Wickford Church of England School have made a wonderful addition to our current art exhibition at St Andrew's Wickford on belonging and welcome based on the experience of disabled people. See
https://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/st-andrews.html for times when the church is open, if you would like to see this picture and the exhibition.
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) exhibition is at
St Andrew's Church (11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN) from 9 January until Easter. Do come and experience it for yourself. St Andrew’s Church is usually open: Saturdays from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm; Sundays from 9.30 am to 12.00 noon; Mondays from 1.30 to 3.45 pm; Tuesdays from 1.00 to 4.30 pm; and Wednesdays from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. To arrange a visit with in-person audio description please contact Revd Jonathan Evens on tel: 07803 562329 or email:
jonathan.evens@btinternet.com. See
http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) is an image in charcoal of the Last Supper by
Revd Alan Stewart, which includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. At the table, an empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table.
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) has been commissioned by
Celia Webster, Co-Founder of
Wave (We’re All Valued Equally), as part of a project in which it seeds other images of the Last Supper that are truly for everyone. Schools, churches and community groups are being invited as part of this project to create their own Last Supper images.
The exhibition includes additional Last Supper images created by:
(Still) Calling from the Edge conference; WAVE (We are All Valued Equally); St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Muswell Hill; and St Paul's CE Primary School in Barnet.
The photographs of the WAVE Church Last Supper were taken by Maria de Fatima Campos. Pupils in year 1 and 2 at St Paul’s CofE School in Friern Barnet created their work with their amazing art teacher, Dimple Sthalekar. The work shows how we begin as roots and then grow. The leaves of the tree are multi-coloured and moveable to show how we can move into different spaces and communities. St Paul's is a hugely welcoming and inclusive school that welcomes children from all backgrounds and faiths and uses the medium of art to convey this.
St Mary's Catholic Primary School focused their piece on the empty chair included in Alan Stewart’s drawing. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 created ‘Take a Seat,’ a piece which uses the technique of mono-printing to create lots of empty chairs as an invitation for everyone to sit down and join the table. They began the project by talking about the empty chair and what it could mean. They also compared and contrasted it with the commissioned drawing to talk about difference and what forms that can take. Through the process, the children decided that the peace dove would make a good representation of god. The words around the dove invite us to take a seat, to unite us in love and community.
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