ArtWay

Quality is the first norm for art, but its final norm is love and truth, the enriching of human life, the deepening of our vision.

Art Stations of the Cross: Reflections

Art Stations of the Cross: Reflections on Artistic and Curatorial Interpretations of Suffering in Biblical and Contemporary Times

by Lieke Wynia

During Lent 2019, the multiple-site exhibition Art Stations of the Cross took place in the historic heart of Amsterdam. This international exhibition concept of artistic reinterpretations of, and reflections on, the traditional Stations of the Cross first took place in London in 2016. In the following years, exhibitions were staged in Washington D.C. and New York City. Initiated by dr. Aaron Rosen and Reverend dr. Catriona Laing, each Art Stations edition consists of a new constellation of art works and locations. The Amsterdam edition was the first one curated by locally based curators, with works of seven Dutch and seven international artists. In its engagement with both Biblical and contemporary forms of suffering, the exhibition addressed complex topical issues without losing a sense of hope out of sight.

The Tradition

The earliest sources about the Stations of the Cross are traced back to a travel report from 384, in which a Spanish nun reported the practice of people walking the Via Dolorosa - the path on which Jesus carried the cross from Pilate’s palace to the hill of Golgotha. Over time indications of events that had happened on this path transformed from simple inscriptions to the emergence of chapels at the particular stops along the route. Crusaders returning from the Holy Land introduced the practices into European contexts. This translated into the emergence of paintings depicting important moments along the path being placed in churches.

Initially the depicted topics and number of events varied (between five and forty-three). Over time, the iconic series of fourteen stations was established. Nine out of fourteen are mentioned in the New Testament; five have their origins in legends and folk tales. In the twentieth century, a fifteenth station has emerged - the resurrection. This station reinforces the mystery of life after death, of suffering leading to new forms of life. During the period of Lent, traditionally the meditative round along the fourteen stations in church are made on Fridays, culminating in Good Friday. Passages of the Passion story are recounted and through prayers and meditations the suffering of Jesus is related to contemporary forms of suffering.

The Exhibition

The Art Stations of the Cross exhibition concept ties into this latter part of the ritual practices, establishing a connection between the passages of suffering in the Scriptures and contemporary suffering relating to issues such as refuge, injustice, and inequality. The curators of the Amsterdam edition, Aniko Ouweneel and Marleen Hengelaar, chose the narrative of the traditional fourteen stations and the extra one of the resurrection. This was communicated as fourteen plus one stations, because the idea of fifteen Stations of the Cross is not necessarily a widely accepted given.

Operating within the overall framework of the Stations of the Cross narrative, the curators maintained a broad approach to the themes of the individual stations. Each station was curated with the combination in mind of the station theme, the artwork’s theme and/or its maker’s biography, and the location hosting the artwork. This triangular approach resulted in a complex operation, because all elements needed to be right for each of the fourteen (plus one) stations. Eventually, the exhibition constituted of thirteen locations, with one location hosting two artworks each representing one station and another location hosting one artwork that represented two stations at once.

One such location where the three elements of the curatorial process matched very well, was the Art Station in the public gallery of the Amsterdam Museum. Specifically for this project, the museum had hung the triptych of paintings Out of History (2013), by Iris Kensmil in this public gallery. The painting depicts three Surinamese figures, each with a life story of battling against slavery and for personal freedoms. While the names of these individuals are known, their likenesses are not. By means of her paintings, Kensmil provided them with a face again, returning them a place of completion in history. The notion of fighting injustice, and particularly of individuals making the choice to battle injustice and in doing so helping others, is what ties this work to the Art Stations project. 

      Station 5: Iris Kensmil, Out of History (2013), Amsterdam Museum

The work in the Amsterdam Gallery was Station 5: Simon of Cyrene helps to carry the cross. It is a story of an individual who made the choice to help, in his own particular way, to release someone’s suffering, however temporarily. The Amsterdam Museum is located in the former Citizens’ Orphanage of Amsterdam, where between 1580 and 1960 tens of thousands of children lived. The entrance gate at the Kalverstraat is decorated with a historical plaque, displaying the weapon of Amsterdam with the three Andrew Crosses, which summons its onlookers to “help carry a little.” The connections between the station theme, the artwork, and the location came full circle here.

