Hayley Bowen

Death of an Empire Butterfly

The Kiss

Hayley Bowen was born in Carmarthen South West Wales and grew up in the valley of Gwendraeth opposite Pentremawr colliery. She always wanted to be a 'great Artist' but was brought up being told she would not achieve her goals. She studied art at Dyfed College of Art and then illustration at Cambridgeshire College of Art and Technology. She has worked as a freelance artist, dressmaker/craft worker, art technician and art tutor. She has also worked voluntarily on many exhibitions, most memorably the Dora Gordine retrospective.

She exhibits annually with a local group and her work is in many collections. She has made artwork for television, and lately has been exhibiting with The Workshop, a pop up shop run by Kingston University Alumni, where she has also studied 'History of Art and Architecture and Design'. She also has work at the Market House in Kingston. 

Hayley says, "I now want to carry on making improvements and to contribute more to my craft, to exhibit and to produce more work and hopefully in some way enhance peoples lives by sharing with them the enjoyment and magic of visual art, which is something that has played a major part in my life, in the appreciation and love of the work of all the old (and new) masters, and also in my case, wanting the pleasure of completing a job well done."

Member's update: Elizabeth Duncan Meyer

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer, sculptor, painter and print-maker, has a new website. Do visit the site in particular for an excellent gallery of Elizabeth's work. 

As stated on the site, "Although a colorist, with a natural tendency towards abstraction and simplification, Elizabeth’s work remains subtle and at a times mystical, interwoven with images reflecting aspects of her soul."

Mbeng Pouka

Pouka is an artist and sculptor who believes in the ability of human love and kindness to make our world a free and safe environment for every living creature. As we are coming to the climax of technology and increasing knowledge, the interconnection of people makes our world look small.

We are now facing a huge challenge in our planet - the growth in the population, the transformation of our climate, natural catastrophes, the extinction of animals, the insecurity of nations and the increase in poverty due to the wider gap between the rich and poor.

All these challenges we are facing in our modern times are the driving force of the creativity in his artwork as he believes everything created has its own purpose, like the earth we live in - there is no other place where humans can share the same breath with animals and plants or drink the same water and many other things.

'Run with the Fire' Launch Night

The Launch Night for the 'Run with the Fire' exhibition was a packed event with some memorable performances in the context of a stimulating and eclectic show.

The Launch Night  provided the first opportunity to see the exhibition which includes ceramics, paintings and sculptures, together with a digital exhibition on Olympic/Pentecost themes. Performances by singer-songwriter and poet Malcolm Guite, artist-musician Colin Burns, artist-poet Jonathan Evens, musician-poet Steve Scott and performance poet Tamsin Kendrick added to the exploration of the exhibition's theme - running life's race with passion and spirit.

Tamsin Kendrick performed vibrant, earthy poems based on the parable of the Prodigal Son and Psalm 139, Steve Scott shared work in progress based on incidents from John's Gospel, Colin Burns played three pieces from his debut CD Emerald&Gold, Jonathan Evens read his Run with the Fire poem and a Mark of the Cross meditation, while Malcolm Guite made a great job of linking themes from the artworks and other performances with poems from his sonnet sequence for the Church Year and from his CD Dancing through the fire.

Two exhibitions

“LOOKING INTO GLORY” is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and poems by

Andrew Vessey from 30^th May – 17^th June, 2012 at Gallery Two, Wingfield Barns, Church Road, Wingfield, IP21 5RA (Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am  –  5.00 pm, Sunday 10.00 am  –  4.00 pm). This solo exhibition includes an illustrated lecture by Andrew, a retired priest who previously trained in and taught fine art and art history. Entitled “Art, Imagination and God”,.

the Lecture will take place in the Gallery on Thursday 31^st May starting at 7.30pm.

2012BC is the next exhibition at the Tokarska Gallery (10 - 19 May 2012). The Private View is
10 May 2012 from 6pm - 9pm. 2012BC features work by Sophie Bancroft, Hannah Humphrys, Daniel Salisbury, Polly Saunders and Matt Webb.

