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.

NEWS AUTUMN 2024

ARTWAY NEWS, CURRENT EXHIBITIONS, SYMPOSIA AND LECTURES, PODCASTS, VIDEOS, BOOKS
 
ART FOR ADVENT 2024
For the past few years, Dr. James Romaine, Professor of Art History at Lander University, has posted  art reflections for each Sunday of advent. This year’s Art for Advent examines the work of the Italian Renaissance artist
Raffaello Sanzio, who is known as Raphael. One of the most celebrated figures in the history of Christianity and the visual arts, Raphael’s art visualizes a perfected state of grace. The four videos explore how Raphael developed a unique method of graceful harmony that was exceptionally suited for devotional images that inspire the viewer’s spiritual refreshment.
 
CALL FOR PAPERS AND SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT:
Contemporary Art as/in Pilgrimage and Sacred Site
Tuesday February 11, 2025  | New York City, Faculty House at Columbia University
This one-day symposium seeks to explore contemporary art as pilgrimage and sacred site as the foundation for a new interdisciplinary project that draws into relationship the wealth of research arising out of pilgrimage and ritual studies, contemporary art history and criticism, anthropology, and religious and theological studies, with a particular focus on how artists perceive and conceive notions of sacred journey.
Proposals due 15 December. 
 
EXHIBITION: TOWARDS EASTER SUNDAY 2025 by GERT SWART
23 Feb - 27 Apr ‘25 | Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Towards Easter Sunday 2025: Who am I? is the title of South African sculptor Gert Swart’s upcoming exhibition at the Tathum Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Dr Jorella Andrews writes that, the exhibition “will focus on portals and thresholds, a theme that has been of great importance to him throughout his life as an artist […] At first sight, the space may seem overwhelming; a space in which one is likely to get lost. But as you find yourself drawn to a particular portal and as you begin to engage with it, the idea is that you will begin to find yourself in some way. Perhaps you will re-find a dimension of yourself that was somehow mislaid. […] You might decide to tackle other portals that felt less immediately intuitive or appealing. […] In any case, here is the promise of another scene - a scene of display - that will be alive, active, exploratory and challenging...”
 
EXHIBITION: SEEING THE UNSEEN
Reality and imagination in the art of Stanley Spencer
7 Nov ‘24 - 30 Mar ‘25 | Cookham, UK
Launching on 7 November, the Stanley Spencer Gallery offers an exhibit that looks at what inspired this important 20th century artist and shows how his reality and imagination merged.
 
THE STORYTELLERS, ART INSTALLATION AT WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL
11-15 March 2025 | Winchester, UK
Tickets are now on sale for the World Premiere of The Storytellers at Winchester Cathedral. Luxmuralis created this immersive light and sound show about the greatest stories ever told.
 
AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM FOR THEOLOGY AMD THE ARTS AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Early-bird registration now open
4-7 September 2025 | DURHAM, USA
Launching on 7 November, the Stanley Spencer Gallery offers an exhibit that looks at what inspired this important 20th century artist and shows how his reality and imagination merged.
 
CALL FOR PAPERS
Flesh and Blood Theologies: Society for the Study of Theology Conference
7 Apr - 10 Apr 10 ‘25 | Warwick University, UK
The Society for the Study of Theology holds an annual conference every Spring at Warwick University. For 2025, there will be a seminar strand on Arts and Theology convened by Ben Quash and Devon Abts.
 
ART EXHIBITION: BRUCE ONOBRAKPEYA, The Mask and the Cross
21 Jun ‘24 - 21 Jan ‘25 | Washington DC, USA
A father of African modernism, Bruce Onobrakpeya (b. 1932) is one of Nigeria’s most celebrated artists, and I was thrilled this month to visit his first solo show in the US, which, as it turns out, is centered on his Christian-themed linocut prints! (The artist is Anglican.) Onobrakpeya’s career spans over six decades, and this Smithsonian exhibition is not meant to be representative of the breadth of his oeuvre, which also includes painting and sculpture and various subject matters; rather, it presents two foundational bodies of work from the late sixties, both commissioned by the Catholic Church, that helped launch the artist’s long and esteemed career.
 