The Theme

For the Amsterdam edition, the curators decided upon the overall theme “Troubled Waters,” with two frequent returning sub-themes: environmental and social injustice. The theme of Troubled Waters focuses on Amsterdam as a city of water, with its harbor and many canals. Traditionally, the patron saint of Amsterdam is Saint Nicholas, the protector of sailors. This is the reason why the Art Stations route spread between Station 1 in the Saint Nicholas Basilica across from the Central Stations and Station 15 in the former Saint Nicholas Church, now called Oude Kerk (Old Church).

Water is not only a source of beauty and biblical miracles, but also a source of problems and danger. Within the context of Art Stations of the Cross, water is symbolically present in a number of ways: how water forms a life-threatening barrier for refugees; how water in the oceans is suffering from man-made action, resulting in pollution and rising sea levels; and how travelling the earth’s waters has led to dark sides in world trade with slavery and human trafficking.

Station 11: Erica Grimm, in collaboration with Sheilagh Anderson and Tracie Stewart. Salt Water Skin Boats (2018). (photo: Sharon Huget)

The artwork with Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the cross, was located in the Walloon Church, an originally French-speaking church. And still, French services are held there, in addition to a lively cultural program of music, performances, and art projects. In 1578 this medieval church of the Brothers of Saint Paul was put at the disposal of French-speaking Protestant refugees from France and the Southern Netherlands. Since then, the church has been called Église Wallonne. This history is what made the representatives of the church’s current congregation respond to the proposed work Salt Water Skin Boats (2018) by Erica Grimm, Sheinagh Anderson and Tracy Stewart.

These Canadian artists created an installation of coracles created of organic materials as well as ocean maps, and an accompanying soundscape of waves. While the artists tied their installation strongly to theme of the station, with the question whether humans are sacrificing - or even crucifying - the earth, the congregation saw its own history of refuge and survival represented in the precarious organic boats. This was one of the reasons why they agreed on having this work, which gained a literal presence in the entire church, installed in their midst.

''Code red''

Wholly unexpected, during the exhibition period, the church temporarily again became a place of refuge. When the city council of Amsterdam stopped its winter shelter program, a large group of waitlisted homeless, and sometimes undocumented, people had no place to sleep. Ad-hoc the Code Red Network (consisting of the Protestant Church Amsterdam, Amsterdam City Rights, Caritas Amsterdam, Stap Verder, and several city churches) organized a week in which every night this group could find shelter in a church. This not being a sustainable solution, the Network intended to demand attention for this problem for local officials. One of the participating locations was the Walloon Church, in which people with no place to go spent the night on the church floor under the Salt Water Skin Boats. The remaining photograph documenting this event hurts the eyes, in which the art not just confronts its viewers with their own ideas or thoughts on refuge or environmental issues, but has become an entirely helpless - and to me even hopeless - part of the harsh realities it aims to address.

The Message

Despite the challenging theme of Troubled Waters, throughout the exhibition route ran a persistent notion of hope. No matter how harsh or helpless the issues seemed to be that were addressed in the connection between the station themes and the topics of the artworks, the curators generally found a way to emphasize even the tiniest hints of light in each Art Station. This was already apparent in the decision to add a fifteenth (or plus one) Station to the iconic fourteen Stations of the Cross. The notion of resurrection is a hopeful theme. The narrative of suffering culminated in the notion of resurrection, of the promise and potential of new life, of a different life.

Station 14-15: Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Anastasis (2018) (Photo: Maarten Nauw). Oude Kerk, Amsterdam.

The fourteenth and fifteenth Station were represented by one and the same artwork, Anastasis (2018) by Giorgio Andreotta Calò, located in the Holy Sepulchre Chapel of the Oude Kerk. The work consists of a red glass installed in the only window in the chapel. It is a remainder of the exhibition Calò installed over the summer of 2018, where he covered all the church windows with red foil. By one seemingly simple intervention he completely transformed the interior and the experience of being inside the church. The Chapel was built in 1515 and originally housed a group of sculptures depicting the deposition and mourning of Christ. During the iconoclastic fury of 1566 the sculpture were destroyed, yet today we are reminded of their once presence by the canopy under which they were placed. In the context of the Art Stations project, this absence of presence becomes a metaphor for the death and resurrection of Christ. Calò’s intervention did not physically change anything inside the Chapel, yet his intervention changed everything - he transformed people’s vision and embodied experience of being inside the Chapel.

