Completed commission: Altar frontal by Anne Creasey

commission4mission's 10th commission, an altar frontal by Anne Creasey, was installed today at Christ Church Thames View. The frontal has been created by Anne in time for Christ Church's Easter Day services.  

The all year round altar frontal features the colours of the Church calendar and incorporates a central cross in gold surmounted by the sun. The sun's rays also form pentecostal flames while the ball of the sun equates to the host raised above the chalice. Stunning from a distance, the frontal's design also repays closer inspection through the intricate details of Anne's embroidery and appliqué work, particularly on the ball of the sun and its rays.

Members' updates: Christopher Clack

Christopher Clack will be showing a large print in the Cafe Gallery Southwark Park as part of an exhibition which celebrates 30 years of the Bermondsey Artists' Group. The exhibition is themed ‘works on paper’ and promises to be an interesting show.

The Cafe Gallery is a large contemporary exhibition space situated in Southwark Park. The PV is on Friday April 5th, 6.30 - 8.30pm. The exhibition is showing from 6th to 21st April, Wed-Sundays, 11am - 5pm.

Christopher is also part of the next Sunday Art Salon: a social event for artists, fashionistas and collectors in a Victorian studio showcasing contemporary art, vintage paintings and collectibles.

The Spring Art Salon on 7th April (11am - 5pm at Hilly Fields Studio, 12 Montague Avenue
Brockley, London SE4 1YP) will showcase the work of four contemporary south London artists: Martin Grover (well known for his depiction of quirky Bus stop prints and record sleeves), Christopher Clack and his extraordinary manipulated limited edition photo prints, Emily Toscano-Heighton (lush colourful tropical oil paintings of Tanzania), and Malcolm Brebner and his abstract expressionist paintings. Wild Brockley will be serving Afternoon Teas and a sumptious selection of homemade cakes, scones and jams. There will also be a unique collection of vintage art, furniture and collectibles.

Members' update: Elizabeth Duncan Meyer

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer will be showing in the Spring Exhibition of the Society of Fulham Artists and Potters (SOFAP).

The exhibition will run from 14th - 18th May at Fulham and Hammersmith Library. The Private View will be from 6.00 - 8.00pm on 14th May.

The Society of Fulham Artists was founded in 1952 as a not-for-profit organisation ‘to encourage the practice and exhibition of the work of local artists in association, and to attract and interest the public in the visual Arts.’

In 2003 the society combined with a local group of potters, giving them their new name. They hold exhibitions of members’ work in Spring and Autumn in the Exhibition Hall at the Fulham Library.

Members' update: Clorinda Goodman, Ross Ashmore and Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska

Lost and Found is an exhibition which looks at how artists find the inspiration for their work.  It could be an old photograph or a picture in a book that hasn’t been opened for years; a memory recalled by a piece of music or a fragment of ceramic found on the shores of the Thames.  These works have been made in the classes held in the Community Art Room in the Crypt of St John on Bethnal Green and consist of Mosaics, Stained Glass and Stone Carving. Included in the exhibition is Clorinda Goodman's stone carving Eden.

Lost and Found is at the Belfry, St John on Bethnal Green, 200 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London E2  9PA. Opening days and times: 11-5pm Saturday April 6th, Sunday April 7th, Saturday April 13th and Sunday 14th. For more information, please contact Alex McHallam on 07751880247, email alex_mchallam@hotmail.com.

Ross Ashmore is exhibiting at ‘SPACE art gallery’ showing over 100 of his highly expressive impasto paintings from his project to paint every station on the London Underground – of which there are 267.

As an urban landscape artist, Ross feels compelled to document the ‘beauty in our streets’ before the inevitable changes society forces upon them. He endeavours to convey emotion in his paintings, revealed by his textural mark making in paint, creating energy – giving each painting a life of its own. Speaking of his work, Ross said: “I love the physicality of painting…and it’s everyday life that I want to highlight in my work. What better subject could there be than the streets where we find these wonderful stations.”

The exhibition is at SPACE art gallery, 141 High St, Southgate N14 6BP and will run until Friday 5 April.

Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska is currently exhibiting at the Tokarska Gallery. In her works, Nadiya sees London as a soulful essence that takes on different dimensions and identities, delivered through a subtle balance of intensity, vibrancy and dynamics of the images.

The following show at the Tokarska Gallery is Seeking for INNER-SELF by Christophe Lenoble. Private View - 4 April 2013, 6pm - 9pm. Show runs 4 - 27 April 2013, Thursday - Saturday, 12pm - 7pm.

Ross Ashmore

Following his degree in Fine Art and Illustration at Bristol, Ross Ashmore spent the next two years illustrating for publications such as the Radio Times. He then went into commercial art, working as a graphic designer for the next twenty years.

Ross says he has no regrets choosing this career path. “The mass produced commercial world is so concerned with perfection – 'everything was airbrushed out!' In contrast I began to appreciate being different, embracing individuality – freedom of expression. This view is what drives and inspires me today. It's the ordinary things in life, the mundane that I want to catalogue in my work. With all the relentless change, very soon, we may forget the way things were.”

As a Christian, who is also an artist, he says it is great to share both together with others. His work is best described as expressive. He works in oils on canvas in an impasto style and enjoys portraying urban landscapes.

He has embarked on an ambitious task of painting all the London Transport Underground Stations - of which there are 267. “I realise for me this has to do with my commercial past. I was always under pressure to deliver on time, except this time I had created my own brief and deadline.” To coincide with this year's 150th Anniversary of London Underground, he will finally complete all the paintings, of all the stations, this summer.

Recent reviews: Jonathan Evens

Jonathan Evens has recently had a book review published by the Journal of Theological Studies and an exhibition review by the Church Times.

His book review is of: Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty. By CECILIA GONZALEZ-ANDRIEU. Jonathan Evens The Journal of Theological Studies 2013; doi: 10.1093/jts/flt004

Bridge to Wonder is described by its publisher as proposing "a method of theological aesthetics allowing readers to mine the depths of creative beauty to discover variegated theological truths that enable greater communion with each other and the One source of all that is beautiful." Cecilia González-Andrieu is Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University and has been described as a promising young Catholic theologian.

His latest exhibition review was described by the Church Times as follows: "Our arts coverage features a Polish painter, Maciej Hoffman, engaged in a quest for spiritual freedom, having experienced the ups and downs of communism and capitalism and found them wanting."

For other earlier pieces by Jonathan in the Church Times, click here. His earlier book reviews for the Journal of Theological Studies can be found by clicking here and here.