Three local artists will this month unite for the 2016 Easter Art Exhibition at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Margaret Fane, Angela King and Jamie O’Brien will showcase a variety of art and photography at a special exhibition that is also expected to also be showcased across the Archdiocese in the coming months.
British born and raised artist Angela King, from Our Lady of Grace North Beach Parish, says that for her, her most memorable moments as a child are when she was drawing.
“It was post-war Britain and there were no paints,” Ms King explained.
“High school later cemented my desire to become an artist and I was able to get into the four year painting course at Manchester University to specialise in painting and printmaking,” she said.
After completing a post-graduate diploma in Art teaching, Ms King says she resisted the call to take up a cushy position teaching art at a private school, instead choosing to work at a more challenging secondary modern school where she became head of department.
“During the next six years, teaching was often art therapy and social work combined,” Ms King recalled.
“The inclusion of pottery in the art room forced me to become, at least, proficient in clay work, and it has endured as a life-long love,” she said.
Migrating to Australia 1969 out of a sense of adventure, Ms King says she only planned to stay for two years.
“Marriage, four children and four grandchildren later, I have been here 47 years.”
In 1993, with a desire to return to the workforce and the mindset of her journey as an artist, Ms King completed an internship in Clinical Pastoral Education at the Chaplaincy Department at Royal Perth Hospital, which subsequently lead her to work for several years in hospital chaplaincy at a number of hospitals, including RPH, St John of God Healthcare, Princess Margaret Hospital and Ramsey Healthcare.
“Along with my own spiritual growth, and keen focus to get back to art, there was a desire to move in adult education.
“I started promoting art as meditation, offering short courses and workshops in spirituality and art.”
A love of Celtic art and the consciousness of seeing life as a pilgrim people led Ms King to paint the carpet labyrinth in 1998 – a 26 feet diameter copy in colour, of the Chartres labyrinth, an ancient Christian devotion found in all medieval cathedrals of Europe and beyond. The canvas style artwork was subsequently hired by a number of secondary schools enabling those students to walk the sacred path and enjoy the experience of a walking meditation.
In 2014, Ms King published a DVD that took two years to create, based on the scriptural Stations of the Cross.
The DVD featured a series of black and white, A3 sized collages based on a contemporary version of the traditional Stations of the Cross, which were inaugurated by then Pope John Paul II in Rome on Palm Sunday 1992.
“These were originally intended to be mock-ups for future icons but developed into a two year – what was often a challenging task – trying to produce a 30 minute DVD incorporating sacred art, sacred Scripture and sacred music.”
The DVD is now published and is entitled The Scriptural Stations of the Cross.
“Through this experience, I came to realise that iconography was becoming my chosen path in life.
“Undertaking this type of artwork has been a spiritual discipline that called for simplicity, gentleness and patience, and I have no illusions about possessing any of them – but, it is a call on my life.
Ms King continued saying that future directions include combining icons and metal sculpture, which from ancient times has been part of the tradition of iconography.
Ms King has also been teaching art at North Beach parish for the past eight years to a devoted group of women who she says are a joy to teach.
The 2016 Easter Art Exhibition will take place on Sunday 27 March and Sunday 3 April at St Mary’s Cathedral.
The 2016 Easter Art Exhibition will be showcased across Parishes in 2016. More information will be available in the coming months. Interested Parishes can Click Here to register their interest.