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Art and Christianity, Art and Christianity, 70 Cowcross Street, London (2026)

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Art And Christianity, 70 Cowcross Street

18/06/2026

In the Summer issue of Art and Christianity:
by Bryan Biggs, chair of the Art Awards judging panel

“We were impressed by the number of applications received and the overall quality in both permanent and temporary categories. Much care had gone into these, from mighty cathedrals to modest chapels, and it was noticeable how, almost without exception, at their heart was collaboration: between the commissioners and the artists, producers and fabricators, and with congregations and local communities.
There was a breadth of media in the entries, from traditional techniques to cutting edge technology, or a blending of both. We knew it would be a challenge to decide who would receive the awards. I will describe the criteria we used later on and I’ll reflect on our experience of travelling together to visit those shortlisted in the permanent category; but we start with the temporary award. [...]
The winner of the temporary category of the A+C Award for Art in a Religious Context is Peacemakers by Gardner & Gardner and Coventry Cathedral. Although we did not see this piece firsthand, it was clear that it succeeded at every level and, in the words of the artists, it demonstrated that ‘peace is made by many small actions and kind words’. [...]
All five on the shortlist scored extremely highly against all these criteria, so it was a difficult decision, but we decided to award the permanent category of A+C Art Award to Thomas Denny’s East Window at St John the Baptist, Tisbury. We felt that Denny’s window did all we were looking for and, perhaps above all, is a sublimely beautiful artwork which I encourage everyone to visit. [...]
This year, A+C has created a new award, the contested heritage award for an artwork within a place of worship that addresses racial justice. This decision reflects an increased awareness that the demands to address past racial injustices have implications for many of our religious buildings and the objects they contain. This
interrogation can shed fresh light on Britain’s extractive colonial histories and how the Church is implicated in them. ”

06/06/2026

The Summer issue of Art and Christianity is OUT NOW:

We celebrate the winners and shortlisted projects of the A+C Awards. Our extended feature is a fully illustrated transcript of the judges’ speeches at the prize-giving.
Bryan Biggs and Chine McDonald

Exhibition reviews
Shahana Rajani: Lines that World a River
Dala Nasser: Cemetery of Martyrs
by Christopher J Thornhill

Frank Bowling: Seeking the Sublime
by Spencer Hornsby

Tracey Emin: A Second Life
by Martin Kinnear

David Somerville: Stations of the Cross
by Fitzroy Schofield

Sarah Lightman: Biblical Women Ageing Disgracefully
by Sarah Parkhouse

Book reviews
Henri Matisse: Stations of the Cross
by Charles Miller

Art-Making as Spiritual Practice: Rituals of Embodied Understanding
eds Lexi Eikelboom and David Newheiser
by Sarah White

Reflection
Artist-in-residence, Julian of Norwich Shrine by Debra Shipley

Obituary
Richard Harries 1936 – 2026 by Rowan Williams

27/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Joseph Masheck
The Quest for Beauty:
The Life and Art of William Schickel
Directed by David Whitaker, 2025.
Amazon Prime.

“This film derives its documentary content from Gregory Wolfe’s Sacred Passion: The
Art of William Schickel (Univ of Notre Dame Press, 1998, 2010). Wolfe now serves as a docent in visually presenting the work of a forgotten American modernist of notably Catholic motivation, William Schickel (1919–2009).
At the University of Notre Dame in Indiana – under Holy Cross priests, brothers, and lay faculty – Schickel studied design and philosophy (the latter under Yves Simon, a pupil of Jacques Maritain). Neo-Scholasticism in general was important to Schickel’s outlook as by no means averse to modernity, especially insofar as its logicality could parallel new (otherwise anti-metaphysical) ‘analytical philosophy’. Not discussed in the film but relevant to Schickel’s own progressive architectural work is how favorably Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism (1920) treats Le Corbusier’s seminal ‘functionalist’ principle that ‘A house is a machine for living in’. Indeed, if the text I am using conforms to the first edition, Maritain must have read that in a contemporary architectural journal or known it from critical hearsay, because it was not yet enshrined in his classic Vers une architecture (1923).”

Image: William Schickel at work in his studio
Photo: James Durrell

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25/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Waithera Sebatindira
The Empty Chair Design Award

“Gascoigne’s winning submission does just that while also successfully fitting the Award’s brief. His highly abstract, sculptural prototype looks more like a piece in a contemporary museum than an item of furniture. Narrow lengths of ebonised wood appear to hang in suspension, with any shift in one’s visual perspective of the object creating an illusion of movement and impermanence. Yet images of people who have ventured to try the chair demonstrate that it’s not only supportive but capable of accommodating a range of postures. Made of ash with end grain finished with 23.5 carat gold, it evokes pertinent themes from Norse mythology of healing, life, and the underworld.
The piece’s title is also apt. While part of the Award’s brief was that the chair should be a ‘reminder of those who feel excluded’, Gascoigne’s entry can be co-opted as a symbol of a more radical intervention. As an open invitation to those who justifiably assume there is no place for them in the Church as well as a model for Christians who seek to reflect the gospel’s radical welcome in their parishes.”

Image: James Gascoigne (left) with You Might Like To Sit Down, New Furniture Makers Exhibition Photo: Niki Gorick Photography

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22/05/2026

Join us for an A+C day symposium in partnership with to coincide with the exhibition ‘Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval’ at the (16 May – 4 Oct)*.

We will be especially focusing on contemporary art practice and the influence and synergies with monastic life.

Programme:

11am Welcome

11.10am Introduction by Canon Dr Peter Doll, Canon Librarian at Norwich Cathedral

11.30am Dr Jessica Barker FSA, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art History at The Courtauld and Dr Ed Krčma, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of East Anglia, curators of ‘Living by the Rule’

12.30pm Lunch break (participants buy their own in Cathedral Hostry)

1.30pm Professor , Professor of Contemporary Art & Reinterpretation at University of Gloucester
‘Parallels in time; The Benedictine Rule, contemporary art, and their lived proximity.’