Even in relation to the most shocking artwork in the Art Stations route, a glimmer of hope persisted. Station 13: Jesus is taken down from the cross. The wall- and catalogue texts warn the viewer this is “one of the most violent depositions ever made.” In the deposition scene The Last Days (2016) by Jan Tregot, Christ is violently decapitated and his body mutilated. Displayed on a blood-red pedestal, Tregot challenges the viewer to reinvest crucifixion scenes, which arguably have become subject to emotional inflation because of their omnipresence, with the sense of horror and shock it should incite. The curatorial team of the hosting location, Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, decided to offer a counter balance to this embodiment of shock. Across from Tregot’s sculpture, they placed a medieval Pieta sculpture from their own collection, on a bright yellow pedestal. At that end of the exhibition room, a musical fragment of the Stabat Mater was played. Through this curation, notions of sorrow and loss were restored to tenderness and commemoration.

Station 13: Jan Tregot, The Last Days (2016-2017). In collaboration with Erik van de Beek. (photo: Anton Houtappels)            

By now, Art Stations of the Cross: Troubled Waters has come to an end. All that remains is the catalogue, in which the artworks are discussed in relation to the Station themes. And, of course, there are the host locations in which the artworks once stood. In this sense, Calò’s Anastasis (Greek for “resurrection”) has become a metaphor for the entire project: the absence of presence is what remains of the Art Stations in Amsterdam. 

*******

First published on the Religious Matters website, https://religiousmatters.nl/art-stations-of-the-cross-reflections-on-artistic-and-curatorial-interpretations-of-suffering-in-biblical-and-contemporary-times/

Website Art Stations: http://Stations of the Cross — Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion (luceartsandreligion.org)

Lieke Wijnia (1985) is affiliated as a fellow with the Centre for Religion and Heritage at Groningen University, The Netherlands. She works as curator of modern and contemporary collections at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. 


More:

27 November 2024 / Paul Chandler and Brian Whelan
WHITE ROBE: An exhibition celebrating the life of Rev. Dr John Roberts among Native Americans
 
by Jonathan Evens
Read more...


11 July 2024 / TEARS OF GOLD
“The invisible light that radiates from the other”
 

Jonathan Evens interviews Hannah Rose Thomas

Read more...


02 May 2024 / Interview with Gert Swart
My work is intended to inspire contemplation in those engaging with them.
Read more...


28 March 2024 / Stations of the Cross in Hornsea

Matthew Askey's most recent project is a set of ‘Stations of the Cross’ for St Nicholas Church, Hornsea. This is a site-specific commission of paintings that link each Station to a part of the town.

Read more...


28 February 2024 / Book review Abundantly More
Book review by Nigel Halliday
 
Jeremy S. Begbie: ABUNDANTLY MORE: The theological promise of the arts in a reductionist world
Read more...


01 February 2024 / James Tughan: CONTACT
BOOK REVIEW
 
In this book James Tughan asks us to consider the idea that Jesus was first an artist before He was anything else.
Read more...


13 October 2023 / David Miller Interview

“Form welcomes the formless home”

Jonathan Evens interviews David Miller on his work and the “interrelation, symbiosis and overlap” between writing and visual art

Read more...


07 August 2023 / Ethnoarts Scripture Engagement

by Scott Rayl

Ethnoarts are artistic ‘languages’ that are unique to a particular community. They can help strengthen cultural and Christian identity.

Read more...


12 June 2023 / Georges Rouault and André Girard

by Jonathan Evens

Rouault and Girard: Crucifixion and Resurrection, Penitence and Life Anew

Read more...


28 April 2023 / Josh Tiessen: Vanitas + Viriditas

28 April - 26 May, New York gallery Rehs Contemporary will present Josh Tiessen: Vanitas and Viriditas.

Read more...


10 April 2023 / Images for God the Father

by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker 

How can we ever comprehend God the Father with our small human intellects? How can we ever get to know Him and learn to live with Him?

Read more...


16 February 2023 / Ervin Bossanyi: A vision for unity and harmony

by Jonathan Evens

Bossanyi joined the large number of émigré artists arriving in Britain after WW II, many of whom were Jewish and explored spirituality within their work.

Read more...


06 January 2023 / The Creative Process

by Colin Black

Creative journeys are full of mishaps, accidents, and wrong turnings.

Read more...


01 December 2022 / ArtWay newsletter 2022

Artway will be continued by the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology from the beginning of 2024.

Read more...


20 October 2022 / Kuyper, the Aesthetic Sphere, and Art

After three centuries of silence about art in Reformed theological circles in the Netherlands, suddenly there was Abraham Kuyper, whose great merit it was that he once again drew attention to art.

Read more...


06 September 2022 / On the Street: The work of JR

by Betty Spackman

Through the project in Tehachapi JR wanted to "give voice to prisoners" and humanize their environment. 

Read more...


04 August 2022 / Joseph Beuys: A Spiritual German Artist

Is there a thread that connects the multifaceted work of this artist? My hypothesis is that Beuys’ spirituality is what drives his diverse work. 

Read more...


01 June 2022 / Interview with Belinda Scarlett

BELINDA SCARLETT, theatre costume and set designer and ecclesiastical textile artist

Interview by JONATHAN EVENS

Read more...


21 April 2022 / Betty Spackman: A Creature Chronicle

When I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars that you have made, what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them… Psalm 8

Read more...


08 April 2022 / Historical Models for Crosses and Crucifixes Today

All crosses and crucifixes symbolise joy and salvation. But formally there are two different types: the victorious and the suffering crucifix. 

Read more...


16 March 2022 / Three artworks by Walter Hayn

by Gert Swart

These three artworks must have turned Walter Hayn inside out, being so powerfully revealing.

Read more...


22 February 2022 / Abstract Expressionism

by Nigel Halliday

It is worth the while to remember the deep seriousness of these artists – even if their suggested answers can look sadly thin.

Read more...


07 January 2022 / Artist duo Gardner & Gardner

by Elizabeth Kwant

During COP26 artist duo Gardner & Gardner installed their work I will learn to sit with you and I will learn to listen in Glasgow Cathedral.

Read more...


09 December 2021 / ArtWay Newsletter and List of Books 2021

Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker intends to phase out her participation in the day to day oversight of the ArtWay website over the course of the coming new year.

Read more...


03 November 2021 / The Seven Works of Mercy in Art

by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker

This overview will show that these artworks from different ages mirror the theological ideas and the charitable works of their times.

Read more...


06 October 2021 / Disciplining our eyes with holy images

by Victoria Emily Jones

Images tend to work a subtle magic on us, especially after years of constant exposure.

Read more...


24 August 2021 / On the Gifts of Street Art

by Jason Goroncy

These works represent an act of reclaiming public space for citizens rather than merely consumers.

Read more...


27 July 2021 / Russia’s 1st Biennale of Christ-centered Art

An opportunity of dialogue between the church and contemporary art

by Viktor Barashkov

Read more...


30 June 2021 / Jacques and Raïssa Maritain among the Artists

by David Lyle Jeffrey

About the influence of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain on Rouault, Chagall and Arcabas.

Read more...


13 May 2021 / GOD IS...

Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Exhibition: “God Is . . .”

by Victoria Emily Jones

Read more...


21 April 2021 / Photographing Religious Practice

by Jonathan Evens

The increasing prevalence of photographic series and books exploring aspects of religious practice gives witness to the return of religion in the arts.

Read more...


23 March 2021 / Constanza López Schlichting: Via Crucis

Perhaps what may be different from other Stations of the Cross is that it responds to a totally free expression and each station is a painting in itself. 

Read more...


10 February 2021 / Gert Swart: Four Cruciforms

In a post-Christian era, contemporary Christian artists have to find new ways of evoking the power of the cross. 

Read more...


08 January 2021 / Reflecting on a Gauguin Masterpiece

by Alan Wilson

An artist's reflection on Impressionism, Cezanne, Van Gogh and especially Gauguin's Vision after the Sermon.

Read more...


11 December 2020 / ArtWay Newsletter 2020

What makes the ArtWay platform so special is its worldwide scope thanks to its multilingual character. There are ArtWay visitors in all countries on this planet. 

Read more...


