Australian Catholic Liturgical Art
A Work of the National Liturgical Architecture and Art Council
The Sydney Modern is the new building of the Art Gallery of New South Wales opened at the end of 2022, located between the old building and the botanical gardens. Its glass-fronted foyers are open and spacious, offering perspectives on Sydney Harbour.
Continue reading “WELCOME SCULPTURE for Hospitality and Inclusion”
A few months ago, a friend wrote that she had “just returned from a five-day trip to see the silo art in the Wimmera/Mallee and Northeast Victoria. Wonderful work, and such a boost to the towns that arranged for their people, fauna and flora to be presented in such a wonderful form”. What caught my attention however was the note “A highlight was a mural of Sophia in the tiny Uniting Church at Goorambat”, near Benalla and Wangaratta, Victoria.
Continue reading “Sophia – Goorambat Uniting Church, Victoria”
In late 2021, a friend who’s a theology lecturer showed me a basic Bible books diagram that he’d put together for his students. Then he asked me, “have you thought about creating a book of the Bible artwork?” My first thought was “not really, I mean, I’m no biblical scholar, how in the heavens would I… ?” Continue reading “Books of the Bible”
Melbourne artist Christine Sage’s grandfather was, in her words, “a very good Catholic man”. He was also a blacksmith and an inventor, and some of his equipment and tools are still used today.
Continue reading “Christine Sage – Artist and Director of Hullabaloo Studio”
Returning to Blairgowrie, Victoria, from a road trip to Kangaroo Island in September 2022, we stopped in the town of Millicent, SA, to pick something up on the way. Serendipitously we parked in front of the catholic church of St Alphonsus. Continue reading “St Alphonsus’ Catholic Church, Millicent, SA, 5280”
Alan Sumner mbe (1911-1994) was a painter, printmaker, teacher and stained-glass designer. After studying at the NGV school, RMIT and the George Bell School in the early 1930s, Sumner travelled to Europe and the UK, furthering his training at the Grand Chaumière and the Courtauld Institute. Returning to Melbourne, he took up an apprenticeship as a stained-glass designer with Brooks Robinson before becoming a designer for Yenckens. He taught painting at the NGV school from 1947 to 1950 and spent nine years as Head of School from 1953 onward. Meanwhile, over the course of his career he completed approximately 100 commissions for windows in Melbourne and internationally. (National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2018). Continue reading “ALAN SUMNER – Stained Glass”
In the course of history, sculptors have played a key role in representing, immortalising and honouring those who have helped shape the national, sporting, religious or cultural identity of a country. In Australia, one of the most popular and prolific creators of public sculpture is Melbourne-based Louis Laumen. Professional artist since 1995, Laumen has received over fifty commissions for bronze statues of sporting or war-time heroes and popular public figures, as well as a large number of religious works. Continue reading “LOUIS LAUMEN, Sculptor”
At his 10-year survey exhibition held at the Mornington Peninsula Art Centre in 1989, Br Patrick Henigan ofm was hailed in the introduction to catalogue as the ‘Don Robert of Australia’. Don Robert, the celebrated Benedictine monk and painter, was seen as the conscience of the French Lurcat tapestry revival in the late 1940s: so Hennigan may be dubbed as the conscience of the new spirit that evolved in Australian drawing from the late 1970s. His spiritual and artistic journey to gain this recognition, however, was hard fought. Continue reading “PATRICK HENIGAN – Devoted to God, St Francis and Art”
Flowers in Church
One decorative item that plays an important atmospheric role in liturgical contexts is the floral arrangement. Natural flowers and plants have long been associated with celebrations of the liturgy – Eucharist, weddings, funerals – as well as devotions associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament. This tradition sits well with influential voices such as Pope Francis; his encyclical Laudato Si’ has called for a renewed appreciation for the natural world as God’s gift, a blessing that is vital for our common, human life but also one that is vulnerable to misuse. Continue reading “Honouring God’s Creation”
John Hawes and Margaret Rope
That is why artists, the more conscious they are of their ‘gift’, are led all the more to see themselves and the whole of creation with eyes able to contemplate and give thanks, and to raise to God a hymn of praise (John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 1999, no 1). Continue reading “With Eyes Able to Contemplate”