Bishop to exhibit at Festival

The Baptism of Christ by Rosalind Hore

Station 8 by Henry Shelton

Ivy 1 by David Hawkins

Man by Jonathan Evens

Burstling through the Crown of Thorns by Harvey Bradley

David Hawkins, the Bishop of Barking and Patron of commission4mission, will be exhibiting alongside Harvey Bradley, Jonathan Evens, Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton at commission4mission's Pentecost Festival exhibition (Saturday 30th May, 12 noon - 6.00pm, Westminster Methodist Central Hall , Storey's Gate, Westminster SW1 9NH).

Bishop David describes himself as an artist first and priest second. He is inspired by landscape, with most of what he paints finding its inspiration there. He will be exhibiting two substantial landscapes of the North York Moors and two pieces combining paint and photographic woodland images. There are a large number of artists and periods that he finds absorbing but what fires him most are contemporary artists such as Terry Frost, Sam Francis, Ivon Hitchens and Howard Hodgkin.

In 2005 he collaborated with Pippa Hale and Stuart Tarbuck in a public art project in Leeds called Mene Mene which saw a series of texts being abstracted from their original Biblical context and filtered throughout the city in a variety of formats; from high-profile banners and adverts on bus shelters to more intimate sayings on bench plaques and shop windows.

Bishop David has said: “I think there is a big need to re-engage with the Arts. The Church has had a lengthy and happy marriage with the Arts in the past but needs more artists. I agree with Rowan Williams that ‘artists are special people and every person is a special kind of artist’.”

The exhibition will feature works in a wide variety of styles and media including collage, jewellery, paintings, photographs, pottery, and a conceptual work using transparencies on mirror.