27 October 2020 / Art Pilgrimage

A Research Project on Art Stations of the Cross

by Lieke Wijnia

Read more...


18 September 2020 / Interview with Peter Koenig

by Jonathan Evens

Koenig's practice demonstrates that the way to avoid blandness in religious art is immersion in Scripture.

Read more...


17 August 2020 / BOOK REVIEW BY HEINRICH BALZ

How Other Cultures See the Bible

Christian Weber, Wie andere Kulturen die Bibel sehen. Ein Praxisbuch mit 70 Kunstwerken aus 33 Ländern.

Read more...


17 July 2020 / The Calling Window by Sophie Hacker

by Jonathan Evens  

In 2018 British artist Sophie Hacker was approached to design a window for Romsey Abbey to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

Read more...


12 June 2020 / A little leaven leavens the whole lump

From South Africa

Ydi Carstens reports on the group show ‘Unleavened’ which was opened in Stellenbosch shortly before the Covid-19 lock-down. 

Read more...


14 May 2020 / Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals

Republished: 

Hans Rookmaaker, Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals. The Origins and Spirituality of Black Music in the United States. 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evens

Read more...


17 April 2020 / Andy Warhol: Catholicism, Work, Faith And Legacy

by Jonathan Evens 

While Warhol’s engagement with faith was complex it touched something which was fundamental, not superficial.

Read more...


25 March 2020 / Sacred Geometry in Christian Art

by Sophie Hacker

This blog unravels aspects of sacred geometry and how it has inspired art and architecture for millennia. 

Read more...


22 February 2020 / Between East and West

By Kaori Homma

Being in this limbo between day and night makes me question, “Where does the east end and the west start?”

Read more...


15 February 2020 / Imagination at Play

by Marianne Lettieri

To deny ourselves time to laugh, be with family and friends, and fuel our passions, we get caught in what Cameron calls the “treadmill of virtuous production.”

Read more...


07 December 2019 / ArtWay Newsletter 2019

An update by our editor-in-chief 
and
the ArtWay List of Books 2019

Read more...


16 November 2019 / Scottish Miracles and Parables Exhibition

Alan Wilson: "Can there be a renewal of Christian tradition in Scottish art, where ambitious artists create from a heartfelt faith, committed to their Lord and saviour as well as their craft?"

Read more...


23 September 2019 / Dal Schindell Tribute

While Dal’s ads and sense of humour became the stuff of legends, it was his influence on the arts at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada that may be his biggest legacy. 

Read more...


04 September 2019 / The Aesthetics of John Calvin

Calvin stated that 'the faithful see sparks of God's glory, as it were, glittering in every created thing. The world was no doubt made, that it might be the theater of divine glory.'

Read more...


31 July 2019 / The Legend of the Artist

by Beat Rink

The image of the 'divine' artist becomes so dominant that artists take their orientation from it and lead their lives accordingly.

Read more...


02 July 2019 / Quotes by Tim Keller

Many “Christian art” productions are in reality just ways of pulling artists out of the world and into the Christian subculture.

Read more...


08 June 2019 / The Chaiya Art Awards

by Jonathan Evens

The Chaiya Art Awards 2018 proved hugely popular, with over 450 entries and more than 2,700 exhibition visitors.

Read more...


03 May 2019 / Marianne Lettieri: Relics Reborn

Items that show the patina of time and reveal the wear and tear of human interaction are carriers of personal and collective history. 

Read more...


27 April 2019 / Franciscan and Dominican Arts of Devotion

by John Skillen 

This manner of prayer stirs up devotion, the soul stirring the body, and the body stirring the soul.

Read more...


13 March 2019 / Makoto Fujimura and the Culture Care Movement

by Victoria Emily Jones

Culture care is a generative approach to culture that brings bouquets of flowers into a culture bereft of beauty.

Read more...


08 January 2019 / Building a Portfolio of People

by Marianne Lettieri

Besides hard work in the studio, networking may be the single most important skill for a sustainable art practice.

Read more...


01 December 2018 / ArtWay Newsletter December 2018

ArtWay has Special Plans for 2019!

After London, Washington D.C. and New York the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands is now the anticipated location for a prominent art exhibition with the title Art Stations of the Cross.

Read more...