 

Sophie Bancroft is an artist based in the West Midlands who is currently focused within the combined disciplines of painting and sculpture. Having recently made the move from all space consuming canvases stretched directly onto walls, Bancroft is currently investigating the idea of painting in relation to the creation of sculptures. Concerned with colour, mark making and structure, she loads mdf forms with excesses of over watered acrylics. As a parallel exploration to this, Bancroft is also focused upon the idea of her audience 'exploring' her work through physical interaction.
http://www.sophie-bancroft.com/
http://www.colourwillfall.tumblr.com/

Hannah Humphreys is an artist based in the West Midlands she produces abstract paintings which are inspired by a personal automatic narrative, which becomes descriptive, yet allusive. This narrative is used as part of the process in making the work. It is not her aim to reveal her subconscious mind nor to direct meaning, but to transport the viewer imaginatively in to a unique visual world; escaping from reality, crossing the boundaries from the outer to inner world.

From politics and newspaper headlines to history and social matters, Daniel Salisbury is an artist who tries to find humour where-ever he can. Never constrained by any one medium or method of working Daniel uses humour as an element of surprise, a release of tension built up through a narrative or often a lack of. Humour is one of the more powerful ways to get a message or point across; people are 60% more likely to remember information that is humouress. Laughter is a powerful tool.

As an artist Polly Saunders is concerned with problems of representation. Through large -scale charcoal drawings she investigates the problem of likeness and recognition in figurative art. Currently her drawings focus on representation in the Aristotelian term of ‘making present.’ In her drawings she seeks to distort the visual experience of recognition through cross-referencing multiple images simultaneously mirroring the experience of perception itself.
http://www.pollysaunders.co.uk/

Matt Webb is a visual narrative artist based in Birmingham, Uk. His practice focuses predominantly on the comic medium and how this can be explored formally and conceptually within the art environment. He looks to broaden and enhance the comic's growing reputation as a medium through which we can create art by presenting narratives that are both ambiguous and open to interpretation.
http://www.webbart.co.uk/

Andrew Vessey

The Revd Canon Andrew Vessey is an artist-priest who, while believing it important that Christian art connects with wider society as well as church members, thinks the particular duty of the artist who is a Christian is to develop images and symbols that stretch the meaning of our inherited biblical visual vocabulary.
His own major oil or gouache paintings grow from within particular landscapes in which he has come to see and feel the presence of saints and angels, to the point of becoming a setting of a particular biblical story in a contemporary setting. These studio works are supported by poems, written to explore the same theme both before or after the painting takes place. Other pictures will directly record in ink or pastel the changing light, impact of seasonal differences and the weather, especially around the woods and fields and along the estuaries of northern Suffolk.

Andrew trained at the Chelsea College of Fine Art and Bishop Otter College of Education. His ordained and parish ministry was in Suffolk, Worcestershire and Swansea. He has exhibited at Bury St Edmonds (1968/70), Bath (1975/76), Salisbury (1983), Worcester (2003), and Swansea (2008/11).

Chandrakumar Sukumaran

 

Chandrakumar Sukumaran was born in Kerala (Attingal) in south India and came to England in 1980. He gained an HNC / HND in graphic design through Barking College and a BA in graphic media design at the University of the Arts, London (London College of Communication) while dealing with the effects of dyslexia. His dissertation was on the depiction of Christ in film. He likes writing scripts for short and feature length animations and has an ability to use colour in harmonious way in design and creative art. His work has been published in a graphic design book for students by Alan Swann. He has used the flexi plastic ID card with acrylic paint to create most of his recent work; this is animation to canvas painting and is called the miracle code.

Colours and Stations of the Cross (3)

Colours & Stations of the Cross is the current commission4mission exhibition which is being held at All Saints Maldon from Saturday 16th – Friday 22nd April, 10.00am – 4.00pm, and features Stations of the Cross by Rosalind Hore combined with pottery by Harvey Bradley.

Colours & Stations of the Cross (2)

Colours & Stations of the Cross is a commission4mission exhibition at All Saints Maldon: Saturday 16th – Friday 22nd April 2011, 10.00am – 4.00pm.

Colours & Stations of the Cross features Stations of the Cross by Rosalind Hore combined with pottery by Harvey Bradley. Harvey's pottery has been designed to complement Rosalind's Stations through its use of colour.