2.15pm Dr Nicola Simpson, Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts
‘Performing the Rule: Benedictine Pattern Poems.’

3.15pm Norwich Cathedral / Living by the Rule Artists in residence: Deborah Tompsett, Hardy Gru

With thanks to The Company of Arts Scholars Charitable Trust for supporting the symposium.

Art and Monasticism
📅 Saturday 13 June 2026, 11:00 16:00
📍 Weston Room, Cathedral, 65 The Close, Norwich, NR1 4DH

Image: Dom Sylvester Houédard, freedom song, 1967 @ Lisson Gallery; Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

14/05/2026

Bishop Richard Harries was a much-cherished advisor to Art + Christianity, and an important figure in our field of study. Rowan Williams has written an obituary of Richard for the summer issue of our journal (out soon) but you can also read it on our website at artandchristianity.org/news/harries

Photo: by House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=187552005

13/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Fitzroy Schofield
Ming Wong: Dance of the sun on the water | Saltatio solis in aqua
National Gallery, London
15 January – 5 April 2026

“This way of working is representative of what the National Gallery seeks from artists in the residency: an ability to engage progressively with resources or ‘enliven history’ as curator Priyesh Mistry phrases. Clearly, from the proximity of the artist studio to the unique curation, the objective of the residency is not to conserve history but to work alongside it. In this way, Ming takes an active role in the Museum by helping relate the collection to the interests of contemporary observers. This offers the everyday viewer a ‘prism’ to engage with the expansive museum.
The National Gallery is not intent on simply preserving history but on progressing history, not examining their collections under a light but bringing their work into the light. With Ming Wong, an artist who seeks bridges, they have found a natural pairing in their quiver and one that hits their intended mark. I last glimpse Ming, a single arrow in hand, disappearing into the Gallery, joining the Sebastians once again.”

Image: Ming Wong, artist in residence, National Gallery Photo: © National Gallery

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10/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Hannah Hempstead
Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming
4 October 2025 - 3 May 2026 (extended)

“Treister (b. 1958) has worked in the field of digital, new media and web-based art since the early 1990s. Employing a wide range of media to develop large-scale projects that engage science, fiction and belief and conjure alternative futures, she is not one to shy away from the preachy and didactic. Her art often draws on narrative forms and science fiction, using installations, video and digital artworks to imagine both the near and far-distant future. Often, her approach is explicitly mystical, with
Kabbalistic and theological references, esoteric diagrams and tarot cards that
reorganise the connections between humanity and technology. In ‘Prophetic
Dreaming’, curators Jessie Robertson and Amy Budd present Treister as an unlikely
prophet for the digital age.”

Image: Suzanne Triester, HEXEN 5.0/TAROT - V The Heirophant: Spiritual Ecology, 2024-5. © The Artist, courtesy Annely Juda Fine Art, London and P·P·O·W· Gallery, New York.

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06/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Inge Linder-Gaillard
Claire Tabouret: D’un seul souffle / In a Single Breath
10 December 2025 – 15 March 2026
Grand Palais - RMN (Officiel), Paris

“France’s 1905 law imposing separation of church and state has over the last hundred years been interpreted in commissions such as this one in ways surprising to many other cultures. The bottom-line, 4 million-Euro, universal message that one of the most visited cathedrals in the world sends here is that all are welcome, all may join the procession, and that woman and nature are at the bejewelled-hued, fired-up heart of it all. Whether this is a message from the Catholic church of France or from the French state itself, the socio-political moment of the commission (with neo-
radical conservatism, protectionism and war-mongering on the rise in a pluralised
global society struggling to create a more democratic and just world for the greatest number) leaves room to interpret this particular Pentecost story as a loaded, soft power move of note. The exhibition and its lavish catalogue are state-sponsored (secular?) cultural alibis.
The installation of the windows, scheduled for later this year, will be a chance to have a closer look.”

Image: ‘Claire Tabouret: D’un seul souffle’ installation view. © Simon Lerat for the GrandPalaisRmn, Paris, 2025

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03/05/2026

In the Spring issue of Art and Christianity:
by Oddbjørn Sørmoen
Since the first Art Biennale in Venice in 1895, the city has been a hotspot for artists and art enthusiasts from all over the world. Parallel to the official Biennale, there are other commercial and non-profit entities who initiate art projects for the same audience, and the Catholic Church in Venice is one of these.
Yes, of course. The artists choose the Church. If I list all the works of art that I worked with, the most beautiful results were with the artists who are not Christian. They were more open to listening to what a church is, and to understanding what the church is for the people who normally frequent it.

“Many of these artworks are made by non-Christians, but do they still communicate with Christianity?
Yes, of course. The artists choose the Church. If I list all the works of art that I worked with, the most beautiful results were with the artists who are not Christian. They were more open tolistening to what a church is, and to understanding what the church is for the people who normally frequent it.
If someone comes from outside, they find it much more interesting, they ask questions. Sometimes I have to say to potential artists: ‘Well, it is not that it is not allowed to do this, but this is not fitting.’ They might ask me, for example, what the meaning of the altar is. So, I describe and explain the significance and values of the different elements of the church. And they take inspiration from this.
This is why I say that I am not a curator, nor an artist and even less a commissioner of art, but the one facilitating this dialogue between the artist and the place. I find that this is very much respected by the real curator of the exhibition, by the artists
themselves, and others who are involved. I’ve never had the role of some sort of censor of the subject or of the realisation of the work.”

Image: Don Gianmatteo Caputo. Photo by Oddbjørn Sørmoen

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