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Beauty is not pasted over suffering but grows out of it—like the proverbial shoot from parched ground. Bruce Herman

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ArtWay Newsletter Pentecost 2010

Dear visitor,

We may be forgiven for devoting our first news item to our own website. After three years of preparation, the website went online on Pentecost 2010. We look forward to your reactions and hope that the work of our hands may prove fruitful.
 
As you can see there is an English and a Dutch side to this website. If you do read Dutch, you can find different articles, artist discussions, authors and materials on the Dutch side; the two sides are not the same.
 
The focus of the website is on Europe, though not exclusively. This is because the website will work in two directions. It will help Europeans know what is going on in the rest of the world and it will inform the rest of the world about Europe. As Europe is divided by a multitude of linguistic and cultural boundaries, the developments in the various countries tend to remain hidden to each other and to other continents. We want to track down the most important artists and organizations from the European Union and make them more widely known. In North-America and Asia this work has already been done, but for Europe this still needs to happen.
 
You will also find that we devote attention to the Christian calendar, as it offers us a way to live our daily life in the pattern of that of Jesus and it provides us with a framework for dealing with the major themes of our faith in an ordered fashion. You can find articles about this on the website and also materials for the various seasons of the year. See under ‘church and art’ and in the special ‘Christian calendar’ section.
 
We are working on the development of materials that combine word and image, see the word and image Bible studies. The studies can be used for group discussions or personal reflection. They could be used by Bible study groups that would like to try a different approach to the text in order to gain fresh insights. We are aiming to have ten of these studies ready by 2011, so that there is enough materials for ten sessions (or a year). Do try the Rembrandt study with your group and let us know what you think.
 
With the travel tips we provide a list of many places in Europe that are worth a visit. We have focused on interesting churches, museums and galleries of Christian artists, while also listing the big museums that you should not miss. Needless to say the lists are not complete. Let us know if you have discovered other places of interest.
 
In the gallery we offer artworks for sale: of five artists, each showing five works. Every two months we will change the artists and artworks. If you are interested in a work, we ask you to contact the artist directly. The artist will discuss the sale with you and will get the work to you. The full price will go to the artist, we don’t ask any commission.
 
Every few weeks, we will highlight in the In the spotlight section an article that deserves your special attention.
 
Finally a word about the section devoted to art historian H.R. Rookmaaker. We decided to include this section first of all because he is a source of inspiration to us, but also to create a space on the internet where people who are interested in his work can find materials about him. See also under articles.
 
Enjoy our website!
 
The ArtWay team