Rosalind Hore

Rosalind Hore is a sculptor and painter of Christian subjects – Christ figures, nativity sets, Ecce Homo, Stations of the Cross etc. She works in clay, plaster, concrete (figures can also be bronze cast at the foundry). Her paintings are mostly in acrylic of the events in the life of Christ. Her work can currently be seen St Edmund Tyseley, St Laurence Upminster, and St Mary Goring-by-Sea. Rosalind seeks to express exaggerated emotion in her work through the use of elongated stylized figures, strong colour and sweeping folds, which exaggerate both movement and emotion.

All these characteristics of her work are apparent in these Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross have been a big influence on her and her work. For this series she has used the traditional sequence of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus is given his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body is removed from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense.

Although not traditionally part of the Stations, the Resurrection of Jesus, as is common nowadays, has been included as a fifteenth station. Each of the Stations in this series are 34 x 42 inches, painted in acrylics, and feature three rose buds as a sign of the Trinity.
Harvey Bradley

Trained as a designer, Harvey Bradley is a long standing and selected member of Anglian Potters – a prestigious association that exhibits members work in such venues as Ely Cathedral, All Saints (Jesus Lane) and Emmanuel College in Cambridge. As well as contributing to these, Harvey has shown work at Chichester Cathedral, Spring Harvest, New Wine and Greenbelt with the Christian arts group Veritasse.

Harvey’s pottery series uses a new sequence for the Stations of the Cross, as follows:

1 Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane – yellow, blue and green
colours of a hopeful garden overshadowed by a hopeless plan

2 Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested – brown, ochre and black
an earthly radical sets in motion loves trusting betrayal

3 Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin – stripes of blue, black and orange
religious order and logic threatened by revolutionary notions of Love

4 Jesus is denied by Peter – gold and grey
the loving wealth of a new way stumbles to emerge

5 Jesus is judged by Pilate – stripes of blue and black
Pilate’s clean-cut authority warped by political compromise

6 Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns – ochre, red and black
earthly vengeance on a passive form

7 Jesus takes up His cross – red, yellow and black
the carpenter lifts His earthly gift and transforms a crooked symbol

8 Jesus is helped by Simon to carry His cross – cream, brown and green
practical love breaks through a tyranny of hopelessness and hate

9 Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem – blue, orange and yellow
even a powerless Creator witnesses to the future promise

10 Jesus is crucified – black and red
stark clashes of light and dark – a ring of blood encircles a world of disbelief

11 Jesus promises His kingdom to the repentant thief – yellow, orange and blue
a cosmic reality breaks through the darkest experience of man

12 Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other – blue, red and yellow
from the dark, gentle caring begins a new weave of sharing

13 Jesus dies on the cross – brown and black
the earth collapses – a cosmic utterance of silence lies on a lonely cross

14 Jesus is laid in the tomb – orange, black and yellow
earth’s static time sinks in the spirit of man to prepare for a creative song

15 The resurrection of Jesus – yellow and blue
nature’s spirit re-awakens, bounding to the joy of our Creators call

art, pray, love (2)

art, pray, love is Hillside Church Wimbledon’s inaugural art festival which launched on 26 March 2011 at The National Gallery with a guided tour by art historian and gallery lecturer Stuart Currie.

commission4mission regional repreentative, Wendy McTernan, has assisted with curation of the exhibition of paintings, ceramics and sculpture, some specially made for art, pray, love, which opened on Thursday 7 April at the church. The artists are drawn from local organisations and private galleries including Wimbledon Art Studios, YMCA London South West and The Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

The show includes paintings from Ghislaine Howard’s 365 Series, small pieces inspired by images seen in the news each day; Sarah Ollerenshaw’s iconic figurative work that speaks of sacrifice and love; and Claire Burke’s meditative compositions using shimmering gold and silver leaf. There’s also photography by Tim Edmonds and Tom Leighton, and drawings by Mercy Kagia. All work is for sale, with 15 per cent of proceeds going to support the local YMCA. A suggested donation of £5 to £10 will be collected at the door.

‘The festival came about through our passionate belief in the arts, and how this shapes the landscape of our journey through life together,’ says Anita Taylor, who is curating the exhibition on behalf of the church and showing some of her work.

Richard Thomas, church leader at Hillside says, ‘We believe that artists are generous people, sharing their gifts to inspire others.’

The festival continues with a guided gallery tour of Tate Britain on Saturday 9 April, and a series of Sunday morning talks at the church, celebrating Easter Sunday with a focus on Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus.