11 October 2018 / The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe

Book Review by Jonathan Evens

The significance and spirituality of the work is made clear in ways which counteract the stereotype of mass production of a static style.

Read more...


13 September 2018 / A Visit to the Studio of Georges Rouault

by Jim Alimena

Everything we saw and learned reinforced my picture of a great man of faith and a great artist. 

Read more...


09 August 2018 / With Opened Eyes: Representational Art

by Ydi Coetsee

How do we respond to the ‘lost innocence’ of representational art? 

Read more...


13 July 2018 / True Spirituality in the Arts

by Edith Reitsema

Living in Christ should lead us away from living with a segregated view of life, having a sacred-secular split. 

Read more...


17 May 2018 / Beholding Christ in African American Art

Book review by Victoria Emily Jones

One of the hallmarks of Beholding Christ is the diversity of styles, media, and denominational affiliations represented.

Read more...


23 April 2018 / Short Introduction to Hans Rookmaaker

by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker

On the occasion of the establishment of the Rookmaaker Jazz Scholarship at Covenant College, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 12 March 2018

Read more...


04 April 2018 / International Art Residency in India

Art for Change, a New Delhi based arts organization with a vision to see art shape society with beauty and truth, will be running its 6th annual International Artist Residency in November 2018.

Read more...


15 March 2018 / The Stations of the Cross at Blackburn Cathedral

by Penny Warden  

Perhaps the central challenge for the artist in imaging the body of Christ is the problem of representing the dual natures of the doctrine of the incarnation.

Read more...


23 February 2018 / Between the Shadow and the Light

By Rachel Hostetter Smith

In June 2013 a group of twenty North American and African artists from six African countries met for two weeks of intensive engagement with South Africa.

Read more...


30 January 2018 / Sacred Geometry in Christian Art

by Sophie Hacker

This blog unravels aspects of sacred geometry and how it has inspired art and architecture for millennia. 

Read more...


01 January 2018 / Jonathan Evens writes about Central Saint Martins

Why would Central Saint Martins, a world-famous arts and design college and part of University of the Arts London, choose to show work by its graduates in a church?

Read more...


06 December 2017 / ArtWay Newsletter December, 2017

ArtWay's Chairman Wim Eikelboom: "The visual arts cultivate a fresh and renewed view of deeply entrenched values. That is why ArtWay is happy to provide an online platform for art old and new."

Read more...


14 November 2017 / The Moral Imagination: Art and Peacebuilding

In the context of conflict transformation the key purpose of creative expression is to provide a venue for people to tell their stories, and for their stories to be heard.

Read more...


24 October 2017 / Bruce Herman: Ut pictura poesis?

For the last couple hundred of years the arts have largely been in "experimentation mode"—moving away from the humble business of craft and service toward ideas, issues, and theory.

Read more...


04 October 2017 / David Jeffrey: Art and Understanding Scripture

The purpose of In the Beauty of Holiness: Art and the Bible in Western Culture is to help deepen the reader’s understanding of the magnificence of the Bible as a source for European art.

Read more...


08 September 2017 / David Taylor: The Aesthetics of John Calvin

Calvin stated that 'the faithful see sparks of God's glory, as it were, glittering in every created thing. The world was no doubt made, that it might be the theater of divine glory.'

Read more...


23 August 2017 / ​Reconstructed by Anikó Ouweneel

A much talked-about exposition in the NoordBrabants Museum in The Netherlands showed works by modern and contemporary Dutch artists inspired by traditional Catholic statues of Christ and the saints. 

Read more...


04 July 2017 / Pilgrimage to Venice – The Venice Biennale 2017

When I start to look at the art works, I notice a strange rift between this pleasant environment and the angst and political engagement present in the works of the artists. 

Read more...


24 June 2017 / Collecting as a Calling

After many years of compiling a collection of religious art, I have come to realize that collecting is a calling. I feel strongly that our collection has real value and that it is a valuable ministry. 

Read more...


02 June 2017 / I Believe in Contemporary Art

By Alastair Gordon

In recent years there has been a growing interest in questions of religion in contemporary art. Is it just a passing fad or signs of renewed faith in art? 

Read more...


04 April 2017 / Stations of the Cross - Washington, DC 2017

by Aaron Rosen

We realized that the Stations needed to speak to the acute anxiety facing so many minorities in today’s America and beyond. 

