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Rose Finn-Kelcey's 'Angel' for St
Paul's Bow Common |
Art and Sacred
Places
Creative Conversations
Commissions exciting and innovative work from contemporary artists for
sacred places
Stimulates creative dialogue through encounters with art and the
sacred
Widens vision through education and participation |
Art & Sacred Places has
ceased its activities. Please read below message from the Chair
for further details.
A message from
The Revd Stephen Tucker,
Chair of Art and Sacred Places
Dear Friends of
Art and Sacred Places,
Continuing the
work of ASP has proved difficult for some time now. The trustees
have worked hard to come up with new ideas about a way forward,
but those ideas have not come to fruition and so the charity has
now to be dissolved.
The reasons for
this might be as follows:
-
we live in a
very difficult funding situation - support form Arts Council
often depends on the achievement of prior support from other
sources and we have been unable to achieve any core funding
to employ a project director and fund raiser to do the work
which the trustees themselves do not have time to do.
-
much of the
work we have done in the past has been superseded by new
curators at many English cathedrals.
-
we have been
unable to achieve a suitable working relationship with any
other organisation working in a similar field.
It is thus that
with great regret but also with pride in what has been achieved
over the last eighteen years that we now draw our activities to
a close.
Our legacy will,
we hope, be safeguarded by the ongoing maintenance of our
website, and the depositing of our archives at Sarum College. With the funds remaining we hope to establish an
annual lecture, and later this year we hope to arrange an act of
worship to celebrate what we have done and to give thanks for
the achievements of all those who have worked with us and
contributed to the growing relationship between faith and art in
our time.
The Revd
Stephen Tucker
Chair of Art and
Sacred Places |
Seeing the Light
The Spring 2017 edition of Tate Etc,
Tate Gallery's magazine, has a short article on contemporary
stained glass by Jonathan Koestlè-Cate, one of the trustees of
Art and Sacred Places. You can find the full text below.
David
Hockney is designing a stained glass window for Westminster
Abbey, yet France and Germany are leading the way in
commissioning artists to produce contemporary works in glass for
churches. What draws artists to such commissions and why is this
creative field so prolific on the Continent?
To see stained glass requires a
pilgrimage of sorts, for photographs will never do justice to a
medium so utterly reliant upon architectural space and the
changing conditions of light. On a visit to Cologne, nothing
quite prepared me for my first impression of Gerhard Richter's
monumental stained glass window for the cathedral. Even on a
dull January morning it had a remarkably luminous presence, but
when the sun briefly emerged from behind grey clouds the effect
was startling, illuminating the cathedral's gloomy interior with
resplendent colour. Despite the many secular examples one could
cite, stained glass is a medium synonymous with sacred spaces,
and indeed the church has been the recipient of some of the most
interesting projects to date, created by artists of the highest
calibre. However, few of these commissions are to be found in
Britain. Rather, it is in France and Germany that a renaissance
of experimental stained glass production has been taking place,
especially since the 1980s, Richter's window for Cologne
Cathedral only the most conspicuous example.
In the post-war years a sentiment of
renewal and reconstruction provided the impetus for many new
building works. Rebuilding, repairing and conserving the
nation's churches, abbeys and cathedrals became part of the
national recovery, the restitution of a historical and
architectural heritage or, in Germany's case, part of a post-war
cultural rehabilitation. In France, of 8,000 buildings
registered as historical monuments (many of which were
ecclesiastical), 1,270 were partially damaged, 569 gravely
damaged and 68 completely destroyed in the Second World War. Add
to these figures the extant ruinous effects of the First World
War and one gets an idea of the scale of the situation.
Three broad alternatives presented
themselves to the decision-makers: leave historic monuments in
their damaged state, restore them to resemble their former
state, or put out a call to artists and architects to create
something new from what remained. All three of these options
were used regarding the buildings themselves, but glass
presented a particular problem.
Although
in France 50,000 sq. metres of glass had been set aside for safe
keeping in the early days of the war almost as much again had
been utterly destroyed. Replacing that glass has been a long and
complex process, but one sustained by the particular conditions
that exist in France. Crucially, whilst in Germany and Britain
artistic patronage of this sort remains the province of the
church, in France it falls under the patrimony of the state as a
consequence, paradoxically, of the legal separation of church
and state enacted in 1905. All such projects are public
commissions using public budgets, the secular state effectively
becoming the principal source and funding for sacred art.