The art, pray, love exhibition is open 11.30-4pm, Tuesday to Friday, and 10-1pm on Sundays. Full programme details can be found at www.hillsidewimbledon.org or by telephoning 020 8944 5544.

Hillside Church, 37 Worple Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4JZ. Nearest station: Wimbledon 5 mins walk. Buses 57 and 131 pass the door; 156, 163, 164, 200, 219, 93 and 493 stop nearby.

Jim Insole

Jim Insole lives in Neath, South Wales. He became a committed (R.C.) Christian in 1966 and soon became aware of a facility to represent devotional religious and philosophical ideas graphically. He has been engaged in religious art, much of it ceramic, since 1975. Before this he was a gardener and has continually been a folk musician since the late 1950's.

He studied art and pottery during the '80's, setting up a small, basic pottery workshop in the early '90's. Here he evolved the mandala-like bas-relief plaque form which may be seen above. He graduated in theology in 2005 from Lampeter College (University of Wales), with an emphasis on scriptural studies (with Greek and Hebrew), and Early Church History. He retains an abiding interest in cosmology and philosophy.

Since 2005 he has resumed potting and painting. At root, his work seeks to reconcile traditional (but not fundamentalist!) doctrine with current perceptions of the cosmos and history, anthropology etc. Even more importantly it seeks a peace, a shalom between what is believed, what is intellectually perceived and what is devotionally, existentially and emotionally felt.

Dedication of 'The Baptism of Jesus'

Yesterday, Revd. Jonathan Evens dedicated 'The Baptism of Jesus' by Rosalind Hore which his family have donated to St Edmunds Tyseley, through commission4mission, in memory of his father, Revd. Phil Evens, Vicar of Tyseley from 1989 - 1999.

Jonathan introduced the painting and its donation to the congregation as follows:

"The painting that is to be dedicated today has come to be here through commission4mission, a Christian Arts organization which aims to encourage the commissioning and placing of contemporary Christian Art in churches, as a means of fundraising for charities and as a mission opportunity for the churches involved. commission4mission promotes the purchase of works of art by churches through donations given in memory of loved ones. This painting has been donated by our family in memory of the Revd. Phil Evens, in remembrance of his ministry here as your Vicar.

The artist who created this painting, Rosalind Hore, is a sculptor and painter of Christian subjects – Christ figures, nativity sets, Ecce Homo, Stations of the Cross etc. She works in clay, plaster, concrete (figures can also be bronze cast at the foundry). Her paintings are mostly in acrylic of the events in the life of Christ. She has been an art teacher throughout her working life, has taken part in the Cambridge Open Studios (creating a sculpture garden and art gallery at her home) and has led art groups and projects in the parishes where she has lived. She has a sculpture in the Bible Garden at St Mary's Goring-by-Sea and another currently displayed at St Laurence Upminister, where her husband is Rector.

Rosalind’s painting of ‘The Baptism of Jesus’ sees water, fish, cross, crown, dove, fire and light – all the signs and symbols of Jesus’ future ministry – swept up together to coalesce around the baptised Jesus. Vigorous movement and vibrant colour combine to depict the glory of the Son who is here commissioned by the Father and empowered by the Spirit."

Jonathan then reflected on those two aspects of Jesus’ baptism – the Father’s call and the Spirit’s empowering – using thoughts and prayers from material that his father had in his ministry at Tyseley. Click here to read the full sermon given by Jonathan.

The prayer of dedication used was as follows: Lord Jesus, we thank you for the vision of you which we see in this painting. We pray that, as we see it week in, week out here in St Edmunds, it may inspire us to respond to the call of God on our lives and to pray to be filled with the Spirit in order that we live out that call in our daily lives. We thank you for Rosalind Hore and for her response to you which created this painting. We thank you too for Phil Evens, in whose memory it is given to this church, and for his example of following your call in his life. Lord Jesus, we dedicate this painting of your baptism to you and your glory in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The next dedication of a commission4mission commission will be a thanksgiving for the creation and witness of Caroline Richardson's fused glass windows at St Peter's Harold Wood as part of the Evening Service at the church on Sunday 9th January 2011 at 6.30pm. The preacher at the service will be Rt. Revd. Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford.