Fr. Stephen's anniversary gift

Fr Stephen Pugh, Parish Priest at St Margaret of Antioch Ilford, recently celebrated 25 years of ordained ministry and commission4mission received a commission to create a gift celebrating this occasion. The brief included reference to silver, the colour for 25th anniversaries, plus Stephen's love of France and his ministry itself. Henry Shelton rose to the challenge with the image above which was presented to Fr Stephen on Sunday 7th July.

St Margaret of Antioch recently received a special commendation from the Diocesan Advisory Committee in the Diocese of Chelmsford for their commissioning of a holy water stoup by Mark Lewis, which was also a commission4mission commission. commission4mission also gained a second such commendation for etched windows by Henry Shelton and Richard Paton at All Saints Hutton.  

Charitable donations - Rejuvenate Worldwide and St Francis Hospice

Each year commission4mission makes a donation to a chosen charity with the money donated having been raised through commissions and sales obtained in the preceding year. This year our committee members have asked that our annual donation - which amounts to £676 - be given to Rejuvenate Worldwide and St Francis Hospice.

Rejuvenate Worldwide is a non-denominational Christian charity working in the UK, Africa (Uganda) and other countries. Their vision is to give young people the opportunities to reach out to other across the world less fortunate than themselves. This vision is a pragmatic response linking the issues facing young people from deprived areas in the UK and people, mainly young people, in the developing world to help bring about hope and change in the lives of those we work with.

Saint Francis Hospice is a centre of excellence in the care of those with life limiting illnesses.  Their team of specialist consultants, doctors, nurses and health care assistants provide practical and emotional support for adults of all ages and give specialist bereavement support to family members from as young as 20 months. Their teams provide care in the home, inpatient care at the hospice, day care at our centre together with a full range of therapies and treatments.  This care extends beyond physical treatment of symptoms; we consider the emotional, psychological, spiritual and social needs of our patients, their families, children and carers.

Over the first four years of our existence we have been able to donate £5,612 to charities, with our earlier donations going to Haven House, Sightsavers International, Smile Train UK, and Safer Places.

c4m @ Billericay Art Trail

Among events at the Billericay Art Trail today was a Big Draw workshop at Norsey Woods and an Arts Evening at St Mary Magdalen. commission4mission made a contribution to both events with Mark Lewis and Peter Webb taking part in the Big Draw plus Colin Burns and Jonathan Evens performing at the Arts Evening. These contributions were at the invitation of Art Trail organiser, Harvey Bradley.

The Big Draw workshop featured drawing, printing and digital images at Norsey Wood. Trail artists also included Julia Tanner, Dezadie (digital artist), and Lesley Cartwright. The Campaign for Drawing has one aim, to get everyone drawing; and this event certainly achieved that aim!

The Big Draw was followed by an Arts Evening at St. Mary Magdalen Billericay. This event had a varied programme which included poetry, music, digital projection, storytelling and dance and featured Tim Cunningham and Jonathan Evens (poetry), Colin Burns (music) and Dezadie (animations) plus Reflection Dance and storytellers Colin Taylor and Pat Roberts.

Billericay-based Cunningham has been called the poet of good endings and his apposite phrases served to illuminate the everyday encounters which characterise his poetry. Painter-turned-performer, Colin Burns, fused instrumental dexterity and melodic poetry on tracks from his debut album Emerald & Gold. Dezadie showed her Robot Chicken awaiting transmission animation. Reflection Dance performed on the themes of creation and Pentecost. The storytellers came with a mix of traditional tales and humorous originals, while Jonathan Evens shared a selection of poems on the theme of new beginnings.

Inside St Mary Magdelen the hub exhibition for the Art Trail could be viewed while outside were examples of the yarn bombing which had taken place throughout the Art Trail.

Billericay Art Trail

The Billericay Art Trail has its online brochure available at www.billericayarttrail.co.uk/5html.

