Members' update: Andrew Vessey and Ken James

Andrew Vessey is part of an exhibition at the Aldeburgh Gallery from 21-27 November. The  group of artists showing together had a successful show in the Pears Galley earlier in the Autumn and this is another chance to tap into that town's celebration of the Britten Anniversary Year.

Ken James has a watercolour exhibition through December at the Bishop of London's old residence, Fulham Palace, on the River Thames at Putney Bridge. Many attending will also enjoy the Tudor building and paintings at this Palace which was the Bishop of London's summer residence from 700AD. The Private View is on Sunday 24th November, 2-4pm, and 50% of all sales go to the Palace's charitable trust. Prints will be available too.

Inspire: art as spiritual exploration

Inspire: art as spiritual exploration is a commission4mission exhibition at St Stephen Walbrook from 18th – 29th November (10.00am – 6.00pm, closed 24 November). Among the artists exhibiting are: Ross Ashmore, Ally Ashworth, Hayley Bowen, Harvey Bradley, Christopher Clack, Anne Creasey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Clorinda Goodman, Alan Hitching, Mark Lewis, Pouka, Caroline Richardson, Janet Roberts, Francesca Ross, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb. Parish priest, Peter Delaney will also exhibit his work as part of the show.

A Private View will be held on the evening of Monday 18th November from 6.00pm – 8.30pm and will include a welcome from The Venerable Peter Delaney MBE. All are welcome.

Members' update: Andrew Vessey

Andrew Vessey writes:

"I've been painting hard in the studio - small semi-abstract studies - and beavering around in the sunshine - pastels and ink drawings - getting ready for three weekends of Open Studios. We are a nicely diverse group of about 30, living and working along the Waveney Valley and it's always good to find conversation and friendship. I'm the only clergy person but in addition to seeing a few of them in one or other of the churches I visit on Sunday on duty, they have made me very welcome socially. We have two taster exhibitions planned that will coincide with the Studio dates and are booked for a Group Show in the Pears Gallery in Aldeburgh mid-September. Before then I am creating two pieces for a unique show in Wenhaston (July 27-29) celebrating the life of the late Harry Becker who lived here in Suffolk for much of his mature working life, painting labourers and toilers! I shall be painting Joseph in the sawpit and Mary in an orchard, each discovering "they are not alone". Then in late August I have a one-man in St Michael's Framlingham, one of the truly great wool churches of Suffolk and where 27 years ago I began my curacy."

c4m members update

Ceramics by Richard Baxter can be seen at the Contemporary Designer-Makers Fair this weekend at Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute. The Private View is on Friday 25th May, 6.00 - 8.30pm (no ticket needed). This is an inspirational selling show of work by designer-makers, at the border of art and craft. Up to 20 exhibitors, working with as wide a variety of materials as possible, will be displaying their work: jewellery, ceramics, quilts, fabrics, furniture, glass, book-binding, textiles, sculpture.

Harvey Bradley will give a painting demonstration and Mark Lewis and Jonathan Evens are giving art talks on Saturday 26th May at the Run with the Fire exhibition in the Strand Gallery (32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP), as part of the Pentecost Festival. The full programme is:

• Painting demonstration – Harvey Bradley, ongoing throughout the day. See Harvey work on a painting and discuss his approach with him.
• The Spiritual Image in Modern Art - Mark Lewis, 11.30am. A broad overview of the spiritual impulse in the art forms of the modern world and their potential to turn our minds to higher things.
• Run with the Fire – Steve Scott, 12.30pm. A talk about the ‘Run with the Fire’ project and DVD.
• Stanley Spencer – A Visionary of our Time – Mark Lewis, 2.00pm. A talk which examines the life and work of one of Britain’s most renowned and eccentric 20th Century painters. The main themes include Spencer’s time as a war artist, and his extraordinary paintings which envision the Christian Gospels played out by the people in his beloved home town of Cookham.
• Praying with our eyes open – Glenn Lowcock, 3.00pm. A talk on using images as an aid to prayer.
• Emotional Tourist – Steve Scott, 4.00pm. What I am learning about art, life, spirituality, Trinity, and relational aesthetics from my travels in Bali and elsewhere.
• Christian influences on modern & contemporary art – Jonathan Evens, 5.00pm. A broad overview of modern and contemporary art and artists which engage with Christianity.

Colin Burns has an excellent new album out called Emerald & Gold with guitar pieces and songs. He can be heard playing at Caffe Nero, High Street, Southend, 6.00 - 8.00pm, Sunday 27th May.

“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.

Fade In Fade Out is the current exhibition at the Tokarska Gallery (until 9 June). Artist and painter, Kathleen Mullaniff, has a second obsession. An obsession which is at once attached to and envelope her small studio. The visitor is invited into the garden, and eventually through a garland of soft winter hues that surround the entrance to her studio. The borders are dormant now. But cross the threshold into the studio and these same sleeping winter colours are revealed through line and mark, in a series of pristine canvases. Marianne North would recognize the samples of seedpods, branches, twigs, dried petals and leaves imported into the studio from the garden, the salvaged fragments that form the still life source for this series of immaculate paintings. The local girl, intrepid explorer and botanist and the inspiration for Kathleen’s new body of work, collected her specimens from the furthest reaches of the natural world. Her expansive travel and analytical account of the exotic, compliments Kathleen’s newest work where stepping into the garden, has re-envigorated and affirmed the notion of place, the local close up, an intimate commune with the melancholy of change, the micro into the macro, William Blake’s ‘world in a grain of sand’.

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/

Members update

Valerie Dean has recently completed the set of Stations of the Cross on which she has been working. They 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. Valerie is keen to discuss ways of making these Stations available for any church that would be interested in having them. 

Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska has sent information about the next exhibition at the Tokarska Gallery. Mythology in London by Anna Alcock runs from 15th - 31st March. The Private View is on 15th March from 6 - 9pm. Anna Alcock uses Greek and Roman mythological images and populates them with modern day narratives that are of significance to her living in London now. The exhibition will also include an exclusive bound suite of 15 etchings, which will be exhibited alongside etching collages and tabloids of myths with personal modern day stories that she imbues with her unique style and bold colours.

The Tokarska Gallery are also publicising their annual 'Drawing the Culture' competition for children and young people (see http://tokarskagallery.co.uk/drawing-the-culture). This is a juried open exhibition of children's drawings.
The next exhibition by the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, of which c4m artists Michael Creasey and Peter Webb are members, will be held at Launderdale House from 13th - 25th March.

Andrew Vessey has set up a website for his art and poetry. He writes that the website offers:

"the chance for making sensible and clear witness to my own Christian values, which have always determined how one paints as much as what I have been trying to achieve. To do theology on line in a website and give voice to the motivation which lies behind many of my ideas is a new challenge. I hope you'll be able to discern more than passing reference to having been a parish priest, or an art teacher for that matter, as the connections I am looking for, and the aspiration for thinking and then developing them as avenues of prayer and reflection, is one I welcome as a very exciting new form of ministry. I trust that my art will help move people on from the very tired language and inadequate symbolism that constitutes so much church art, to one that is rooted in the incarnation within us and divine glory around us."

Andrew will be exhibiting from 29th May - 17th June at Gallery Two, Wingfield Barns, Wingfield, Suffolk. This solo show of 60+ works will have new oil paintings "Looking into Glory" as the major focus, constituting a series of Stations on the Post-Resurrection as described in St John 21.

Jonathan Evens will be speaking on commission4mission and understandings of Christian Art at the February Learning Supper for West Mersea Parish Church (6.30pm, Sunday 26th February). Learning Suppers on Mersea Island include a time of worship, teaching, prayer and a convivial supper of soup, cheese and wine on the 4th Sunday in the month. Jonathan will also be using his Mark of the Cross and Seven Words from the Cross meditations in the three hour devotional which he will be leading at St Margaret's Barking on Good Friday from 12 noon to 3.00pm.

Tokarska exhibition: Private View

We had an excellent Private View at the Tokarska Gallery tonight. As part of the evening Colin Burns performed guitar instrumentals from his forthcoming CD. Andrew Vessey read three poems that, like several of the paintings he is exhibiting, explore encounters and travels in well-known biblical stories but set into the context of contemporary landscapes of Suffolk and Gower. Peter Webb spoke about creativity as the essence of God in his introductory remarks and Jonathan Evens read his poem on the creative process entitled 'The Mark'.

Tokarska Gallery: commission4mission exhibition

Our Christmas exhibition at the Tokarska Gallery opened today and features a variety of c4m artists working in a variety of media (ceramics, concept drawings, fused glass, paintings, painted wooden reliefs), styles (abstract, conceptual, figurative, semi-abstract) and content (biblical scenes, landscapes, portraits, still life, symbolic scenes).

Contributing artists include Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Christopher Clack, Ally Clarke, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska, Janet Roberts, Caroline Richardson, Henry Shelton, Joy Rousell Stone, Andrew Vessey and Peter Webb.

1 - 31 December 2011, Thursday - Saturday, 12 noon - 7.00pm.

PRIVATE VIEW 3 December 2011, 6pm - 9pm.

Tokarska Gallery 163 Forest Rd., Walthamstow, London E17 6HE Tel: 020 8531 5419. Email: info@tokarskagallery.co.uk.

How to find Tokarska Gallery: Victoria Line to Blackhorse Road Station. Buses: 123, 158. Map.

Opening Hours Thursday - Saturday, 12pm - 7pm or by appointment.

Tokarska hang: Day 1 photographs

_ commission4mission _ 1 - 31 December 2011   PRIVATE VIEW 3 December 2011 6pm - 9pm

Contributing artists include Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Christopher Clack, Ally Clarke, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska, Janet Roberts, Caroline Richardson, Henry Shelton, Joy Rousell Stone, Andrew Vessey and Peter Webb.

An exhibition designed to encourage the commissioning of contemporary Christian art opens in the Tokarska Gallery on Thursday 1st December 2011. commission4mission artists will show work in a variety of media, including concept drawings, fused glass, paintings, pottery and reliefs. With much of the work exploring Christian themes, this exhibition will be of particular relevance and interest in the preparations for Christmas. Jonathan Evens, secretary of commission4mission, explains: ‘This exhibition demonstrates some of the ways commissioned art can be used to enhance a place of worship and add another dimension to a church’s mission.’

Tokarska Gallery 163 Forest Rd., Walthamstow, London E17 6HE Tel.: +44 (0) 20 8531 5419 info@tokarskagallery.co.uk   How to find us Victoria Line to Blackhorse Road Station Buses: 123, 158 Map Opening Hours Thursday - Saturday 12pm - 7pm or by appointment Follow us on:

December exhibition

commission4mission
1 - 31 December 2011
Private View
3 December 2011
6pm - 9pm

An exhibition designed to encourage the commissioning of contemporary Christian art opens in the Tokarska Gallery on Thursday 1st December 2011.

commission4mission artists will show work in a variety of media, including concept drawings, fused glass, paintings, pottery and reliefs. With much of the work exploring Christian themes, this exhibition will be of particular relevance and interest in the preparations for Christmas.

Jonathan Evens, secretary of commission4mission, explains: ‘This exhibition demonstrates some of the ways commissioned art can be used to enhance a place of worship and add another dimension to a church’s mission.’

Contributing artists include Harvey Bradley, Colin Burns, Christopher Clack, Ally Clarke, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska, Janet Roberts, Caroline Richardson, Henry Shelton, Joy Rousell Stone, Peter Webb and Andrew Vessey. Much of the work is for sale, and enquiries are invited. The exhibition will also include examples of some completed commissions and information about the commissioning process.

The exhibition continues each day until 31st December, Thursday – Saturday, 12.00 noon - 7.00pm. Private View: Saturday 3rd December from 6.00pm. RSVP jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

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).