'Condemned': Lent/Easter Series - Week 5

commission4mission has created a Lenten and Easter journey for 2012 using images by our artists combined with passages from Isaiah 53. Throughout Lent and for the first two weeks of Easter, we will post images and words from 'Condemned' here on a weekly basis.
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."
Other artists contributing images to the series are Mark Lewis, Robert Enoch, Christopher Clack, Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska, Jim Insole, and Peter Webb. 'Condemned' has been compiled by Helen Gheorghiu Gould.

In addition to the weekly posts, 'Condemed' is also available as either a powerpoint or pdf file on request from Jonathan Evens at jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

We are grateful to ArtServe for their coverage of this initiative.

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

Peter Shorer RIP

Peter Shorer with his wife Audrey during commission4mission's Pentecost Festival exhibition in 2009.

Peter Shorer and Henry Shelton at the Pentecost Festival exhibition

It is with real regret and shock that we inform you of the recent death of commission4mission member, Peter Shorer. Our condolences and prayers go to Peter's family, in particular his wife Audrey.

Peter was one of the early members of commission4mission showing his work at our launch event, our first exhibition (Pentecost Festival 2009), and more recently at St Laurence Upminster.

Peter followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who made the metalwork into which gems were set, and his father, who was a setter of gems in gold, silver and platinum metalwork including re-setting gems in the Coronation Crown, by studying jewellery design and manufacture at Central St Martin's. He then joined the staff of the British Museum where he worked on the Sutton Hoo and Mildenhall treasures. While with the British Museum he developed a technique for creating accurate reproductions of antiques using moulds. His work in this field has resulted in commissions from museums around the world and the establishment of his own business, Historic Jewellery Reproduction, making costume jewellery reproduced from genuine antiquities.

Peter, with his unprecedented experience of many years working with antiquities at the British Museum and countless other museums throughout the world, was one of the select few antiquarians allowed to handle and take moulds from rare and priceless artifacts. His amazing reproductions have been acclaimed for many years as stimulating and exciting aids to the world’s history lessons and lectures as well as being a necessary part of historic cinema and televisual productions.

Group exhibition: All Saints West Ham

All Saints West Ham have kindly provided commission4mission with a permanent exhibition space which we can use to display a changing programme of works by our artists. We began today by hanging a group show featuring work by Colin Burns, Ally Clarke, Valerie Dean, Elizabeth Duncan Meyer, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Caroline Richardson, Joy Rousell Stone, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb.

Our exhibition can be viewed during All Saints' usual opening times which include their regular services and between 9.00am and 3.00pm most Tuesdays. To visit at other times or to confirm opening times, phone the All Saints office on 0208 519 0764.

Grace & Passion, our Passiontide exhibition at St Laurence's Upminster, proved to be one of our busiest and most popular shows to date. Rosalind Hore's Stations of the Cross continue to be on display at St Laurence's throughout the Easter period.

Networking evening, consultation & permanent c4m exhibition

Networking evening

Networking evening - Helen Gould, Henry Shelton & Rosalind Hore

Detail of Prophet Moses by Elizabeth Duncan Meyer

Angels by Elizabeth Duncan Meyer

Last night, we held a useful networking evening at St Laurence Upminister, as part of the current Grace & Passion exhibition, which featured Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton talking about their recent series of Stations of the Cross leading into general discussion of the issues involved in painting the Passion.

In addition, we also had some stimulating discussion about the strategic development of commission4mission. We have been going just a year. In that time we have made great progress in establishing a membership base among artists and churches, and developing dialogue and opportunities for art in church – through commissions, exhibitions and other events. We now want to develop a strategy to guide the evolution of the organisation over the next 3-5 years and beyond and are asking members to contribute comments to a consultation exercise which we began last night.

Among the questions we are asking members are:

• What are your main reasons for being a member of c4M?
• How can c4m contribute to you, as a church or an artist?
• What is your vision for c4m?
• Is your vision addressed by the current vision and mission statement?
• What can you contribute to developing c4m?
• How far has c4m met your expectations of membership this year?

