Exhibition of contemporary Christian art at Farm Street

Last Supper - Andrew White - oil on canvas

Resurrection is the theme of an exhibition of contemporary Christian art at Farm Street church hall Mayfair this Bank Holiday weekend. More than 30 artists are taking part, including Andrew White, Francis Hoyland, Marcia Scott, Alice Robertson, Penny Warden and several more up and coming figures. The show includes new works - both abstract and figurative - some icons, sculptures, mosaics and a film installation.

The show was unveiled last weekend at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping and is a collaboration between the centre and a group of painters at the St Patrick's Art Studios based nearby.

Penny Warden, whose Stations of the Cross hang in Blackburn Cathedral, said: "This is the first exhibition of this size of Christian art since Presence in 2004 held at St Paul's Cathedral."

At the first night in the Hurtado Centre, Andrew White spoke about the vocation of the artist. He said: "We live in a very functional society driven by science, technology, making money - and yet as human beings we need to create … we need to actually look. Those who aren't artists still love to be engaged in seeing something - an image a sculpture ... This silent solitary moment still resonates. We find it fascinating.

"There can be a tendency to minimise the arts but actually when you realise right at the very beginning, that was what God was involved in…. God takes this material - this dust and he forms something out of it. The word form indicates that he's pressing, that's moulding and he doesn't finish there - then he breaths into it and he becomes alive."

Reflected on the pressure Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Crucifixion - then Resurrection - Andrew said: "Jesus breaths on his disciples - there's a pattern here,"

He said: "In this day and age where we're at, where the spiritual is so challenged from so many different angles I think actually we're in a very privileged place, I don't think God looks at ability - he looks at availability.." … "When you do lay something on the altar - God will do something amazing and he will resurrect .. he will breath life into that dust. As artists all of us have wonderful potential if we seek God's will in we do - so be encouraged and God will answer."

The exhibition is at: Farm Street Church Hall, Mayfair from 10.30am -5.30pm on the 29th and 30th April 2017.

Watch a clip of Andrew White speaking at the Hurtado Centre last Friday: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjW3EM7TD-Y

Read more about the exhibition here: http://hurtadocentre.org.uk/resurrectionexhibition/

For more information about St Patrick's Studios see: https://stpatricksstudios.com

See ICN's Facebook page for more pictures from the show.

The artists taking part are: Abigail Jones, Alice Robertson, Amanda Patterson, Andrew White, Ann Dunne, Bernard Allen, Blazena Dzurjanikova, Charlotte Ashenden, Claire Louise Barrie, Daphne Milner, Diana Durantel, Elizabeth McCarten, Francis Holland, James Lynch, John Bateson, John Cook, Kirsty Kerr, Lucy Crabtree, Marcia Scott, Maria Lancaster, Mike Quirks, Paul Cyr, Penny Warden, Peter Bridgman, Rachel Alem, Saadeh George, Tessa Hunan and Hackney Mosaic Project, Victoria Brenninkmeijer, and Rene Delos Reyes.