The result has been a remarkable
catalogue of works from national and international artists in
some of France's most venerable religious buildings: Pierre
Soulages's deceptively simple monochrome windows for the
Romanesque abbey of Conques, Imi Knoebel's splinters of
iridescent glass for Reims, the ambitious experiment to employ a
corps of artists to fill 1052 sq. metres of glass for the
Cathedral of Nevers, as well as works by Aurelie Nemours, David
Rabinowitch, Robert Morris, Christopher Wool and David Tremlett,
among many others.
Of course, we might wonder why so many
contemporary artists have accepted these commissions when they
had previously appeared indifferent to the church as an
environment for their work. Wool was only persuaded by the fact
that the chapel he was assigned was no longer in use as a
liturgical space. For Soulages, on the other hand, the
invitation to create windows for Conques was all the motivation
he needed. Ever since the age of 12, when a school visit to the
abbey had convinced him of his artistic vocation, it has been a
source of inspiration in his creative development. Others are
undoubtedly prompted by civic duty. At Reims the great symbolic
weight attached to France's premier cathedral, not least for its
wartime "martyrdom" by German bombardment, helped to convince
the initially reluctant Knoebel. As someone who had witnessed
the firebombing of Dresden as a child, he was well placed to
undertake a commission that doubled as an emblem of
Franco-German reconciliation.
Although many of these artists would
describe themselves as atheists, they demonstrate a marked
respect for the religious demands of the site above and beyond
its aesthetic possibilities, responding to its unique genius
loci. As one might expect this is not without its
challenges. Any artist choosing to work in an ecclesiastical
site encounters material constraints that would not trouble them
in a gallery. A degree of control must also be relinquished, all
such commissions demanding the artist's close collaboration with
a workshop able to turn their visual ideas into reality. This is
no place for the auteur. Of greatest concern perhaps is that the
work cannot be conceptually isolated from its religious context,
inevitably finding itself beholden to some larger framework of
meaning.
Admittedly, few artists are able to
resist the lure, as Richter said of his window for Cologne, of
so thrilling, if intimidating, a commission. It presents artists
with an extraordinary opportunity, rarely offered by a gallery
or museum, to inscribe their visual language onto an enduring
and imposing concrete reality. Even so, a surprising but common
feature of contemporary stained glass commissions is that
artists are sought who have no history of working in glass, a
policy presumably aimed at forestalling formulaic solutions. As
one master glazier put it, "it's better when artists don't know
anything. Then they have no limits. It's our job to find the
solutions!" So, if modern stained glass sometimes benefits from
a return to older, neglected medieval techniques, more typically
it inspires innovative approaches to the material. From the
advanced technology of thermocollage to create an opaque yet
translucent white glass, to glass moulded into a kind of
sculptural bas-relief; from the elimination of the supporting
framework of cames and saddle bars, to the use of leading as a
compositional device, exploiting its pliability to expressive
effect.
Such creative experimentation can be
found in British churches too, but on a more modest scale. By
and large the institution of modern ecclesiastical stained glass
inaugurated by Coventry Cathedral failed to revive a substantial
tradition in this country. But wherever it does appear, at home
or abroad, the question for the artist is always the same: how
to reconcile the ancient, the modern and the sacred.
|
'The Work of Art and Sacred Places',
NSEAD National Conference: Inclusion, Innovation and
Diversity, University of the Arts, London, 2016.
In
2016 trustees of Art and Sacred Places were invited to speak to
delegates at the annual conference for The National Society for
Education in Art and Design (NSEAD). The theme was: Inclusion,
Innovation and Diversity: How outstanding art craft and design
education can significantly lead on British values and the
development of social, moral, cultural and spiritual
developments. Dr Jonathan Koestlé-Cate and the Venerable
Alastair Cutting introduced the mission of Art and Sacred Places
through three projects broadly applicable to the theme of the
conference.
