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.

ArtWay Newsletter 2020

ArtWay Newsletter 2020

Dear ArtWay subscriber,

By means of this newsletter ArtWay would like to inform you about the progress of our work and thank you for your support.

As treasurer I have looked up our website statistics to get an impression of the range and reach of ArtWay.eu. They only keep track of the 5.000 most visited pages. Number 5.000 is the meditation of 21 October 2012, which even in 2020 has been visited three times with an average reading time of almost five minutes.

We don’t know the exact number of pages on ArtWay, but they clearly extend the 5.000. Another indication is the number of subscriptions to our weekly visual meditations. We have 4700 subscribers at the moment thanks to an increase of 200 this past year.

 

Worldwide scope

What makes the ArtWay platform so special is its worldwide scope thanks to its multilingual character (English, Dutch, French, German and Portuguese). I discovered that there are ArtWay visitors in all countries on this planet. We even had 63 visits from Saudi Arabia this year. Most visitors live in the US, the Netherlands and the UK, followed by Belgium, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Germany, France and India.

Also, the significance of the ‘In View’ section following the weekly visual meditation should be noted. It is a regular up-to-date place to find news of current art events that are pertinent to those serious about art and faith personally and congregationally. It also serves the faith and arts community regarding arts conferences as well as forums for the academic discussion of art and religion and theology to communicate to a global audience what is happening, thus inviting participation from near and far. It is a bridge to walk over every week for practical communication and connections.

Another feature of ArtWay is that the work is carried out by many volunteers. We are approached regularly by new authors and artists, who all contribute without compensation. This enables us to keep up a high-quality selection without commercial advertisements. We would like to sustain our valuable database well into the future. That is why the website itself will be renewed and updated in the coming months.

 

Traditional baker

Art and faith… I was born above a traditional bakery and as a 25-year old I had never visited a museum, even though there was a sound and socially minded sense of history in our home. Then I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with Marleen Rookmaaker. She showed me how paintings are visual history books. But that was not all. Art speaks its own language and helps us in our search for comprehension. In the same as my father looked in the oven to judge the condition of the bread, an artwork can help us see the state of the world. You will understand that after my first museum visit many followed. It became part of our lifestyle.

At the end of each visit to a museum or church Marleen and I are in the habit to ask each other which artwork we liked best. Surprisingly enough I never need to reflect on this for long. Even when there are many highpoints, there is always a favorite that has been able to get under my skin.

 

Highlight

For this newsletter I asked myself what the highlight was of the past 43 years. This was a baptismal chapel built by the Art Sacré movement of the Dominican Marie-Alain Couturier (1897-1954). It is located in a rather dismal French city close to a large car factory. Once inside one enters a well-designed worship space with striking windows by Fernand Léger (1881-1955). After we had taken in the church, we entered the separate baptismal chapel. The round walls were covered from top to bottom with the finest stained-glass windows. In my imagination I saw the family of a factory worker enter with their treasured newborn child. All drabness disappeared during the baptismal ritual in this special surrounding. The beauty of a new birth was applauded by the chapel, the baptism received with art in the leading role. (For a more detailed account of this church and chapel, click here)

If the work of ArtWay may contribute to carry this further into the 21st century, we are thankful to God for this. In this way we share with each other and with all countries of the world the treasures of art that God has entrusted us with.

We are grateful for you as fellow travelers and supporters of our work. Rest assured that we will do our utmost to permanently provide the church and society with the encouragement of quality in art.

We at ArtWay wish you a safe and healthy 2021 filled with grace and peace.

On behalf of the ArtWay team and board,

Albert Hengelaar

*****

May you wish to do so, you can give to ArtWay via the Paypal button on the website, click here and go to the bottom of the page.

For those in North America who wish to make a tax-deductible contribution:

In the United States, contributions should be made out to CMML and mailed to:

Christian Missions in Many Lands
PO Box 13
Spring Lake, NJ  07762

Please include a separate note, clearly marked ‘for Laurel Gasque, via MSC Canada’.

If you are donating online, go to https://www.cmml.us/donate and direct the funds to MSC Canada and then indicate Laurel Gasque’s name when you come to a place where you can send a message to CMML/or maybe it says ‘vendor’.

In Canada: contributions should be made out to:

MSC Canada
101 Amber St., Ste 16
Markham, ON L3R 3B2

Clearly marked: ‘for the work Laurel Gasque for ArtWay’.

To donate online go to https://msccanada.org/give-now/  and follow instructions, again marking the gift ‘for Laurel Gasque’.

