Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, St Andrews. Away Day Workshop.

Posted on By Carol Marples

5th November 2016

A Day that included worship, creative conversations, particaptive making and dreaming dreams with the congregation of St. Andrew’s, St. Andrews. Co-facilated with Rev. Steve Butler of St. James the Less, Edinburgh. The day intended to model creative uses of space for worship, throughtful theological thinking, participative making and the dreaming of dreams.

Carol facilated the opening worship based on Luke 5 reflecting on stepping-out further personally and as a Body, trusting and following Jesus with a faith that calls us to change.

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Steve’s talk on ‘camping,’ participation and the Body.

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Creative conversations lead by Carol

 

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Participative making

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Final sewing, continued conversation and dreaming

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Final worship  – the work of the people – under our sewn canopy gradually unfurled to create our space.

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Sunday Morning worship in St. Andrew’s lead by  rector Rev. Prof. Trevor Hart.

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with thanks to Rev. Prof. Trevor Hart, Rev. Diana Hall and the congregation of St. Andrew’s.

 

Art and Spirituality Course LSA 16-17. Wk 3&4

Posted on By Carol Marples

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In weeks three and four of the course we have been exploring ‘Composition and Relationships’ through reductionist drawing/painting.

In Week Three we added leaves to our stones, dicussing it a metaphorical symbol for autumn, the passing of the seasons and a symbol of transience. Tonal drawings of the leaf we followed by a longer drawing in the afternoon of both objects. The students were to set up chose their own simple compositions combining a stone and leaf.

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In Week Four we continued to work in the same technique, but this time working on one  A1 drawing from a still life. The still life combined found stones, carved heads by Roland Bean, a stone font,  autumn leaves, other objects – a jug of water, candles and a dish of anointing oil. The class began with a discussion on the possible symbolism that each individual object or related objects suggested. The slide lecture considered artists from 17th Century Vanitas genre and Degas’s monopronts.

Work in Progress.

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Finished pieces.

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Art and Spirituality Course LSA 16-17

Posted on By Carol Marples

The Art and Spirituality 16-17 class has begun. We are now two weeks in with an interesting and enthusiastic group of students. The Theme at LSA this year is ‘Landmarks’, taken from the book by Robert MacFarlane. We began with a meditation of images considering and reflecting on the many landmarks that are made or represented by stones, their possible metaphors and symbolism.

Stones

Cairns

Ruins

Peebles

Mountains

Walls

Boundaries

Dams

Fossils

Buildings

Towers

Homes

Shelters

History

Geology

Throwing

Casting .. The first

Caves

Carved

Ancient

Millstone

Touchstone

 

Crosses

Altars

Tombstones

gravestones

Standing stones

Ring of Brodgar

Stonehenge

Patina

Fortress

 

Walls:

Adrian’s

Antonine

Great wall of China

Jerusalem

To prayer at

To keep out

To separate

 

Dust

Stour

Jacob’s pillow

(and many more)

 

Week 1.

Celebrating the Ordinary

We began simply by drawing stones – ones that had been brought by the group form favorite places, found on walks and pocketed for their beauty – looking intimately, trying to get to know the ordinary yet extra-ordinary small part of creation in front of us.

Week 2.

At the Cathedral: Intimate and Monumental/Immanent and Transcendant

In week two we visited St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral to enjoy the beautiful exhibition by Monica Guggisberg & Philip Baldwin and explore the cathedral stone and space through drawing in our sketchbooks.

  

   

     

    

 

 

Boats and Vessels in the Cathedral.

Posted on By Carol Marples

Last night I went to the opening of a fabulous new exhibtion at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh.

An installation of works by renowned international glass artists Monica Guggisberg & Philip Baldwin will be exhibited at St. Mary’s Cathedral during the Edinburgh Festival, and curated by Gallery TEN’s Paul Musgrove. Their modern, minimalist aesthetic provides a dramatic juxtaposition against the backdrop of St. Mary’s ornate Gothic architecture. The Cathedral Collection will include new works from their frames series, mobiles, and large scale boat sculptures, including a nine meter long version recently exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris, and the Applied Arts Museum in Frankfurt.

The work is beautifully made and sensitively placed. One is both startled by its fragility and boldness, its beauty and  unexpectedness. This contemporary work surprisingly brings to life the dark gothic cathedral, whose historical and spiritual architectural canvas adds layers of meaning as countless metaphors are suggested by Guggisberg and Baldwin’s glass and metal boats and vessels.

If you are in or around Edinburgh during the festival – go and see for yourself.

 

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
July 29 – September 19. 2016