We began by suggesting that the
relevance of spirituality to art and design education is
inevitably a contested issue. To some people the notion of
'spiritual development' represents something rather vague while
to others, especially within the church, it means something very
specific. In many respects spirituality becomes the term of
convenience whenever something is seen or said to exceed the
material, conceptual or rational, even if such catholic
possibilities bring with them their own difficulties. If the
elasticity of the term contributes to its convenience of use it
also underlines its somewhat vague and nebulous nature. Such
difficulties aside, many would argue that, whether conceived in
religious terms or not, the spiritual is rudimentary to human
existence, and artists are among those who seek to give it
sensuous form.
In this short presentation there
wasn't time to ruminate further on this question. Instead, a
brief introduction to Art and Sacred Places and three of our
projects served to give concrete form to this relationship
between art and spiritual development.
We stressed the fact that Art and
Sacred Places is primarily art led although its Board is from a
variety of faith, arts and business backgrounds. Our practice
includes exhibitions and commissions, sometimes permanent,
sometimes more challenging temporary commissions, and mutually
beneficial interfaith projects. Our mission is to engage with
new audiences by exploring the relationship between art and
spirituality, encouraging debate, promoting understanding and
educational interaction.
Three projects served to illustrate
this mission: Nicola Dale's Between, a temporary artwork
for Manchester Cathedral and Manchester Islamic Centre and
Didsbury Mosque, Transpire, a permanent work for St
Bede's Catholic College in Bristol, by Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva,
one of the artists chosen to represent the Holy See in the 2015
Venice Biennale, and Rose Finn-Kelcey's Angel for St
Paul's Bow Common.
Information on each of these projects
is available elsewhere on our website:
Past projects
These three projects encouraged a
sense of spiritual development through interfaith collaboration,
through the creation of an experience of beauty and wonder in a
humble school stairwell, and through an installation that had
great appeal for the local community, acknowledging a
communality of understanding between the church and its East
London neighbours.
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Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace, written by
ASP Trustee, Jonathan Koestlé-Cate
Art and Sacred Places would like to announce the
publication in May 2016 of Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace,
written by ASP Trustee, Jonathan Koestlé-Cate
Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace notes that a vibrant critical
exchange between contemporary art and Christianity is being increasingly
prompted by an expanding programme of art installations and commissions
for ecclesiastical spaces. Rather than 'religious art' reflecting
Christian ideology, current practices frequently initiate projects that
question the values and traditions of the host space, or present objects
and events that challenge its visual conventions.
In the light of these developments, this book asks what conditions are
favourable to enhancing and expanding the possibilities of church-based
art, and how can these conditions be addressed? What viable language or
strategies can be formulated to understand and analyse art's role within
the church?
Focusing on concepts drawn from anthropology, comparative religion, art
theory, theology and philosophy, Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace
formulates a lexicon of terms built around the notion of encounter in
order to review the effective uses and experience of contemporary art in
churches.
The author concludes with the prognosis that art for the church has
reached a critical and decisive phase in its history, testing the
assumption that contemporary art should be a taken-for-granted element
of modern church life.
Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace uniquely combines conceptual
analysis, critical case studies and practical application in a rigorous
and inventive manner, dealing specifically with contemporary art of the
past twenty-five years, and the most recent developments in the church's
policies for the arts.
See the publisher's website for more details:
© 2016 – Routledge - Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace
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A pilgrimage for art lovers
10 February (Ash Wednesday) - 28 March (Easter Monday)
2016
New Stations for a ‘New Jerusalem’
This unique exhibition—held in 14 stations across London—uses works of
art to tell the story of the Passion in a new way, for people of
different faiths. In this pilgrimage for art lovers, viewers will travel
across London, mapping the geography of the Holy Land onto the streets
of a ‘new Jerusalem.’
The Stations will weave through religious as well as secular spaces,
from cathedrals to museums. The art on display will run the gamut from
Old Master paintings to contemporary video installations. Artists will
include Christians, Jews, Muslims, and atheists. Instead of easy
answers, the Stations aim to provoke the passions: artistically,
spiritually, and politically.
See the exhibition website for the latest news and information on all
the artworks and their locations:
Coexist House
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