Following the Grace & Passion exhibition many of the works included in the exhibition, together with some additions (see, for example, the images of works by Elizabeth Duncan Meyer above), will be taken to All Saints West Ham who are making a permanent exhibition space available to commission4mission. This will mean that we will always have the opportunity to show potential commissioners of future works examples of work by our current artists. We intend using the space for a mixture of group and solo shows beginning with a group show which will be our contribution to this year's West Ham Festival. Once installed this exhibition can be viewed during All Saints' usual opening times (click here for details) or by phoning the Church Office on 0208 519 0764.

Grace & Passion exhibition

Grace & Passion is an exhibition of Christian Art for Passion Week by commission4mission members, 21st - 28th March 2010 - open 10.00am - 4.00pm daily at the Church of St Laurence, Corbets Tey Road, Upminster.

The exhibition's centrepiece is the first showing of a contemporary set of Stations of the Cross by Rosalind Hore. The Stations of the Cross have been a big influence on her and her work. Each of her Stations feature three rose buds as a sign of the Trinity. Also on display around the church will be work from Rosalind’s series of clay and plaster sculptures. A booklet featuring Rosalind's Stations is on sale at the exhibition.

Also featuring in the exhibition is work by other commission4mission artists: Adam Boulter, Colin Burns, Ally Clarke, Ann Creasey, Michael Creasey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Rosalind Hore, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv, Caroline Richardson, Joy Rousell Stone, Henry Shelton, Peter Shorer and Peter Webb.

A networking event will be held during the exhibition on Monday 22nd March at St Laurence's Upminster, from 7.30pm-9pm. Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton will be in conversation about the process of producing their Stations of the Cross - both have recently unveiled sets at their respective churches.

There will also be lenten reflections inspired by Jonathan Evens, and we will be consulting with members about the development of commission4mission. The evening will be relaxed and informal and a good opportunity to meet and talk with fellow members.

Networking Evening

Work on tryptich for Stations of the Crown of Thorns at St Paul's Goodmayes


Fr. Ben Rutt-Field showing the location for the 15th Station in the Stations of the Crown of Thorns scheme at St Paul's Goodmayes

Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton will be in conversation about their experiences of producing Stations of the Cross at a commission4mission networking evening to be held at St Laurence's Upminster on Monday 22nd March, 7.30 - 9.00pm. Rosalind's Stations will be on display St Laurence's as part of commission4mission's Grace & Passion exhibition, while Henry's Stations of the Crown of Thorns is currently being completed and installed at St Paul's Goodmayes (see above).

Rosalind and Henry's reflections will lead into open discussion before the evening will close with meditative reflections on the Stations by Jonathan Evens.

Exhibition: Grace & Passion

commission4mission's next exhibition will be during Passiontide (21st - 28th March) and will be held at St Laurence’s Upminster. Entitled Grace & Passion, the exhibition's centrepiece will be the first showing of a new set of Stations of the Cross by Rosalind Hore. The Stations of the Cross have been a big influence on her and her work. Each of her Stations feature three rose buds as a sign of the Trinity.

Rosalind, whose Pieta can also be seen at St Laurence, also has work at St Mary's Goring-by-Sea and, later this year, her Baptism of Jesus will be installed at St Edmund's Tyseley through a commission4mission commission. 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. She uses Christian symbols frequently in her paintings; flames, waters of baptism, doves, cross etc.

Also featuring in the exhibition will be work by commission4mission artists: Adam Boulter, Colin Burns, Ally Clarke, Ann Creasey, Michael Creasey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Rosalind Hore, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv, Caroline Richardson, Joy Rousell Stone, Henry Shelton, and Peter Webb. The exhibition will be the first opportunity to see work by our newest members, Adam Boulter, Ally Clarke, Nadiya Pavliv and Valerie Dean, in a commission4mission exhibition.