****

PS The window shown at the top of the page is by John Piper and is located at St Mary the Virgin, Lamberhurst, England.

*******

ArtWay List of Books 2020

Baigell, Matthew. Jewish Identity in American Art: A Golden Age since the 1970s (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art). Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2020. An exploration for the first time in book form of Jewish-themed works by the generation of artists born between 1930 and 1960.

Bailey, Justin Ariel. Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2020. The most effective Christian apologetics appeal to the imagination, the aesthetic, and the affective, Bailey says. He discusses George MacDonald and Marilynne Robinson as two prime examples.

Brown, Katherine T. The Legend of Veronica in Early Modern Art (Routledge Research in Art and Religion). New York: Routledge, 2020. Explores the lore of the apocryphal character of Veronica and the history of the “true image” relic as factors in the Franciscans’ placement of her character into the Via Crucis as the sixth station, in both Jerusalem and Western Europe, around the turn of the fifteenth century.

Child, Louise, and Aaron Rosen, eds. Religion and Sight. Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Equinox Publishing, 2020. A transdisciplinary study on how the sense of sight shapes, and is shaped by, religion. Case studies range from narratives about Medusa in ancient Greek religion to spiritual explanations of sleepwalking in the Enlightenment to rituals of spirit possession in contemporary Brazil.

Covington, Sarah, and Kathryn Reklis, eds. Protestant Aesthetics and the Arts. New York: Routledge, 2020. A collection of essays that address Protestantism and the fine arts (visual art, music, literature, and architecture), and historical and contemporary Protestant theological perspectives on the subject of beauty and imagination.

Covolo, Robert. Fashion Theology. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2020. An account of the dynamic relationship between theology and fashion, chronicling the journey from ancient Christian sources to current developments in fashion studies.

Dell’Acqua, Francesca, and Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi, eds., Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture, c.500–900. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. Uses Pseudo-Dionysius and his mystic theology to explore attitudes and beliefs about images in the early medieval West and Byzantium.

Harries, Richard. Seeing God in Art: The Christian Faith in 30 Masterpieces. London: SPCK, 2020. Reflections on thirty of the world’s greatest paintings that illuminate important aspects of Christian faith and teaching.

Kuzmová, Stanislava, and Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, eds. Mary, the Apostles, and the Last Judgment: Apocryphal Representations from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Budapest: Trivent, 2020.

Mitchell, Jolyon, et al., eds. Peacebuilding and the Arts. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. Explores the roles of film, theater, literature, music, dance, and visual arts in building peaceful and just societies.

Powell, Elizabeth. David Jones and the Craft of Theology: Becoming Beauty. London: T&T Clark, 2020. Addresses Christian teaching through engagement with selected artistic works: a poem, a painted inscription, and a wood engraving.

Schrag, Brian, and Julisa Rowe, eds. Community Arts for God’s Purposes: How to Create Local Artistry Together. Littleton, Colorado: William Carey Publishing, 2020. In this manual, contributors from the fields of ethnomusicology, performance studies, anthropology, biblical studies, and missiology consider how the unique creative gifts of local communities around the world can be used to worship God and extend God’s kingdom.


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07 August 2023 / Ethnoarts Scripture Engagement

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

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12 June 2023 / Georges Rouault and André Girard

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by Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker 

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

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01 December 2022 / ArtWay newsletter 2022

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

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

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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. 

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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. 

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01 June 2022 / Interview with Belinda Scarlett

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21 April 2022 / Betty Spackman: A Creature Chronicle

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

An opportunity of dialogue between the church and contemporary art

by Viktor Barashkov

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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.

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13 May 2021 / GOD IS...

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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27 October 2020 / Art Pilgrimage

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18 September 2020 / Interview with Peter Koenig

by Jonathan Evens

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17 August 2020 / BOOK REVIEW BY HEINRICH BALZ

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

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17 July 2020 / The Calling Window by Sophie Hacker

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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25 March 2020 / Sacred Geometry in Christian Art

by Sophie Hacker

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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?”

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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.”

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07 December 2019 / ArtWay Newsletter 2019

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

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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?"

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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. 

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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.'

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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.

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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.

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08 June 2019 / The Chaiya Art Awards

by Jonathan Evens

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29 May 2019 / Art Stations of the Cross: Reflections

by Lieke Wynia

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.

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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. 

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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.

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13 March 2019 / Makoto Fujimura and the Culture Care Movement

by Victoria Emily Jones

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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09 August 2018 / With Opened Eyes: Representational Art

by Ydi Coetsee

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

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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. 

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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?

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.'

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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? 

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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