Arts and Music at Redeemer

signs and portents announcement

Please join us for the artists’ reception on December 12th, 6:00-8:00PM.

The word “advent” is defined as, “the coming or arrival, especially of something important.” In the church year, the season of Advent is a time of looking forward to something greater. It is a season of preparation, a time of waiting and watching for signs and portents.

Some of these are signs of a beginning. The three kings saw and followed a star to Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph and the shepherds received visitations from angels. Other signs and portents of the season foretell that something is coming to an end: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and other visions of John in the Book of Revelation.

But signs and portents aren’t limited to Biblical accounts or religious seasons. Astrologers read the stars and planets. Comets have been linked to life-changing historical events. Shamans seek the visions of the trance. Farmers scan the skies and consult almanacs for signs of rain or drought. Fortune tellers read cards, palms and auras. We all have dreams and visions. We see pictures in the clouds, and have favorite colors and lucky numbers.

Our gallery seeks artwork that expresses the theme “Signs & Portents” for a juried art exhibit that will be on view in our nave throughout the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, with an artists’ reception planned for the evening of December 5th. All genres and media considered. Artwork needs to be two-dimensional – it can extend into the third dimension, but it must be able to be displayed on a wall.

Where: CR Gallery, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, WA

When: December 2 – February 2, 2010

Artists’ Reception: Saturday, December 5, 6:00– 8:00pm

How: Submit up to 3 jpegs (72dpi, 600 pixels on the longest side) via e-mail to arts@redeemer-kenmore.org. In your e-mail, please include your name, contact information, and a few words about your work. Also include title, medium, framed dimensions, and retail price of each image submitted. Submission deadline is midnight, November 8th, 2009. The work will then be juried and acceptance notifications and delivery instructions will be sent out via e-mail by November 16th.

Entry fee: There is no entry fee for this exhibit.

Please take note of the following:
•Artwork must be ready to hang, preferably from a wire. Photographs and
artwork on paper must be framed with a wire attached for hanging. Canvases
do not need to be framed, but the sides should be painted, either a solid
color or as a continuation of the image, in order to give a neat,
professional appearance, and must have a wire attached to the stretchers
for hanging purposes.

•For work that is shipped, all shipping costs will be the responsibility
of the artist.

•Artwork can be for sale. The gallery will direct buyers directly to the
artist and takes no commission.

•The gallery will take care of advertising and publicity, and artists with
accepted work will receive postcard announcements to distribute
themselves.

•In addition to being displayed in the nave gallery, accepted artists will
also be featured on the church’s website.

•For ease of transport, and so we get to meet you, we are especially
seeking artists in the Puget Sound area, but this call is open to all
artists over 18.

•For more information, please visit our website at www.redeemer-kenmore.org/artsblog.
If you have any questions, please email Angela at arts@redeemer-kenmore.org.

Please feel free to pass this information along to other artists you think
might be interested.

Searching for the Light: an exhibit of recent work by Redeemer’s artist in residence Angela Wales Rockett. Paintings will be on view in the nave August 16th– October 16th, 2009, with an artist’s reception planned for the evening of October 10th. More information about that later.

Last night we had our first Art and Music Tuesday and it was great! There was wonderful fellowship and much laughter. Sheila taught us part of a lovely Psalm to sing (we’ll learn more of it each Tuesday in July). And the Christmas altarpiece is well underway. I’m really looking forward to next Tuesday!

This is my sketch for the altarpiece. (on the left is what I hoped to get done by the end of the night - and we did!)

Color Sketch for Christmas 2009 Altarpiece

Here I start the art portion of the evening by explaining some of the materials we’ll be using.

Art portion of evening begins

And here is one shift of my minions painters. You can really get a sense for the size of this thing when you see people working on it.

Ginny, Sheila, Polly, Eric and Kathy painting

Hope you can join in the fun next week!

-Angela

Every Tuesday evening in July, the Redeemer community is meeting for music, art and Eucharist.

Here’s the schedule:

• 6:00pm — Bring your own dinner
• 6:30pm — Learn music to sing during the Eucharist
• 7:00pm — Eucharist
• 7:30pm to approximately 9:00pm — Art, and more music

We’ll be posting photos to the blog as we go, so stay tuned!

Ron and I have been making a new canvas for our Christmas altarpiece, which we’ll be working on for the “art” portion of the Art and Music Tuesdays which start next week! In the first photo the framework is getting muslin stretched over it, and in the second photo the muslin is drying after we soaked it so it would tighten up. It is now tight as a drum and ready for a coat of gesso.

Many, many heartfelt thanks to Ron who not only agreed to make this, but improved greatly upon the original design. It’s a beautiful thing.

The final size of the two panels hinged together is about 10 feet by 8 feet, and I can’t wait to cover it with rich colors! Check back to watch our progress.

-Angela

Call to Artists - Gift of Water

Our gallery is seeking artwork expressing the theme “Gift of Water” (exploring the various associations with water and baptism: renewal, rebirth, resurrection, cleansing, life, oceans, rain, etc.) - a juried art exhibit that will be on view in our nave gallery throughout the 2009 Easter season, April 8 - June 3, with an artists’ reception planned for the evening of April 16th.  All genres and media considered. Artwork needs to be 2-dimensional–it can extend into the third dimension, but it must be able to be hung on a wall.

Where: CR Gallery, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, WA

When: April 8 – June 3, 2009

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 16, 6:30– 8:30pm

How: Submit up to 3 jpegs (72dpi, 600 pixels on the longest side) via e-mail to arts@redeemer-kenmore.org. Please include your name, contact information, and a few words about your work. Also include title, medium, framed dimensions, and retail price of each image submitted. Submission deadline is March 23, 2009. The work will then be juried and acceptance notifications and delivery instructions will be sent out via e-mail by March 25th.

Entry fee: $15 (USD) for up to 3 images, payable via PayPal. This needs to be paid before work can be submitted to the jury.

Please take note of the following:
•Artwork must be ready to hang, preferably from a wire. Photographs and
artwork on paper must be framed with a wire attached for hanging. Canvases
do not need to be framed, but the sides should be painted, either a solid
color or as a continuation of the image, in order to give a neat,
professional appearance, and must have a wire attached to the stretchers
for hanging purposes.

•For work that is shipped, all shipping costs will be the responsibility
of the artist.

•Artwork can be for sale. The gallery will direct buyers directly to the
artist and takes no commission.

•The gallery will take care of advertising and publicity, and artists with
accepted work will receive postcard announcements to distribute
themselves.

•In addition to being displayed in the nave gallery, accepted artists will
also be featured on the church’s website.

•For ease of transport, and so we get to meet you, we are especially
seeking artists in the Puget Sound area, but this call is open to all
artists over 18.

•If you have any questions, please email Angela at arts@redeemer-kenmore.org.

Please feel free to pass this information along to other artists you think
might be interested.

Some views of the exhibit from the altar. For a closer view, and to meet some of the artists, please join us for the artists’ reception tomorrow (November 11th) evening, 6:30–8:30.

Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599-1600
Oil on canvas, 10′ 7 1/2″ X 11′ 2″
Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

My friend (and poet extraordinaire) Gregory Crosby wrote this wonderful poem in honor of the Out of Darkness (Into Light) exhibit, inspired by this powerful painting by the Baroque painter Caravaggio.

On Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew

The world is its own shadow.

In the house where everything
is counted, nothing gained,

the afternoon’s gold slips beneath
the pane, & dusk raises something

in hearts that will not otherwise rouse.
Someone is at the door. He lifts

his arm from this quotidian shade,
this everyday dark so rich it cannot

exist anywhere but in this world.
The sun seems to frame his head,

casting his profile into deeper shadow,
but it is his hand that gleams: languid,

simple, assured. His companion’s hand
shadows it, though this man’s gray

head as yet only catches the light
of day. Two sharps in sumptuary

turn toward the strangers; two men,
young & old, at the table’s end, see

nothing to stir them just yet from
silver… & a gold coin glints from

Levi’s black cap, glimmers thanks
to a brushstroke as subtle as Christ’s

halo, as the tax collector points
to himself in soft alarm, as if to say

Who, me? But his softer eyes betray him.
He knows, as if across the chapel’s dim

effulgence he sees himself, Matthew—
sees his martyrdom, & accepts it, like a

sum that cannot be wrong. This is how
it is. This is how the light arrives: without

fanfare, like any, every morning; a light
that reveals all darkness is only absence,

only shadow; the hand of light, paused,
midair, just below the terminus of the

shadow on the wall. The light, here;
the world, here; the world, elsewhere.