Can you see what it is yet?

I had a great day a recently visiting an exhibition of the work of Stanley Spencer at York Art Gallery with my friend, the Artist. Spencer was a British artist of the 20th century who often portrayed aspects of his Christian faith in the context the village of Cookham in Berkshire where he lived.

The exhibition was a great collection showing a range of his work including these self portraits, giving visitors a real insight into the man himself. I particularly liked his honesty, brutally shown at times, and the natural way in which he saw the spiritual as part of every day life.

The Artist taught me a lot. He pointed out aspects of composition, structure and development of the artists skill which I would never have seen. I was really intrigued as he pointed out the scrapes of paint on the canvas as Spencer struggled with bits of some paintings, which told of inner struggles and of "making it work". I was able to add some background to the biblical stories and theology of Spencer's paintings but found myself fascinated by how he committed it to canvas in a way in which the viewer is intrigued and made to think.

But the picture which really captivated both of us was this one, entitled Mending Cowls in Cookham. The thing is, Spencer desribed this picture as his most spritual painting. But why? Unlike other pictures, there is no bible story, depiction of Christ, religious motifs or anything which is immediately obviously Christian!

So what makes it spiritual? Can you see what it is yet?


Thanks to Big H for a great day.

The Story of an Artist, a Scientist and a Clergyman

An Artist, a Scientist and a Clergyman began bumping into each other regularly, although these meetings were never arranged.

The Clergyman met the Artist first and they became friends, talking about politics, war, religion, society and, particularly, art. The Clergyman then met a Scientist and they talked about religion faith and, particularly, science.

The Artist and the Clergyman shared their own expertise with each other, shedding light on the others' passions. The Artist explaining about the great artists and their styles, the Clergyman explaining the scenes of religious paintings.

At thier first encounter the Scientist challenged the Clergyman about beliefs in God in the face of suffering. The Clergyman admitted to also being challenged by such thoughts but said that faith is not always about knowing everything. This surprised the Scientist whose profession was to know everything about everything but who noticed that there were some things which could not be fully explained. The Scientist and the Clergyman talked more and discovered a shared interest in the origins of the Universe. The Scientist was surprised to hear that the faith of Clergyman did not depend on Six days of Creation. Eventually the Scientist and the Clergyman talked about a Big Bloke in the Sky.

One day the Scientist had mentioned to the Clergyman that he had heard of an abbot who suggested to his novices that they have three books on the go at once: one a spiritual book, one a book on a hobby and the other a novel. The Clergyman agreed that this would be a great idea and accepted the Scientists offer of a book called "Physics of the Impossible" by physicist Michio Kaku. The Clergyman offered "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian McLaren. A matter of weeks later the Scientist and Clergyman bumped into each other and both declared they were enjoying the books that they had swapped. "Who knows", said the Scientist as they left each other "I may become born again!". The Clergyman laughed out loud.

Some weeks later another book swap occurred while the Clergyman happened to be talking to the Artist. The Clergyman gave the Scientist a novel, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, which was reciprocated by a copy of a book showing how Art has influenced Science and vice versa, Cosmic Imagery by John Barrow. The Artist was naturally very interested in the latter and, for the first time, the three had an open conversation about spirituality. The Clergyman also gave the Artist the book on Jesus.

The following week the Scientist gave the Artist a book about Christian meditation with the Clergyman nowhere in sight!

Where will this story end? Who is pulling all these things together?
No idea how this story will end, but isn't it interesting how far a converation will take you.