VAN GOGH: POETS AND LOVERS
14 September ‘24 – 19 January ‘25| London, UK
The National Gallery brings together the most loved of Van Gogh’s paintings from across the globe, some of which are rarely seen in public. They will be paired together with his extraordinary drawings.
See up-close his ‘Starry Night over the Rhône’ (1888, Musée d’Orsay) and ‘The Yellow House’ (1888, Van Gogh Museum), as well as our own ‘Sunflowers’ (1888) and ‘Van Gogh's Chair’ (1889), among many others.
 
REUNITED: THE LAMENTATION ALTARPIECE
21 March ‘24 - 28 February ‘25 | Compton Verney Art, UK
For the first time in thirty years, a rare masterpiece will be reunited. Bringing together the central panel from The National Gallery of Scotland’s collection, with the original wings in Compton Verney’s collection, the magnificent Lamentation Altarpiece dated c. 1515, will take center stage in the Northern European collection of Compton Verney. 
 
NEW BOOK: TO PROCLAIM, TO INSTRUCT AND TO DISCIPLINE
The Visuality of Texts in Calvinist Churches in the Dutch Republic, by Jacolien Wubs.
The visual display of Scripture became common in Dutch Calvinist churches after the “Beeldenstorm”: text panels and text paintings filled the lacunas left by removed images and altars. This richly illustrated volume shows how text decoration marked the Reformed appropriation of church space.
 
THREE THINGS NEWSLETTER
Three Things’ most recent newsletter, curated by former L’Abri workers Phillip Johnston and Andy Patton, considers the questions of what redemptive AI might look like.
PRAYING WITH ART SERIES
The Jesuits in Britain have posted the Praying with Art series consisting of 23 entries and commentary by Geoff Wheaton SJ.
 
NEW BOOK: INSIDE THE RAINBOW VOL III
By Pieter Kwant
Having immersed himself over many years in reading every commentary he can find on Revelation, and picking up his teenage hobby of painting, Pieter Kwant here retraces the process whereby John first “saw” Revelation before writing it down, now moving from (biblical) text to image. This volume covers chapters 8-11. More Info
 
SUMMER EDITION OF ART + CHRISTIANITY
The Summer issue of Art and Christianity includes an exclusive interview with the Turner-Prize nominated artist Andrea Büttner, exhibition reviews and much more. Join now to receive your copy. 
 
BOOK: THE BIBLE IN PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEONA BEAUMONT. What do photographs say about faith? How have the places, people, and ideas of the Bible filtered into photographic vision? Photography was born and grew up in the increasingly secular West, and has become the ubiquitous visual language of our time: we have never invested more in the truth of its images. Yet understandings of how we practice belief in the medium are lacking. This book explores the spiritual depths of visual realism through the lens of biblical imagination. A wealth of photographers, publishing contexts, and theorists such as Roland Barthes and John Berger reveal the religious dimensions of photographic looking – from credulous, to critical, to sceptical. The changing faces of Christendom are seen through an interested lens. The Bible is exposed as contemporary visual theology. Publication dates: UK – 22nd February 2024, US – 2nd May 2024,  ANZ – 27th June 2024. Read more here.
 
BOOK REVIEW ON ARTWAY: Nigel Halliday reviews Jeremy S. Begbie’s Abundantly More:The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World. Halliday writes: “The book is … a call for greater use of the arts in church and in our personal lives.  Works of art are not divine revelation. But listening to Bach’s Inventions, pondering Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus or reading a poetic reflection can help us to experience Biblical truth in ways that are real, rich and more powerful than simply reading words on paper. For, as Begbie argues, experiencing things in our bodies is a real form of knowledge, and imagination is a God-given faculty by which we can extend our understanding.” Read the full review here.
 
