Miriam Kendrick

Death comes in an agony of mind:
questioning whether the cup could be withdrawn;
forsakenness experienced within your very self;
normality faced as the last temptation.

Death comes in an agony of relations:
deserted by those who had followed;
betrayed by one who was your friend;
forsaken by God, your loving Father.

Death comes in an agony of body:
evaporation of fluids in wilderness heat;
steady drip of lifeblood from lacerations and wounds;
suffocating angle of body pinned to wicked wood.

Death comes in finality.
“It is finished”;
agony ended,
purpose fulfilled.

Today I went to Northwood and Northwood Hills to see their community art stations which explore some of the events in the final hours of Jesus' life. As with last year's Hertford stns project, these artworks are also accompanied by my meditations on the fourteen Stations of the Cross.

The artwork has been produced by local artists and community groups and includes photographic pieces, drapes, paintings, metal sculpture and collage. Each station is also accompanied by an explanation from the artist(s). The concept for Miriam Kendrick's Jesus dies on the cross was of particular interest as it explored through imagery of the crucifixion on TV the idea that we are disconnected and detached from the reality of his death.

As there is less involvement from established artists and artist-led workshops in this project, the artworks have much more of a community feel with youth groups, local families or friends and schools, as well as churches all producing and hosting artworks. Occasionally, this means that the depth of emotion in the Passion narrative is not fully tapped, with the Year 2 children at Hillside Infants, for example, producing a lovely piece that is understandably (because of their age) more about Mothering Sunday than Good Friday. Overall though, the broad community involvement means that this is genuinely a project in which the Passion is being explored and owned by the wider community and not just by the Church community.

Particularly strong works included: Simon helps Jesus carry his cross a fabric work by ‘Edify’ which uses the footprints of group members to form a cross; Jesus falls for the second time in which the crown of thorns has been created using discarded medical equipment used by students from the RNIB Sunshine House School and transfigured into a thing of beauty be being sprayed gold; Jesus meets women of Jerusalem which uses photos of a great grandmother, grandmother, mothers and daughters to question the legacy passed down through the generations; and Jesus is stripped by Martin Wilson where close up shots of a branch form the words 'I was naked and you clothed me.'

Throughout my walk around these stations I crossed paths with a group from Holy Trinity Northwood who were also walking the stations. We finally talked at the 11th station where they said how much they had appreciated the meditations as well as the artworks. Each one, they said, had given a fresh take on Christ's Passion.

The stations remain in location until 10th April and then will be gathered together at Fairfield, the home of Northwood Evangelical Church, for viewing on the 11th and 12th April.

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

Iona - When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.

Northwood Hills stations

Holy Week in Northwood Hills is to see a public art event featuring artworks exploring some of the events in the final hours of Jesus' life. As with last year's Hertford stns project, these artworks are also accompanied by my meditations on the fourteen Stations of the Cross.

Stroll between local venues and enjoy the various art on offer. The artwork has been produced by local artists and community groups to explore some of the events in the final hours of Jesus’ life. The art work includes photographic pieces, drapes, paintings, metal sculpture and collage. Each station is accompanied by an explanation from the artist and a poem by myself.

When?

• Saturday 4th April to Fri 10th April as listed below.
• Sat 11th to Sun 12th all artwork will be gathered and displayed in Fairfield Evangelical Church, Windsor Close, NorthWood Hills.

Where?

• Art 1, Fairfield, Windsor Close, NW Hills (01923 827198) - Jesus is condemned
  by Hayley King. Vocals by Anna Wilcox.Opening times: Tues - Thurs 10am-noon, Fri 10th service at 10am, Sat 11th 12-5pm, Sun 12th service at 10am.
• Art 2, St Edmunds Church, Pinner Road, NW Hills (0208 866 9230) - Jesus takes up his cross by a group of friends from Fairfield. Artwork OUTSIDE.
• Art 3, Northwood Hills Library, Potter St, NW Hills (01923 824595) - Jesus falls for the first time by year 6 pupils from Hillside Juniors. Opening times: Mon 10-7, Tues 10-5.30, Wed Closed, Thurs 10-7, Good Friday Closed.
• Art 4, Hillside Infant School, Northwood Way, NW (01895 671959) - Jesus meets his mother by year 2 pupils from Hillside Infants. Artwork OUTSIDE.
• Art 5, Emmanuel Church, High Street, NW (01923 845200) - Simon helps Jesus carry his cross by ‘Edify’ (a group of local inter-church youth). Opening times: mon-thurs 10-3pm, good friday service 10.
• Art 6, The Northwood Bookshop, Maxwell Road, NW (01923 826999) - Jesus falls for the second time by students from Sunshine House RNIB school.Opening times: Hanging in the window.
• Art 7, St Johns, Hallowell Road, NW (01923 829166) - Jesus meets women of Jerusalem
  By Sadie Thompson. Artwork OUTSIDE.
• Art 8, Northwood Station, NW - Jesus falls for the third time by Steve Carey & Rachie Ross. Opening times: 6am-midnight.
• Art 9, Brisa 36, Green Lane, NW (07946857606) - Jesus is stripped by Martin Wilson. Opening times: Mon – Thurs 8-6. Good Friday half day.
• Art 10, Northwood Library, Oaklands Gate, NW (01923 826690) - Jesus is nailed to the cross by Michelle Barnes. Opening times: Mon 10-5.30, Tues 10-7, wed Closed, Thurs 10-5.30, Good Friday Closed.
• Art 11, Methodist Church, Oaklands Gate, NW (01923 840633) - Jesus dies on the cross
  by Miriam Kendrick. Artwork OUTSIDE.
• Art 12, London School of Theology, Green Lane NW (01923 456000) - Jesus’ body is taken down by Susy Champniss. Artwork OUTSIDE.
• Art 13, Holy Trinity Church, Gateway Close, NW (01923 822990) - Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb. Two pieces. One by Alice Simpson and Miriam Kendrick and the other by pupils from Holy Trinity School. Opening times. Mon-Thurs, Friday.
• Art 14, Jesus is risen, join the Easter Sunday celebrations at a church of your choice.

For opening times check http://www.nhec.org.uk/ or ring Rachie Ross on 01923 824306 or pick up a flyer from some of the venues.


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

Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts.