Veritasse Artisan's newsletter article

This piece about Commission For Mission has recently been published in the Veritasse Artisan's newsletter:

Local churches contemplating the possibilty of commissioning contemporary art are often put off by what they think will be prohibitive costs, disputes in the congregation about appropriate styles, and arguments that there are more important prorities for the available money.

Since the mid point of the twentieth century, cathedrals in the UK began once again to regularly commission contemporary art but, for the reasons, listed above local churches have rarely followed their lead. Commission For Mission is a new arts organisation which is seeking to change that picture and to do by making the commissioning of contemporary an opportunity for mission and a means of fundraising for charities.

The visual arts can contribute to mission by: speaking eloquently of the Christian faith; providing a reason for people to visit a church; providing a link between churches and local arts organisations/initiatives; and providing a focus around which local people can come together for a shared activity. A good example of this occuring is St Albans Romford, where Commission For Mission was launched in March 2009 and where, as a direct result of its many commissions, the church is regularly visited by those from the local community and further afield who come to see Christianity differently through their visit.

When the visual arts are seen as integral to mission then the interest of congregations in commissioning is likely to grow but the issues of cost and other priorities still remain. As a result, Commission For Mission is building up a pool of artists (painters, sculptors, silversmiths, potters, jewellery makers etc.) able to work flexibly to available budgets and willing to allow a proportion of the cost of each commission to go to charity and is recommending that commissioned artworks are donated to churches by interested parties as memorials to loved ones. Our experience suggests that this combination of charitable fundraising and memorial donations overcomes many of the issues usually faced when considering the commissioning of contemporary art for local churches.

None of this means that quality is being compromised either. In the words of Henry Shelton, the founding artist member of Commission For Mission, what we offer is "quality work and craftsmanship, rather than mass-produced work, to continue the legacy of the Church as a great commissioner of art."

Our Patron, David Hawkins, the Bishop of Barking, sums it up when he says:

"there is a big need to re-engage with the Arts. The church has had a lengthy and happy marriage with the Arts in the past but this has eroded in recent times. I agree with Rowan Williams that the Church needs more artists and 'that artists are special people but every person is a special kind of artist.' I think that there is great scope in the Church encouraging creative expression in everyone as this is a way of helping us to be fully human."

We are providing many opportunities to see the quality and originality of work available from commission4mission and its artists over the coming months including at the West Ham and Leytonstone Festivals.

We are also aiming to provide information, ideas and examples of contemporary Christian art and its use or display within church settings. To that end, we are organising a networking event at St Andrews Leytonstone on Thursday 9th July from 7.00pm. Three commission4mission artists (Jonathan Evens, Rosalind Hore and Mark Lewis) will give brief presentations on 'Spirituality - the heartbeat of Art?' leading into space for open discussion and debate. A Study Day entitled 'Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art' has also been organised for Saturday 7th November at Chelmsford Cathedral (10.00am - 2.30pm) with contributions from the Bishop of Barking, the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral, the Chair of Chelmsford DAC and commission4mission artists. For more information about commission4mission, our activities and our artists, please email me at jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

Bishop to exhibit at Festival

The Baptism of Christ by Rosalind Hore

Station 8 by Henry Shelton

Ivy 1 by David Hawkins

Man by Jonathan Evens

Burstling through the Crown of Thorns by Harvey Bradley

David Hawkins, the Bishop of Barking and Patron of commission4mission, will be exhibiting alongside Harvey Bradley, Jonathan Evens, Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton at commission4mission's Pentecost Festival exhibition (Saturday 30th May, 12 noon - 6.00pm, Westminster Methodist Central Hall , Storey's Gate, Westminster SW1 9NH).

Bishop David describes himself as an artist first and priest second. He is inspired by landscape, with most of what he paints finding its inspiration there. He will be exhibiting two substantial landscapes of the North York Moors and two pieces combining paint and photographic woodland images. There are a large number of artists and periods that he finds absorbing but what fires him most are contemporary artists such as Terry Frost, Sam Francis, Ivon Hitchens and Howard Hodgkin.

In 2005 he collaborated with Pippa Hale and Stuart Tarbuck in a public art project in Leeds called Mene Mene which saw a series of texts being abstracted from their original Biblical context and filtered throughout the city in a variety of formats; from high-profile banners and adverts on bus shelters to more intimate sayings on bench plaques and shop windows.

Bishop David has said: “I think there is a big need to re-engage with the Arts. The Church has had a lengthy and happy marriage with the Arts in the past but needs more artists. I agree with Rowan Williams that ‘artists are special people and every person is a special kind of artist’.”

The exhibition will feature works in a wide variety of styles and media including collage, jewellery, paintings, photographs, pottery, and a conceptual work using transparencies on mirror.

'The Month' features our launch

After-Launch refreshments

Bishop David making his keynote speech

Outside St Albans on the Art Tour

Fr. Roderick Hingley

Revd. Jonathan Evens

The centre pages of the current edition of 'The Month', the newspaper for the Diocese of Chelmsford, features a story about the recent launch of Commission For Mission.

commission4mission enjoyed a successful launch at St Alban's Romford. Fr. Roderick Hingley, St Alban's Parish Priest, gave a tour of the artworks commissioned for the church and described how the series of commissions had helped to transform the church in terms of light, space and welcome. He spoke about the way in which commissioning contemporary artists had meant that the artworks had relevance and resonance for local people, most obviously in the Mark Cazalet cancel ceiling mural with its imagery drawn from rural and urban Havering. What the achievement at St Alban's demonstrates is not only that the commissioning of contemporary Christian Art by Parish Churches is possible but that sensitive, informed and brave commissioning enhances the mission of the church as well as its aesthetic.

Jonathan Evens gave a brief presentation of the aim and objectives of commission4mission which also set out our initial programme:

• exhibitions at Pentecost Festival (30th May) & Chelmsford Cathedral (2nd-7th November);• study day at Chelmsford Cathedral (7th November);

• exploration of four possible commissions with two proposals submitted;

• co-operation with the Faith & Image group;

• application submitted for catalogue funding;

• art workshop at ‘Fun in the Park’ in Barkingside (13 June);

• invitation to be part of London-wide discussions on art in religious spaces;

• invitation to exhibit in the West Ham Festival; and

• support from Bishop of Barking for commission4mission leaflets.

Finally, Bishop David gave the keynote address as Patron of commission4mission. He began by speaking about creativity as both God-given and a key aspect of what it means to be human. He described the birth and growth of a child into adulthood as the most astonishing kinetic sculpture. He outlined how he saw spirituality breaking through in much contemporary and modern art and called for Christians to be sensitive interpreters of such art. Among the examples he cited were the humanity of Anthony Gormley's work based as it is on his own body and the 'something more' of Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull, For The Love Of God. He ended by using a quote attributed to Rowan Williams “that artists are special people but every person is a special kind of artist.” commission4mission would need, he suggested, to be a support the special people that artists are in their creativity but also to find ways of revealing and developing the creativity of all.

Among those present at the launch were representatives of the Arts Centre Group, Faith & Image and artlove.com.

Photos from the launch can be found by clicking here and here.