Annual Report 2012-13

Incarnation exhibition at Wimbledon Library Gallery

In 2012/13 commission4mission has made a significant contribution to the mission of the Church during the Olympic and Paralympic periods through our involvement in the ‘Run with the Fire’ project. We have also held a launch event in South London, exhibited at venues across London and collaborated with a wide range of visual and performing artists. Our committee has also prepared plans for commission4mission to have a greater online presence from 2013 onwards.

During 2012/13 commission4mission has:

• completed our ninth commission, heads of Christ and Mary Magdalene as painted wooden reliefs, by Peter Webb for Dagenham Park Church of England School;
• exhibited at All Saints West Ham, the Strand Gallery as part of the Pentecost Festival, All Saints Woodford Wells as part of the Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival and at Wimbledon Library Gallery for a Christmas show entitled ‘Incarnation’ curated by Wendy McTernan;
• contributed to Run with the Fire, in partnership with CANA and Veritasse, which saw events run using the digital exhibition in Aldersbrook, California, Devonport, Harlow, Leicester, London, Sacramento, Streatham and Woodford;

Steve Scott performing at the Run with the Fire exhibition’s launch night

• organised art talks (by Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Glenn Lowcock and Steve Scott), an art demonstration by Harvey Bradley, a Big Draw workshop led by Mark Lewis, Francesca Ross and Peter Webb, and performance evenings featuring Colin Burns, Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Evens, Jane Grell, Malcolm Guite, Alan Hitching, Jenny Houghton, Tamsin Kendrick and Steve Scott;
• published, through Seed Resources, a collection of images and meditations on the Passion of Christ by Jonathan Evens and Henry Shelton; 
• contributed articles by Jonathan Evens, Helen Gheorghui Gould and Steven Saxby to a special arts edition of franciscan magazine; 
• donated £668.46 to Safer Places, in support of their work with victims of domestic abuse, this being the charitable element from our third year of operation. 

We are very grateful to: all members for their support and involvement; all committee members (Harvey Bradley, Rev. Helen Gheorghiu Gould, Mark Lewis, Wendy McTernan, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb - Chair) for their direction and guidance; our Patron, Bishop David, for his ideas and interest; and Ranjit Solomon for his independent examination of our accounts.

Rev. Jonathan Evens, Secretary – June 2013

Passion collections: Downloads and use

There have been 365 downloads to date from The Seed of Henry Shelton and Jonathan Evens collections of Passion meditations and images, the most popular being The Passion pdf. Use has been made of these collections, often during Lent and Holy Week, at churches including Cafe Church Kingsley, Churches Together in Cleadon, St Gabriel's Aldersbrook, St John's Seven Kings and St Margaret's Barking.

Churches Together in Cleadon used The Passion meditations and images for their Good Friday walk. Lay Anglicana used a Mark of the Cross image for their post of intercessions for the Second Sunday of Easter. Rev. Steve Santry used Mark of the Cross at Cafe Church Kingsley and wrote that its "stunning artwork and thought provoking words will open up the events around Easter in a new and imaginative way."

Newsletter No. 15 – January 2013

Christmas Exhibition: Incarnation

Wendy McTernan curated and organised an excellent commission4mission exhibition entitled ‘Incarnation’ at Wimbledon Library Gallery in December 2012. commission4mission's South London launch took place at a well attended Private View. We were encouraged by the interest shown by all who came both in the conversations that took place and in the works that were sold.

Those who came appreciated the look and feel of the show, our invigilators had several valuable conversations with those who came, we also made a number of new contacts and gained new members. Midnight Church by Elizabeth Duncan Meyer and Transforming Power by Caroline Richardson were amongst several works which sold. 

Those exhibiting included Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Christopher Clack, Ally Clarke, Valerie Dean, Elizabeth Duncan-Meyer, Jonathan Evens, Ken James, Sarah Ollerenshaw, Caroline Richardson, Janet Roberts, Francesca Ross, Henry Shelton, Sergiy Shkanov, Joy Rousell Stone and Peter Webb.
 

franciscan: The Gospel in Art

Three commission4mission members have written articles on the arts for the latest edition of franciscan, which is published three times a year by the First Order brothers and sisters and includes articles on Franciscan themes, as well as book reviews and news of the Society (http://www.franciscans.org.uk/franciscan-january-2013). 

