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.

Commissioning changes include c4m

commission4mission features in an a current Church Times article entitled 'Keeping Art & Soul Together' where Pat Ashworth finds that the art of commissioning works for churches has changed a great deal since the swashbuckling days of Walter Hussey.

The reference in the article to commission4mission is as follows:

"There is also Commission for Mission, run by the Revd Jonathan Evens, under the patronage of the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd David Hawkins, with a brief to encourage churches with smaller budgets. A proportion of the artist's fee goes to charity. It was launched 18 months ago, and Mr Evens has been surprised and delighted at the range and number of artists keen to work with churches."

The announcement that, to mark the centenary of the birth of Dean Walter Hussey, Chichester Cathedral has commissioned Jaume Plensa’s sculpture Together for its main aerial space is the catalyst for the article. Also in the Church Times Anthony Cane’s diary tells the inside story of the commissioning process and Catalan sculptor Plensa talks about his winning submission.

New work by Joel

Here are the new life sized Dove Bronzes by the Sculptress Joel which are available in classic bronze, bright gold bronze and white patina bronze and as single, pair, trio or … your own flock.

c4m artists news update (4)

Photographs of Valerie & Roger Dean's exhibition at Pages of Hackney

The contrasts between Chelsea and Hackney may be extreme but both have their own art communities and both are currently hosting exhibitions by commission4mission artists.

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer's sculptures form a backdrop to the conviviality which characterises the garden that becomes the meeting, greeting and eating place at the Chelsea Arts Club over the summer months. Worked in clay, stone and wood, her sculptures are minimally marked; less is more as she works with the grain of the wood and vein of the rock to create iconic figures with a gritty and emotive resilience. Her Mother and Child has the soaring upward curve of her celebrating mother balanced by the foetal curve of the child on the womb from which it has emerged, while her Face of Moses is, by contrast, scratched and scarred stone.

Roger Dean's beautifully focussed photographs of the patterning found in nature's details are entitled 'Emerging Images' but this title applies equally to the paintings of his wife, Valerie. In her work, semi-abstract figures emerge from blurred expressionist landscapes to be silhouetted by passages of light. Her Venetian scenes are saturated with light creating hazy views while, in her biblical works, light illuminates darkness and realises her characters. Pages of Hackney, which hosts their exhibition, is both an eclectic bookshop and a community and cultural hub, holding regular events and monthly exhibitions in its basement gallery.

The next exhibition featuring a commission4mission member, of which we are aware, will be a one man show by Michael Creasey at the Visual Arts Centre, Frances Bardsley School, Romford from August 23rd to 28th. More details to follow.

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer's sculptures

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer has an exhibition of Garden and Internal Sculptures at the Chelsea Arts Club which will be open from 8th June until 5th July. commission4mission members are invited to the private view on Tuesday 8th June 2010. Drinks from 6.30pm until 9.30pm. Entrance by reply only. RSVP to 0207 386 7871 or email elizabeth.duncanmeyer@yahoo.co.uk.

The Sculptress JOEL

JOEL is a sculptress working in clay and casting in bronze and other materials. Her work includes detailed figurative portraits and studies of people and animals. She makes sculptures in public and looks for opportunities to talk and share about the Christian faith.

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer

Saint Robert by Night, 2006, Oil on canvas

Maternity No. 5, 2005, Polished Oak

Elizabeth Duncan Meyer's work is influenced by abstract expressionism based on landscape and the human figure. She uses many prophetic forms in sculpture, wood and stone.

Elizabeth writes:

"I have always been interested in the spiritual in art, using biblical figures and dreams. I am now involved in a series of etchings based on music. I have exhibited in churches, given paintings (i.e. Servite Priory in Fulham), and made a wooden crucifix for a Benedictine Monastery. I would be very interested to do a commission for Stations of the Cross in ceramic sculpture. The Madonna and Child comes into a lot of my sculpture."

Having studied at the Central School of Art, she moved to Paris to learn print-making at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and at the studios of William Hayter and Henri Goetz. Although a colourist, with a natural tendency towards abstraction and simplification, her work remains subtle and at times mystical, interwoven with images which reflect her passions, as, for example, the spirituality she finds through exploring the deep human relationships of mother and child.

Ally Clarke

out there

held

Ally Clarke studied Sculpture and is inclined to create installation works complimented by photography, drawing, collage and print. Enjoying creative collaborations, she has recently worked with a Sculptor / Performance Artist producing film, sculptural and performance works.

Ally views her creative work as a means of investigating the world and engaging with others in the consideration and wonder of it, intending that the work communicate something of the value and uniqueness of us as individuals and stimulate consideration by the viewer of the particular, precious contribution each makes to their world. She presents evocative, personal creations that produce opportunities for reflection and refreshment.

The materials used in her installations are selected largely because of their symbolic nature and their inherent textural composition. Oftentimes the materials are collected from particular people - the forging of new friendships in this process is frequently an important aspect of the work.

Ally has installed a number of 3D works in 'sacred' spaces as an aid to worship and contemplation and loves to create artwork to compliment a particular sermon series or study theme. She has several installations which could be recreated on request in churches and other spaces. See Chosen Stones and Agony for Hope for more information.

Spirituality - the heartbeat of Art? (2)

'The Baptism of Jesus'

A Church Holiday Club set

'Jesus in the Garden'

Rosalind Hore

In the second presentation from the Art & Spirituality networking evening at St Andrews Leytonstone, where three artists addressed the question 'Spirituality - the heartbeat of Art?', Rosalind Hore speaks about her work as the exaggeration of emotion:

Rosalind began her presentation by explaining that she grew up in a Church of Scotland manse and first remembers encountering Christian imagery through the Victorian images of Christ used in Sunday School at the time. She also developed early on a sense of being involved in the Church's year. She studied images of Christ during her sculpture course at Art College and was inspired by Michelangelo, El Greco, and Rodin.

She 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. She uses Christian symbols frequently in her paintings; flames, waters of baptism, doves, cross etc. Her Stations of the Cross each feature three rose buds as a sign of the Trinity. The Stations of the Cross have been a big influence on her and she has, to date, completed six bas-relief Stations and six paintings.

Her sculptures are all modelled and she works in clay, concrete and plaster. All of her sculptural work can be cast in bronze. Concrete and plaster involve use of an iron armature. Greater detail is possible when working in clay but, when working in concrete or plaster, shapes are simplified and greater use is made of sweeping folds and lines.

Rosalind has also produced a number of functional pieces for Church festivals and to enhance worship. These have included meditative pieces for Good Friday devotions and Festival displays. She retired from art teaching four years ago but, as a Rector's wife, has initiated an Art group at each church they have ministered in. The current group at St Laurence Upminster have a permanent display board in church with a changing display of work to reflect the seasons.

She said that art and faith are why she gets up in the morning and that the whole of her life is involved with these two things.

Rosalind ended by showing images of her work (see representative examples above) and spoke about each piece in terms of its imagery and inspiration. To illustrate the interaction in her work between inspiration and worship she spoke of being inspired to create a Corpus Christi image by paying attention to the priest holding the host and cup during the Eucharist. She said that non-religious themes can also provide a sense of spirituality particularly through the joy in creation of a still life or landscape.

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 Pieta (pictured above) can be viewed at St Laurence’s Upminster.

Rosalind 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, which she describes as follows: "As part of a parish mission called Stepping Stones, I decided to do something special and made a seated figure of Christ with his arms outstretched titled Come Unto Me. We put stepping stones in the grass leading up to him."