THE ARTISTIC SPHERE OUT NOW! – The Artistic Sphere. The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective, Edited by Roger D. Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, published by IVP- Academic. Among Reformed churches, the Neo-Calvinist tradition—as represented in the work of Abraham Kuyper, Herman Dooyeweerd, Hans Rookmaaker, and others—has consistently demonstrated not just a willingness but a desire to engage with all manner of cultural and artistic expressions. This volume, edited by art scholar Roger Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, the daughter of art historian and cultural critic Hans Rookmaaker, brings together history, philosophy, and theology to consider the relationship between the arts and the Neo-Calvinist tradition. With affirmations including the Lordship of Christ, the cultural mandate, sphere sovereignty, and common grace, the Neo-Calvinist tradition is well-equipped to offer wisdom on the arts to the whole body of Christ. Read more
 
INTERVIEW WITH CALVIN SEERVELD IN PORTUGUESE. ArtWay has just published an interview with the philosopher Calvin Seerveld. The interview is conducted in Portuguese and translated by an interpreter. See the interview here
 
JONATHAN EVENS DISCUSSES ANTONY GORMLEY. Antony Gormley Explores Self-Awareness in White Cube Bermondsey – Revd Jonathan Evens on ArtLyst. Read More
 
PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE “IMAGES FOR GOD THE FATHER” BY MARLEEN HENGELAAR-ROOKMAAKER. “God is spirit. God is a mystery. He is awe-inspiringly exalted and at the same time unimaginably loving. How can we ever comprehend Him with our small human intellects? How can we ever get to know Him and learn to live with Him? That would not be possible without the Bible, where God reveals himself to us in stories and images…” In this article, now available in Portuguese, Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker discusses ways in which God the Father has been depicted in art, and considers the Bible as a profound source of images. Read the Portuguese translation here, and the original English version here
 
THE MOUNTAIN RETREAT, REST, CREATIVITY, GOOD PEOPLE, AND YOU. AN EXPERIENCE OF HIMALAYAN REST, CREATIVITY, AND CONNECTION FOR CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS IN INDIA. Art for Change runs a series of weeklong and weekend retreats for you to immerse yourself in nature, find rest, create and connect with like-minded others, and discover a renewed sense of purpose. Curated by Art for Change with over 14 years’ experience running artist residencies, each Mountain Retreat is open to cohorts of 3-7 creative professionals based in India. Set among stunningly beautiful views in the exclusive Landour neighbourhood of Mussoorie, the Mountain Retreat is a transformative experience designed for you to step away from the busyness of life, experience creative community, reflect and learn from nature, and find creative ideas and solutions for life and work. Think of the retreat as a creative vacation that honors the needs of mind, body and soul. Apply online here.
 
BIOGRAPHY ABOUT GWEN JOHN – God’s Little Artist by Sue Hubbard is a biography in verse of Welsh painter Gwen John (1876-1939). As with many female painters of the time, John’s work was often overshadowed by that of her male contemporaries, especially her brother Augustus John. God’s Little Artist is a celebration of her passionate life and work, illustrated with precision, authenticity and the keen painterly eye of the poet, novelist and art critic Sue Hubbard. In her introductory essay, Sue Hubbard discusses how the loss of Gwen John’s mother when she was a child could have impacted her later life. She was an intensely private person, with a tendency to become fixated on people and relationships, as shown in the two thousand letters she wrote to Rodin over thirteen years, and, later, in her intense commitment to her faith. For John, God and art became inextricably linked and saintliness an obsessive goal. Read more 
 
PODCAST OF INTERVIEW WITH CANADIAN ARTIST BETTY SPACKMAN – In this interview in Radix, Betty shares with us some of her thoughts on the importance of art in general, common misconceptions that are held about it, what it means to be creative (and she thinks we all are), as well as some ideas on how Christians can meaningfully assist in helping the arts to flourish. Also—and this is important—Betty believes in the power of kindness and hospitality, and you’ll hear it come through in the interview. Read more