The three articles are:

• ‘Facets of faith: the gospel in modern and contemporary art’ by Jonathan Evens
• ‘Father Andrew the artist: Plaistow friar, who never lost his boyhood enthusiasm for all things artistic’ by Steven Saxby
• ‘Re-imagining the gospels’ by Helen Gheorghiu Gould

The article by Jonathan features the work of Ally Clarke, Caroline Richardson and Sergiy Shkanov while Helen's piece includes interviews with Henry Shelton and Peter Webb. 

To order a copy of the magazine contact the subscriptions secretary using franciscansubscriptions@franciscans.org.uk. 

The Seed 

The Seed (http://seedresources.com/) has an expanding collection of over 40,000 resources to download and use throughout the Church year including Digital Worship resources and inspirational articles. The Seed and seedresources.com is a collaboration between the Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust and Twelvebaskets Ltd. 

Among the available resources are two by commission4mission artists, both of which raise funds for c4m. They are:

• Mark of the Cross which features 20 poetic meditations by Jonathan Evens on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by Henry Shelton.
• The Passion: Reflections & Prayers: Pictures, poems and prayers by Henry Shelton and Jonathan Evens enabling us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey.

New publications

Christopher Clack and Jonathan Evens feature in a new Dutch book entitled Jezus voor ogen (Eyes on Jesus) with visual meditations and word & image Bible studies for Lent. The visual meditations included in the book have all featured previously on the ArtWay website (http://www.artway.eu/artway.php?lang=en) and include the meditation which Jonathan Evens wrote on Christopher Clack's Descent II.

Jonathan Evens' new book, The Secret Chord, is jointly authored with Peter Banks of After The Fire, and is an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. A website for The Secret Chord (http://www.thesecretchord.co.uk/) has news, bios, additional links, comments and views. The Secret Chord is available in paperback as well as a Kindle book. 

Member Profile: Gillian Barritt

Gillian Barritt is a ceramics artist whose work is expressive and sculptural. Her work reflects her Christian faith as well as capturing a love of Cornwall where she lives and was born. Gillian incorporates words with clay pieces which include scripture and also poetry. She also has an interest in recycled media like sea china and glass.

The Seed: Mark of the Cross and The Passion

The Seed has hundreds of resources for you to download and use throughout the Church year. Digital Worship resources and inspirational articles are available to download and read online. You can choose free weekly resource downloads from an expanding collection of over 40,000, with the option of purchasing more.

The Seed and seedresources.com is a collaboration between the Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust (LWPT) and Twelvebaskets Ltd.

Among the available resources are two by commission4mission artists, both of which raise funds for c4m. They are:

Mark of the Cross features 20 poetic meditations on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension. These meditations focus on the mark of the cross in his life and body and were originally written by Jonathan Evens as part of a community arts project in Hertford. They are complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by noted religious artist, Henry Shelton.

The Passion: Reflections & Prayers: These pictures, poems and prayers by Henry Shelton and Jonathan Evens enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. Their aim in these reflections has been to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but they hope in a way that makes maximum impact.

Member's update: Henry Shelton and Jonathan Evens

The Passion: Reflections and Prayers with images by Henry Shelton and words by Jonathan Evens is now available from The Seed as a pdf, powerpoint presentation and as individual images.

These pictures, poems and prayers enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. With this series Henry and Jonathan have aimed to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but they hope in a way that makes maximum impact.

The Passion is the second series by Henry and Jonathan to be available through The Seed. The first, Mark of the Cross, was described by Steve Santry on Revster's Ramblings as "Stunning artwork and thought provoking words [which] open up the events around Easter in a new and imaginative way."

The Seed and seedresources.com is a collaboration between the Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust (LWPT) and Twelvebaskets Ltd.

In 2010 Henry Shelton completed a commission for Stations of the Crown of Thorns at St Paul's Goodmayes. Parish priest Fr. Benjamin Rutt-Field wrote meditations for this set of Stations and has now published these together with photographs of Henry's Stations. Copies of this booklet can be obtained from Fr. Ben on b.ruttfield@btinternet.com.

In addition to Henry Shelton, other commission4mission members with completed sets of Stations of the Cross include Valerie Dean and Rosalind Hore. Valerie's Stations have a very clear and intense focus on details which are evocative of the whole, as can be seen from the photographs she has taken of the set which can be viewed here. Click here and here for photographs of exhibitions featuring Rosalind's Stations. Henry, Valerie and Rosalind are all keen to discuss ways of making these Stations available for any church that would be interested in having them. Contact Jonathan Evens on jonathan.evens@btinternet.com for more information.