In the brochure Harvey Bradley says, "Although creativity can be challenging, the struggle often leads to things that lift the spirit and give great joy. This summer, Billericay celebrates those who have overcome such a challenge. We applaud the artistic talent and skills that thrive in our community. At the same time, we give proper recognition to the shops and businesses that help host our annual show.
As part of the Essex Summer of Art, the Billericay Art Trail can be proud of its growing arts reputation as the town attracts more visitors who are keen to take part and experience the event."

Click here for details of input to the Art Trail by other commission4mission artists.

Portraits

Our recent exhibition at St Paul's Goodmayes included three portraits of local clerics: Michael Creasey exhibited a striking portrait of The Rt. Revd. David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking, in reflective pose; Henry Shelton showed his portrait of Fr. Benjamin Rutt-Field, Vicar of St Paul's Goodmayes; while Peter Webb included his quirky painted wood relief portrait of Rev. Jonathan Evens.

Portraits are an aspect of the work by our artists which is not well known currently but, in which, several of our artists possess considerable expertise. Peter Webb, for example, has been working on a series of painted and also wood relief portraits as a fundraising project for St Mary's Woodford, while the characters in his major paintings for church settings, such as The Denial at St Mary's Woodford are often based on life studies.

25th Anniversary of ministry commission

A painting by Henry Shelton was commissioned by St Margaret's Ilford for presentation today to Fr. Stephen Pugh on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his ordination. St Margaret's had previously commissioned a holy water stoup from Mark Lewis through commission4mission. We are glad of the opportunity to have a continuing relationship with St Margaret's and to be part of the celebration of Fr. Stephen's ministry.

Annual Report 2012-13

Incarnation exhibition at Wimbledon Library Gallery

In 2012/13 commission4mission has made a significant contribution to the mission of the Church during the Olympic and Paralympic periods through our involvement in the ‘Run with the Fire’ project. We have also held a launch event in South London, exhibited at venues across London and collaborated with a wide range of visual and performing artists. Our committee has also prepared plans for commission4mission to have a greater online presence from 2013 onwards.

During 2012/13 commission4mission has:

• completed our ninth commission, heads of Christ and Mary Magdalene as painted wooden reliefs, by Peter Webb for Dagenham Park Church of England School;
• exhibited at All Saints West Ham, the Strand Gallery as part of the Pentecost Festival, All Saints Woodford Wells as part of the Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival and at Wimbledon Library Gallery for a Christmas show entitled ‘Incarnation’ curated by Wendy McTernan;
• contributed to Run with the Fire, in partnership with CANA and Veritasse, which saw events run using the digital exhibition in Aldersbrook, California, Devonport, Harlow, Leicester, London, Sacramento, Streatham and Woodford;

Steve Scott performing at the Run with the Fire exhibition’s launch night

• organised art talks (by Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Glenn Lowcock and Steve Scott), an art demonstration by Harvey Bradley, a Big Draw workshop led by Mark Lewis, Francesca Ross and Peter Webb, and performance evenings featuring Colin Burns, Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Evens, Jane Grell, Malcolm Guite, Alan Hitching, Jenny Houghton, Tamsin Kendrick and Steve Scott;
• published, through Seed Resources, a collection of images and meditations on the Passion of Christ by Jonathan Evens and Henry Shelton; 
• contributed articles by Jonathan Evens, Helen Gheorghui Gould and Steven Saxby to a special arts edition of franciscan magazine; 
• donated £668.46 to Safer Places, in support of their work with victims of domestic abuse, this being the charitable element from our third year of operation. 

We are very grateful to: all members for their support and involvement; all committee members (Harvey Bradley, Rev. Helen Gheorghiu Gould, Mark Lewis, Wendy McTernan, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb - Chair) for their direction and guidance; our Patron, Bishop David, for his ideas and interest; and Ranjit Solomon for his independent examination of our accounts.

Rev. Jonathan Evens, Secretary – June 2013

c4m art talks and AGM

c4m held its AGM tonight at St Paul's Goodmayes, where our current exhibition is taking place. Peter Webb spoke about his wood reliefs and Harvey Bradley about his latest work in ceramics with celadon, tenmoku and crackle glazes. Mark Lewis then reprised the talk he originally gave at St Paul's Harlow reviewing the career of John Piper before we completed the evening with our AGM.