Members' updates

Harvey Bradley has an excellent new website showcasing both his ceramics and paintings which can be viewed at http://www.harveybradley.co.uk/Harvey%20Bradley/home.html. 

Mark Lewis and Peter Webb are organising a Big Draw style event for Saturday 16th February in the St Mary's Memorial Hall alongside St Mary's Woodford. There is also likely to be a small c4m exhibition in the Memorial Hall on the same day. Contact Mark on pharos@sketchbook.wanadoo.co.uk or Peter on oilpaint@hotmail.co.uk for more information.

Mark is also planning an exhibition of his sketchbooks at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham for two weeks from 16th April. Many of his sketchbooks, used weekly on the train journey from London to Birmingham, will be digitised and displayed on flat screens in the exhibition.

At the Tokarska Gallery Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska is preparing for the next exhibition No-one to bestow by Emma Scutt (Private View 7 February, 6pm - 9pm with the show running from 5 - 9 February Tuesday - Saturday, 12pm - 7pm) as well as finalising their Open call for an exciting future exhibition entitled CiTiES:All Dimensions where the deadline for submission is 20 January.

Church transformed into gallery for community Art Trail

St Barnabas Church Walthamstow has been transformed into a gallery for a community art trail.

The E17 Art Trail, one of most exciting community events in London, is now in its fifth year and the ten-day programme includes work by hundreds of artists exhibited in 120 venues. St Barnabas participated for the first time in 2009 with work by Henry Shelton but this year is displaying work by ten artists and is described by the Art Trail organisers as “a major venue”.

The Grade II* Listed church is open during the Art Trail to exhibit its own collections of fine Arts and Crafts furnishings and the contemporary work including fashion photography, portraits, silverware, a 20 foot wall installation and a newly-painted altar triptych.

Portraits, by artist Emma Scutt, are hung in the spaces usually occupied by the church’s stations-of-the-cross. They relate to the Art Trail’s 2010 theme “Welcome to Walthamstow” and include depictions of 10 Walthamstow people past and present, including Walthamstow-born William Morris, artist Grayson Perry, TV presenter June Sarpong, pop-star Brian Harvey and the church’s parish priest Father Steven Saxby.

Walthamstow’s MP Stella Creasy (also depicted in a portrait) cut a tape to launch the Trail at St Barnabas’ private view and responded to Father Saxby’s description of Walthamstow as “the cultural capital of the Universe” by saying she prefers to call E17 “God’s own country”. There are also three events for the Art Trial at St Barnabas: a discussion on Pen Dalton’s work “Does your mother come from Ireland?; ‘the Art of Singing’ by the choir of the Rose and Crown Pub and a dance event including dance from the many cultures represented in the congregation at St Barnabas.

Father Saxby said, “It is wonderful to see the church being used in this way to welcome the wider community. We have already had scores of visitors to see the art work, including many from the neighbourhood who’ve walked through the doors for the first time. It was a challenge for me displaying work by ten artists but the work looks spectacular in the church!”

Opening times are Thurs 9th (7pm-10pm), Fri 10th (Noon-4pm), Sat 11th (10am-4pm) and Sun 12th (Noon-4pm).

E17 Art Trail @ St Barnabas Walthamstow

Fr. Steven Saxby has provided information about the diverse range of artists which St Barnabas, Walthamstow is hosting this year for the E17 Art Trail. Their private view and "meet the artists" event is tomorrow evening (Thursday 2nd September) from 8pm - 9.30pm. Click here for subsequent opening dates and times.

Anna Newson-Lyons presents 'From here to there', a collection of pictures including Funky Big Ben and Double Vision; London at night taken on the South Bank of the Thames. Mara Love and Pride are from a collection of wildlife photographs taken in the Masai Mara, Kenya. The collection also includes from dusk to dawn landscape pictures of Australia in Sunrise at Uluru and Sunset Storm in The Maldives. Handmade cards are also included in the collection of local winter scenes and summer flowers taken in Waltham Forest.

Anthony Lane presents “Lano” – two oil on canvas works.

Cinthia Oram presents two flower arrangements characteristic of her work which specialises in creating unique flower arrangements using fruits, vegetables and various materials.

Emma Scutt presents "E17 Portraits, Past & Present" inspired by the theme for this year’s Art Trail, 'Welcome to Walthamstow', which made her think of all the different people who live in the borough, and also St Barnabas church itself.

Johanna Melvin is exhibiting seascapes taken from old-fashioned nautical engravings. Jo has exhibited widely including the Royal Academy of Art, Contemporary Art Society, Flowers East Gallery and has work in several provate collections including Whitechapel Gallery Archives, John Cass Faculty of Fine Art and the Colony Room collection.

Pen Dalton presents a large wall installation 5 x 20 feet, concerned with issues of identity and entitled “Does your mother come from Ireland?” The title comes from a popular song in the early 20th Century. The installation uses documentary writings and images from the twentieth century: familial, legal, educational, popular, medical, academic, religious and cultural to show how people – in this case Pen's grandmother – interact and change their identities in and through the social world.”

Rebecca de Quin and Louise Loder are art school trained silversmiths. De Quin is a Master of Arts of the Royal College of Art where she teaches part-time. Loder received her Master of Arts award from London Guildhall University. They have shared a workshop in Walthamstow for six years where they work independently but enjoy the benefits of sharing knowledge and discussing ideas. Both explore the potential of silver to capture the imagination of a contemporary audience, but achieve very different results as shown in their exhibit 'The Art of Silver'.
Sean Pines - Fashion Photography. With a career in photography spanning over 20 years, Sean has kept ahead of current trends, consistently producing fresh, concept based images which present not only the garments, but the fantasy also.

WACVC (Walthamstow Amateur Cinevideo Club) has been going strong since 1949. The club will be exhibiting some its productions on local history and special-interest. This will include DVDs such as "Hollywood E17" which uncovers Walthamstow's secret history in the early years of the cinematic industry. Find out what the club is about and take part in a workshop on ChromaKey where we place you somewhere else using a green screen.

St Barnabas Walthamstow itself is a work of art, an architectural gem. It is a Grade II* listed building designed by W.D.Caroe and completed in 1903. The church also houses a wonderful collection of art works, some of which are highlighted below:

- ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’, lettercutting on slate behind the font (1994) by Charles Smith.
- Statue of St Barnabas (1946) by Faith-Craft Works
- a carving of ‘Christ the Good Shepherd’ (c.1890) by Peter Brunner and originally part of the Children’s Shrine at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields.
- Statue of Our Lady, Mary (1936) by Faith-Craft Works
- ‘Christ the Man of Sorrows’ – C18th copy of the painting by Luini.
- Reredos from children’s chapel of St John’s, Red Lion Square (c.1925) by Christopher Webb.
- East Window stained glass, depicting ‘Our Lord in Majesty and Twenty Four Elders casting down their Crowns’ (1903) by Clayton and Bell.
- 1902 Foundation stone (behind the main altar) by Eric Gill, then articled to W.D.Caroe.
- Statues of St Michael and two angels (by and above the main altar) (1910) by Alec Miller
- Organ corbels of David and Miriam (2000) by Charles Gurrey
- Oak Rood (large crucifix hanging above chancel steps), designed by W.D.Caroe and carved by Nathaniel Hitch (1921)
- Statue of St James (c.1950) by Faith-Craft Works
- Green reredos designed by Julian Litten (1989) and incorporating panels of the four evangelists (painted c.1860)
- Stations of the Cross – currently lying flat on pews in south aisle.