The value of public art

The value of public art was under discussion yesterday at St Paul's Harlow with delegates to a commission4mission study day touring the Gibberd Gallery and Harlow Town Centre sculptures as examples of good practice in public planning.

Those attending the study day, organised by commission4mission and supported by both Art and Christianity Enquiry and the Harlow Art Trust, heard from the Rt Revd David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking, and Benedict Read, Trustee of the Harlow Art Trust and Deputy Chairman of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association.

Bishop David argued that our towns and cities are increasingly dominated by multi-national brands and images that overtake communities visually and commercially. Within this context, "Public art helps to create the identity of a place by providing a rallying point around which people can be formed, as well as providing an opportunity to look beyond the humdrum in order to live better lives with more inspiration."

In his presentation, Benedict Read summarised the history of public art in the West in order to set in context the outstanding collection of public art in Harlow: "In their context, Harlow's commissions placed an emphasis on restoring the social fabric. Sir Frederick Gibberd saw public sculpture as a sign of civilisation and much public art is about exploring what should be valued in society."

Delegates visited the Gibberd Gallery to see the current John Mills retrospective and the Frederick Gibberd Collection of British watercolours and drawings before taking a tour of the Town Centre sculptures. An art workshop for members of St Paul's Harlow was led by Dr Philip Jenson of Ridley Hall and commission4mission artist, Robert Enoch. The workshop was used to plan a freize for St Paul's Harlow telling the big story of the Bible to which the congregation and the wider community will be able to contribute in future. The day ended with a cream tea at St Mary's Little Parndon.

St Paul's Harlow is a key part of the artistic heritage of Harlow being a modernist church designed by Humphrys and Hurst which includes an impressive mosaic by John Piper, on the theme of the Emmaus Road. St Paul's is also, as a result, one of the churches which features in the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area. Recognising the significance of the Arts to Harlow and wanting to contribute to the understanding and development of public art in the Town Centre were two of the reasons why St Paul's Harlow chose to host this study day and involve commission4mission in exploring new possibilities for artwork in the church building. A photographic display, which can still be seen at the church, had also been commissioned to show hidden aspects and unusual perspectives of the church building as part of stimulating thought and encouraging fresh thinking. 

For more on the presentations at this study day click here and here.

c4m exhibition and Study Day

The next commission4mission exhibition will include work by Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Elizabeth Duncan Meyer, Caroline Richardson, Henry Shelton and Joy Rousell Stone and will be held at St Mary Magdalen Billericay from 9th - 18th September (10.00am - 5.00pm). This exhibition is being organised for the A127 Art Trail.

Our next Study Day is taking place on Saturday 17th September at St Paul's Harlow, College Square, Harlow CM20 1LP. Exploring the value of public art, the day will feature input from the Bishop of Barking, Harlow Art Trust and Art and Christianity Enquiry plus opportunities to view the public art of Harlow Sculpture Town (including a tour of Harlow Town Centre sculptures and a visit to the Gibberd Gallery to see the John Mills retrospective and the Frederick Gibberd Collection of British watercolours and drawings). The day will end with a cream tea at St Mary's Parndon. To register contact – tel: 020 85992170 or email: jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

Newsletter No. 8 – July 2011

commission4mission exhibition, Crypt Gallery at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Exhibitions @ St Martin-in-the-Fields & the Leytonstone Festival

Our exhibition in the Crypt Gallery at St Martin-in-the-Fields (4th – 17th July) was designed to encourage the commissioning of contemporary Christian art as 16 of our artists showed work in a variety of media, including cartoons, concept drawings, fused glass, paintings, reliefs and textiles, and new roll-up banners provided examples of some completed commissions and information about the commissioning process.

Contributing artists include Adam Boulter, Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Ally Clarke, Anne Creasey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Viki Isherwood-Metzler, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska, Caroline Richardson, Janet Roberts, Henry Shelton, Sergiy Shkanov, Joy Rousell Stone and Peter Webb.

A well attended private view was followed by significant numbers viewing the exhibition. Comments made included: “Great variation and imagination”; “beautiful and interesting”; “a creative combination of art – materials, textures and colours”; “deserves lots of visitors, looking forward to the next exhibition and a growing network of Christian artists!”

A smaller commission4mission exhibition was also held at Holy Trinity with St Augustine of Hippo Leytonstone (14th - 20th July) as part of the Leytonstone Festival and the Barking Episcopal Area Art Festival.