Read more...


07 March 2017 / Socially Engaged Art

A discussion starter by Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin

Growing dissatisfaction with an out-of-touch, elite and market driven art world has led artists to turn to socially engaged art. 

Read more...


01 February 2017 / Theodore Prescott: Inside Sagrada Familia

The columns resemble the trunks of trees. Gaudi conceived of the whole interior as a forest, where the nave ceiling would invoke the image of an arboreal canopy.

Read more...


03 January 2017 / Steve Scott tells about his trips to Bali

In the Balinese shadow play the puppet master pulls from a repertoire of traditional tales and retells them with an emphasis on contemporary moral and spiritual lessons. 

Read more...


09 December 2016 / Newsletter ArtWay December 2016

Like an imitation of a good thing past, these days of darkness surely will not last. Jesus was here and he is coming again, to lead us to the festival of friends.

Read more...


01 November 2016 / LAbri for Beginners

What is the role of the Christian artist? Is it not to ‘re-transcendentalise’ the transcendent, to discern what is good in culture, and to subvert what is not with a prophetic voice?

Read more...


30 September 2016 / Book Review by Jonathan Evens

Jonathan Koestlé-Cate, Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace - Ecclesiastical Encounters with Contemporary Art, Routledge, 2016.

Read more...


01 September 2016 / Review: Modern art and the life of a culture

The authors say they want to help the Christian community recognize the issues raised in modern art and to do so in ways that are charitable and irenic. But I did not find them so. Their representation of Rookmaaker seems uncharitable and at times even misleading. 

Read more...


29 July 2016 / Victoria Emily Jones on Disciplining our Eyes

There’s nothing inherently wrong with images—creating or consuming. In fact, we need them. But we also need to beware of the propensity they have to plant themselves firmly in our minds. 

Read more...


30 June 2016 / Aniko Ouweneel on What is Christian Art?

Pekka Hannula challenges the spectator to search for the source of the breath we breathe, the source of what makes life worth living, the source of our longing for the victory of redemptive harmony.

Read more...


09 June 2016 / Theodore Prescott: The Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is a visual encyclopedia of Christian narrative and Catholic doctrine as Gaudi sought to embody the faith through images, symbols, and expressive forms.

Read more...


19 May 2016 / Edward Knippers: Do Clothes make the Man?

Since the body is the one common denominator for all of humankind, why do we fear to uncover it? Why is public nudity a shock or even a personal affront?

Read more...


27 April 2016 / Alexandra Harper: Culture Care

Culture Care is an invitation to create space within the local church to invest our talents, time and tithes in works that lean into the Kingdom of God as creative agents of shalom. 

Read more...


06 April 2016 / Jonathan Evens on Contemporary Commissions

The issue of commissioning secular artists versus artists of faith represents false division and unnecessary debate. The reality is that both have resulted in successes and failures.

Read more...


12 March 2016 / Betty Spackman: Creativity and Depression

When our whole being is wired to fly outside the box, life can become a very big challenge. To carve oneself into a square peg for the square holes of society, when you are a round peg, is painful to say the least.

Read more...


24 February 2016 / Jim Watkins: Augustine and the Senses

Augustine is not saying that sensual pleasure is bad, but that it is a mixed good. As his Confessions so clearly show, Augustine is painfully aware of how easily he can take something good and turn it into something bad. 

Read more...


11 February 2016 / H.R. Rookmaaker: Does Art Need Justification?

Art is not a religion, nor an activity relegated to a chosen few, nor a mere worldly, superfluous affair. None of these views of art does justice to the creativity with which God has endowed man.

Read more...


26 January 2016 / Ned Bustard: The Bible is Not Safe

Revealed is intended to provoke surprise, even shock. It shows that the Bible is a book about ordinary people, who are not only spiritual beings, but also greedy, needy, hateful, hopeful, selfish, and sexual.

Read more...


14 January 2016 / Painting by Nanias Maira from Papua New Guinea

In 2011 Wycliffe missionary Peter Brook commissioned artist Nanias Maira, who belongs to the Kwoma people group of northwestern Papua New Guinea, to paint Bible stories in the traditional style for which he is locally known. 

Read more...