Art Trail and St John's Seven Kings

Today I gave a group from the Friends of Valence House a tour of the artwork at St John's Seven Kings. On the tour they saw our windows from the Kempe and Whitefriars Studios as well as work by Louis B. Davis, Derek Hunt, Viki Isherwood-Metzler and Sergiy Shkanov.

The group's leader said, "I would like to thank you for conducting a tour round St John's Church this afternoon for us. I know that all those who came had a most enjoyable afternoon and we learnt a lot; we all appreciated the time and effort you put in to it - many thanks. We look forward to seeing you again in May and hearing your talk."

The group made contact with us as a result of exploring the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area and the talk that I am scheduled to give to them in May is about that Trail.

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U2 - Every Breaking Wave.

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.

New mosaics for St Johns

Newly commissioned mosaics have been installed at St John's Seven Kings this week which complete the work we have done to create a community garden. Both mosaics were commissioned through commission4mission.

Graffiti Love, installed on the east wall of the church, has been created by Viki Isherwood-Metzler, who learnt the art of mosaic in Ravenna, Italy and worked until 2001 as a mosaic maker in Zurich, Switzerland from where she comes. Since 2002 she has lived and worked in London and undertakes all kinds of commissioned mosaic work in marble, glass, ceramics, terracotta and pebble stones. Graffiti Love is made with smalti glass and the image comes from a series of images utilising words with graffit stylings.

The Trinity sculpture, in the remembrance area of the community garden, was designed by the community garden planning group and incorporates a mosaic by Sergiy Shkanov. Shkanov is a professional artist working in the fields of stained glass, murals, mosaics, painting, graphic arts, and book illustration. He is a tutor of Fine Arts, has participated in group shows across Europe since 1987, and holds numerous personal exhibitions in the United Kingdom. He undertakes art commissions for private and corporative clients. The Trinity sculpture includes three granite shapes representing the three persons of the Trinity set within the circles and triangles of Shkanov's mosaic which represents lines of exchange and connection within and between the godhead.  

Both mosaics will be dedicated by the Bishop of Barking at tomorrow's Patronal Festival service at St John's Seven Kings (10.00am).

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Keith Green - Stained Glass.

Meeting Eileen Cooper

It was a pleasure to meet Eileen Cooper this morning when she visited the commission4mission exhibition in the Crypt Gallery of St Martin-in-the-Fields, at the invitation of Sergiy Shkanov.
Over three decades Cooper has developed an "evolving imaginative narrative" expressed through a "highly personal style always reflects stages in her own life that readily associate with archetypal themes and mythologies." Her playful, "tender, stylised paintings of women and couples are concerned with the fundamental human processes of birth, growth and nourishment." Her myth-making places her in a line of artists such as Ken Kiff and Albert Herbert, both of whom she knew. We spoke about her experience of working with Herbert, with whom, at one stage, she collaborated on paintings. 

Cooper is one of the major British figurative artists who emerged in the mid 1980's, many of whom featured in The New British Painting exhibition, organized by the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, which consisted of new paintings from a new generation of English and Scottish young artists. I first came across her work through the Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, where she exhibited from the late 1980s, and have appreciated the development of her work since. She became a Royal Academician in 2001 and exhibits regularly in the Summer Exhibition.

Other artists visiting the commission4mission exhibition have included Geoff Tune, Miriam Kendrick, Christopher Clack, and Chandrakumar Sukumaran, with the latter two becoming new commission4mission members.  

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Carleen Anderson - Mama Said. 

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 (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.

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Ben Harper and Relentless7 - Shimmer & Shine.