The Arts and artists

St Andrew's

St Andrew's has stained-glass by local artists Val Anthony and Christine Daniels and banners by Julia Glover (see article below), plus a hidden painting by internationally exhibited artist David Folley. Folley's large 'Descent from the Cross' is a major work by an artist who has exhibited widely across the UK and Europe, including at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, in London, in Sweden and Germany, and at important contemporary international art fairs in Edinburgh and Dublin.

St Catherine's

The reredos at St Catherine's was given to the church by Vicar and Churchwardens of All Saints' Margaret Street. It is by William Butterfield, the architect of All Saints, and is said to be one of the finest of its kind. Additionally, on the West wall of the church is a small part of a wall painting, believed to have been salvaged from the previous building. The church also has a range of stained-glass, each with their own dedication, which range from the Madonna and Child to the Crucifixion and on to depictions of saints. A copy by local artist Bruce Revell of John Constable's ‘The Ascension’ has been gifted to the church by Bruce's friend, Paul Buxton. ‘The Ascension’ is the best of only three religious paintings by John Constable, all of which were commissioned for churches in his native Stour Valley. It was commissioned in 1821, the year that Constable completed ‘The Hay Wain’, as an altarpiece for St Michael’s Church, Manningtree. The other earlier two were painted for the parish churches of Brantham in Suffolk and Nayland in Essex. Constable’s painting can be viewed at St Mary’s Church in Dedham.

St Mary's

The colouring of the screen at St Mary's and the murals the one pillar in the south aisle dates from the 1930s-1950s and was undertaken, by his sons, under the guidance of then Rector, Revd John Edward Bazille-Corbin to 'reproduce as closely as possible' the decoration of the medieval church. The painting of St Peter and the crucifix below it were by Anthony Corbin and are 'restorations of medieval work which had been well and truly scraped out, but the traces of which could, at that date, still be faintly seen.' The large painting of 'The Baptism of Our Lord' by Enid Chadwick of Walsingham was gifted to the church by Fr David John Silk Lloyd. Local woodworker David Garrard has crafted Stations of the Cross using the motif of the Runwell Cross which have been placed around the church. Garrard also built an altar for the side chapel together with an inscribed cross on the side chapel wall.

Gods' Collection case study: The churches in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry feature as a case study in the Gods' Collections research project. Places of worship of all traditions have always accumulated collections. Today some have generated great art museums, while others just keep a few old things in a sacristy cupboard. The Gods' Collections project looks at why and how these collections have developed, how they have been looked after, and how understanding of them has changed over the millennia.

The case study explores the artworks found within St Andrew's, St Catherine's and St Mary's churches and considers some of the ways in which such works can be publicised, including the use of art trails as used previously in the Barking Episcopal Area and the City of London.

To read the case study click here.

The Arts

Ho Wai-On is British Chinese, originally from Hong Kong, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and set up Inter Artes in 1988 to create and perform works that combine music, dance, drama and visual arts across different cultures. Her piece 'Blessed' is based on the Beatitudes and dedicated to former Team Rector, Revd Canon Jane Freeman. The video features images from St Andrew's Wickford.

FROM HONG KONG TO WICKFORD was an exhibition at St Andrew's from September to December 2023 of Wai-On's lifetime interaction with UK and Hong Kong based artists/people that have resulted in many creative works. Her webpage on the exhibition contains most of the stories displayed about the exhibits and those who created them and some of the images.
Wai-On also spoke about her work and career at 'Unveiled' on 7 October 2022. Her presentation can be viewed by clicking on the poster image below.

Is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the LORD and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'? Whilst a significant number of books have been published exploring the relationships between music, art, popular culture and theology, many of which we have enjoyed and from which we have benefitted, they tend to be either academic analysis or semi biographical about artistes whose output the writers' enjoy. By contrast, The Secret Chord, co-authored by Peter Banks and Jonathan Evens, is an accessible exploration of artistic dilemmas from a range of different perspectives which seeks to draw the reader into a place of appreciation for what makes a moment in a 'performance' timeless and special. The writers' experience of creativity is of disparate and often contradictory ideas being crushed, swirled, fermented, shaken and stirred in our minds in order that the fine wine of creativity results.