Church Times: ‘Call to Holy Ground’ at St Andrew’s, Leytonstone

My latest review for Church Times is about Call to Holy Ground, an exploration of nature, sanctuary and belief, comprising installations in a church and temple, a sound pilgrimage through the fringes of Epping Forest, and a video work:

'Within the works, there is a subtle and sensitive interweaving of symbols and rituals, not a merging or blurring of faith and practice. This is art as meeting place, and as estuary, becoming a breeding ground for ideas and improvisation. The project has formed a bridge (built on existing relations between the communities) between faiths, generations, and spiritual and ecological practices for those involved, and now creates a pilgrimage for those who come through the elements, with participants and artists, exploring the sacred essence of ground that is both common and holy together with its connection to our inner landscape.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.

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George Harrison - What Is Life?

Kathryn Rose: Public-domain music

I visited St Andrew's Leytonstone today to see my very good friend, Paul Trathen. As well as hearing an excellent sermon on Christian ecology, I was also pleased to meet Kathryn Rose, organist and choirmistress at St Andrew's. 

Kathryn has a strong interest in making music more readily available to the general public and is passionate about removing barriers to access. She has organized performances of public-domain music aimed at raising awareness of copyright and intellectual property issues from the perspective of audience, performers and composers. More information about her work in this regard and her compositions can be found at http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Kathryn_Rose.

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Kathryn Rose - I Walked In Darkness.

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 (37)

The latest posts on the commission4mission webpage again feature a new member, Adam Boulter, as well as photos from our Grace & Passion exhibition which opens tomorrow at St Laurence Upminster continuing until 28th March (daily, 10.0am - 4.00pm). Also featured are updates on the Seeds of Life arts programme at St Andrew's Leytonstone and Henry Shelton's Stations of the Crown of Thorns commission at St Paul's Goodmayes. Finally, there are details of Faith & Image's latest meeting, a talk on and visit to the current Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy.

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Julie Miller - Broken Things.

c4m webpage update (36)

The latest posts to the commission4mission webpage include information about the forthcoming Grace & Passion exhibition to be held at St Laurence's Upminster from 21st - 28th March and the Networking Evening which will be held during the exhibition (22nd March, 7.30 - 9.00pm) focussing on painting the Passion. in addition, there are new photographs of work by Henry Shelton on the Stations of the Crown of Thorns commission at St Paul's Goodmayes, the current Seeds of Life art programme at St Andrew's Leytonstone, and a profile of our newest member, Elizabeth Duncan Meyer.

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Katie Melua - The Closest Thing To Crazy.

c4m webpage update (26)

This week the commission4mission webpage has the latest information about our showcase exhibition and Study Day which are both taking place at Chelmsford Cathedral next week. In addition, there is also information about an exciting arts programme at commission4mission member church, St Andrews Leytonstone, called The Tree of Life, and including contributions from commission4mission artists Mark Lewis and Peter Webb.

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Vigilantes Of Love - Glory And The Dream.

c4m webpage update (15)

This week on the commission4mission webpage we posted a report on the Art & Spirituality networking evening held at St Andrews Leytonstone as part of commission4mission's summer exhibition and the Leytonstone Art Trail.

Also included were details of the programme and booking information for our Study Day in November which will be entitled 'Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art'. Finally, there was an updated profile for textile artist Anne Creasey together with information on and photographs of Peter Webb's latest commission, a contemporary version of St George and the Dragon.

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Lifehouse - Sky Is Falling.

Art & spirituality, society & morality

Last night I spoke on the question 'Spirituality - the heartbeat of Art?' at the networking evening organised by commission4mission at St Andrews Leytonstone.

I argued that, despite a reluctance among art critics and tutors to note or engage with religious themes and imagery, there is nevertheless a prevalence of religious themes and imagery to be found in modern and contemporary art. I gave a brief and partial alternative history of modern and contemporary art to illustrate this argument and to suggest that this prevalence of themes and images does suggest that spirituality remains a significant inspiration of art.

A summary of my presentation and those of the other two participants, Rosalind Hore and Mark Lewis, will be posted shortly to the commission4mission webpage.

Next Thursday I am speaking on the question, 'Has society lost sight of morality?' This presentation will be to the East London Three Faiths Forum where my dialogue partner will be Rabbi Alex Chapper of the Ilford Federation Synagogue and a local magistrate. The meeting is on Thursday 16th July at the Ilford Islamic Centre (54-56 Albert Road, Ilford IG1 1HW) at 8.00pm.

At present, I plan to argue firstly that society cannot lose touch with morality as all societies exhibit morality in some form or other. The question is, then, one of the type of morality found within society. I shall argue that the UK has a predominantly consumerist morality and shall seek to contrast this morality with that which characterises effective interfaith dialogue.

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Relient K - This Week The Trend.

C4M webpage update (14)

commission4mission continues to develop rapidly and this week's new developments as reported on the webpage include our first commission and our third exhibition.

Our first commission, for Stations of the Cross at St Pauls Goodmayes, is being undertaken by Henry Shelton. Henry's designs and an initial Station were viewed by the congregation at St Pauls last Sunday and my post reports on the project and includes photos of other artwork at St Pauls.

Our third exhibition is the Leytonstone Festival exhibition, which is part of the Leytonstone Art Trail, and which has been set up today at St Andrews Leytonstone ready for the community opening event on Sunday between 12 noon and 2.00pm. The exhibition will be open from Tuesday 7 – Thursday 16 July (Tuesday-Friday: 12-4 pm; Saturday: 10-4pm). An Art & Spirituality networking evening will be held on 9 July from 7-9.30pm involving presentations from three of our artists on the theme of 'Spirituality - the heartbeat of Art?'

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Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream.

C4M webpage update (12)

This week on the commission4mission webpage we have information about two openings with which we are involved.

The first was the opening of Café Refresh at St Andrews Leytonstone last Saturday. commission4mission's exhibition at St Andrew's from 5th - 16th July will launch their creative programme – Reflect – which will run alongside the café.

The second was the opening of our current exhibition at All Saints Church, Church Street, West Ham, London E15 3HU, from 20th - 27th June, as part of the West Ham Festival.

Finally, we also have a post about our newest artist member who is mosaicist, Viki Isherwood-Metzler. To see a good range of Viki's work click on the link here to view images on her website.

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Television - Marquee Moon.

C4M webpage update

This week's commission4mission webpage posts were both about forthcoming exhibitions.

There was a reminder about commission4mission's very first exhibition which will be in the Pentecost Festival on Saturday 30th May at Westminster Central Hall from 12 noon - 6.00pm. David Hawkins, Harvey Bradley, Rosalind Hore, Henry Shelton and myself will be exhibiting.

Also, there were photographs of St Andrew's Leytonstone where our summer exhibition will be held. St Andrews contains windows by noted stained glass artist Margaret Chilton, banners and a window by Hilary Davies and Stations of the Cross by Lewis Davies. Our exhibition will therefore complement a space in which art already plays a significant role.

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Mahalia Jackson - Come Sunday.

C4M webpage update (6)

This week on the commission4mission webpage there are have been profiles of Martin Webster, Colin Burns and Peter Webb together with updated information about our summer exhibition at St Andrews Leytonstone and a networking evening on art and spirituality.

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Innocence Mission - Black Sheep Wall.