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Visual encounters

The WYSOCS art workshop

The decision to run a week’s studio-based art course at WYSOCS (the West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies) arose out of conversations following a day of art lectures in the summer of 2006.

There have been many opportunities for Christian art students to listen to good speakers, and to see some excellent work by practitioners — but, since the 1980s, when students used to draw and paint together at John Stott’s cottage in Wales, ‘The Hooksies’, there have been hardly any workshop situations where Christians could work out together in practical terms what it means to respond to God’s creation around us.

The title of the course, ‘Visual Encounters and Artistic Practice’, was intended to reflect the fact that artists are making discoveries, and finding new methods to record them, within a creation which God originally saw and declared to be good.

Painter/designer/teacher

The teaching team included a wide range of expertise — Alan Flood as a professional painter; Joan Murray as a textile designer; Sam Brooks, a postgraduate student working with situationist art; and Anne Roberts as a teacher, painter and art historian, with pastoral (and culinary!) support from Ann Gall.

The location of WYSOCS, in Horsforth, on the edge of Leeds, offered us pleasant studio facilities nearby at Trinity and All Saints College, as well as the opportunity to enjoy working in the Yorkshire Dales.

After each day’s exertions, students were also able to enjoy an informal supper, followed by lectures or discussion at Outwood House, the home of Dr. David and Ruth Hanson, and headquarters of WYSOCS. (The house itself has an interesting history as the former home of the 19th century Christian social reformer Richard Oastler.) On sunny evenings, conversations over supper in the Hansons’ beautiful garden were some of the most memorable occasions.

Bible study

Every morning began in the studio with a Bible study led by David Hanson, on the theme of Excellence. Each day’s work dealt with a different aspect of responding to the created world — in markmaking, figure drawing (‘a live encounter’) and working out in the landscape, both individually and on group projects.

For many, the day of situationist art, led by Sam Brooks, was a new experience which provoked many long-running and absorbing debates about the nature of postmodernism and contemporary art practice in relation to Christian thinking.

Learning curve

The whole week was a pioneering venture, and a steep learning curve for all concerned! It was also encouraging to see new Christian friendships being formed. The last night’s exhibition, in the barn at Outwood House, was an opportunity for everyone to show how much had been achieved — hopefully positive and fruitful directions to build on in the future.

Anne Roberts,
Kings Lynn