The exhibition included work by Colin Burns, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Elizabeth Duncan Meyer, Caroline Richardson, Henry Shelton and Joy Rousell Stone. Also able to be seen as part of this exhibition were a set of intricate Stations of the Cross by Barbara Sampson and Scenes from the life of St Augustine, a concrete frieze by the sculptor Stephen Sykes.

c4m AGM

We held our AGM on Wednesday 20th July at Holy Trinity with St Augustine of Hippo Leytonstone and heard presentations from Dr Graham Gould on Scenes from the life of St Augustine, a concrete frieze by the sculptor Stephen Sykes, and Mark Lewis speaking on the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area, before agreeing a revised constitution designed to enable us to register as a charity.

Annual charitable donation

We have recently made our annual charitable donation accrued over the previous financial year from our commissions and sales. Following our first full year of operation we were able to make a donation of £2,700 to the children's hospice, Haven House. This year we have donated £1,568 split between Sightsavers and SmileTrain. Sightsavers is a charity which works to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people in the developing world. SmileTrain is focused on solving a single problem - cleft lip and palate - by providing free cleft surgery for poor children in developing countries.

Member profile: Joy Rousell Stone


Joy studied under John Nash, Edward Bawden, Stanley Spencer and Edward Ardizzone at the Royal College of Art. She has had many one man shows. Her favourite subject matters are: The Holy Land, Egypt, Greece, Italy (especially Assisi) and USA. She works in all media and is the retired Head of Art & Design at The Plume School, Maldon.

Study day: The value of public art

A study day, organised by c4m, featuring input from the Bishop of Barking, Harlow Art Trust and Art & Christianity Enquiry plus opportunities to view the public art of Harlow Sculpture Town (e.g. Harlow Sculpture Trail, Gibberd Gardens, Parndon Mill etc.) will be held on Saturday 17th September at St Paul’s Harlow. To register contact – tel: 020 85992170 or email: jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

Forthcoming exhibitions @ St Mary’s Billericay (9th – 18th September) and Tokarska Gallery, Walthamstow throughout December 2011.

Study Day: The value of public art

Press coverage

Henry Shelton has been featured in this week's edition of his local newspaper, the Ilford Recorder. In the piece Henry tells how he came up with the idea for Commission For Mission and says:

"I enjoy the creative process. I sometimes ask myself why I'm doing it! But I've been blessed. I enjoy the profoundness and mystery of it. If you go to Italy, the churches are full of tourists looking at the art. But you don't really get that here. Often, wonderful art can be found in churches, but people would rather go to galleries. It is important that the link between the Church and art is recognised."

The latest issue of Art & Christianity has been published and includes an exhibition review written by Jonathan Evens plus information about our November Study Day. Jonathan's review is of an installation entitled The Manifestation - Falling Pheobe by Richard Layzell and Tania Koswycz at St Martin's Colchester. An online review by Jonathan of the same installation can be found by clicking here.

Art in Religious Spaces consultation

Live painted performance piece by David Shillinglaw, painted during the Visionaries exhibition

Works by Adam Neate & Albert Herbert

Works by the Chapman Brothers & Cecil Collins

Henry Shelton with another consultation participant

Henry Shelton & Colin Burns alongside works by Cecil Collins & Unity Spencer

Three Commission For Mission artists - Colin Burns, Jonathan Evens and Henry Shelton - attended a lunchtime get-together organised by the Wallspace Gallery for all those involved in displaying contemporary art in unusual spaces, such as churches or other religious buildings.

Revd Katharine Rumens from St Giles Cripplegate in the Barbican and Paul Bayley of Art+Christianity Enquiry spoke about their experiences of working with artists in city churches. Katherine's experiences ranged from community art workshops in East Ham to temporary art installations at St Giles while Paul described the Insight visual arts stream created for the City of London Festival in 2005. There was an opportunity for all those attending to introduce their projects, meet one another and discuss the issues raised by work in this area. We were also able to see the current Wallspace exhibition, Visionaries, which closes today.

Visionaries was an exhibition of works and performance by artists on the edge – visionary artists whose work is set outside or on the fringes of cultural institutions, often offering a trenchant critique of culture. Visionaries brought together artists working in this honourable and challenging tradition; essentially those who explore with passion the territories of the spiritual, the religious and the human condition. The exhibition included works by Stanley Spencer and Cecil Collins of the twentieth century, mid-twentieth-century paintings by Norman Adams, Albert Herbert and Anthony Goble, later painters such as Peter Howson, Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Brian Whelan, and twenty-first-century artists such as the Chapman brothers, Billy Childish and Adam Neate. Visionaries can be seen at the Greenbelt Arts Festival, at Cheltenham Racecourse, August Bank Holiday weekend, 25 to 31 August.

Wallspace is an exhibition venue in the church of All Hallows on the Wall in the City of London. Its aim is to provide a spiritual home for the visual arts in the capital. The vision for Wallspace has been developed principally by its Director, freelance curator Meryl Doney.