a mass like no other

Order of Service for the Bishop's Golden Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving
© Teresa Newham

I was recently delighted to be asked to provide some artwork for a Mass of Thanksgiving to be held at our church for Bishop John Crowley's Golden Jubilee.  I handed over various designs and was thrilled when I saw the Order of Service; appropriately for a celebration of fifty years of priesthood, The Good Shepherd had been used on the front cover.

choir's-eye-view of the entry procession
© Teresa Newham

Those of us in the choir had a privileged view of  proceedings - although just being there was privilege enough.  How many people can say they've been to a Golden Jubilee Mass?  I never did manage to count how many priests were present.  I was trying to sing the Kyrie and the Gloria without being distracted by He is Risen, originally conceived as an Easter card:

'He is Risen' sandwiched between the Kyrie and the Gloria
© Teresa Newham

I am the Vine, (like The Good Shepherd, one of the Signs quartet),  appeared beneath the Communion hymn - another apt placement, beautifully complemented by the piece we sang while the priests were receiving:

Eat this Bread, drink this Cup, come to Me and never be hungry,

Eat this Bread, drink this Cup, trust in Me and you will not thirst.

'I am the Vine' and the communion hymn
© Teresa Newham

 As regular readers of this blog may remember, Signs is a meditation piece inspired by Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists, and my first serious attempt at religious imagery following my reception into the Catholic Church in 2011;  a third part of the work, Loaves & Fish, had been used on the back cover, this time to encourage folk along to the reception after Mass:

'Loaves & Fish' on the back
© Teresa Newham

I've always felt that these little images were given to me to share with other people: and I'm grateful that they became part of this unique and special occasion, in honour of a unique and special man.

Work Progressed - Signs

Signs
© Teresa Newham 2012

Who does not recall the symbols which marked the first appearance of an art both pictorial and plastic? The fish, the loaves, the shepherd: in evoking the mystery, they became almost imperceptibly the first traces of a new art.   Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists 1999 

Today is the feast of Pentecost, and feels like the right time to unveil the piece which regular readers of this blog will recall I've been working on since last Summer.   It was just after Pentecost last year that I read Pope John Paul's wonderful Letter to Artists;  the above quote stayed with me for some time.  I remembered a quartet of mounted photos which were no longer needed - perhaps I could make some linocuts of the fish, the loaves, the shepherd, and display them in it with another Christian symbol?    I could call it "four signs". Living water !  of course.  And the vine. Whoops, that's five.  And the lamb.  And the lost sheep . . . seven signs.  It was a bit like  the Spanish Inquisition sketch from Monty Python . . . and what about the Cross?  it needed to be there but I couldn't decide how or where.

And then I realised the Cross was there already, hidden in plain sight.

Having just completed the RCIA course and become a Catholic just a few weeks previously, I should have realised that it would be.  But I must admit, recognising the Cross already physically present within the template I had in mind freaked me out rather.  There was no question now of my not making those linocuts.   And as I've worked on them on and off for the past year I've found myself meditating on those symbols a lot. There are prayers, parables, psalms and sacraments if you look deeply enough.  And the cross is central to them all.

Work in Progress 2

Vine lino block and original sketch
© Teresa Newham 2012

I finally found time to produce the third of the four linocuts I started back at Open Studios in September.  This one is the vine, as in "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5).  Sharp-eyed readers will immediately spot the schoolgirl error I made when cutting the block - the design is the same way round as the original sketch!  Faced with doing all that work again (those grapes took ages), I took a look at the sketch in a mirror and decided it would work just as well in reverse.  So I was holding my breath even more than usual when I pulled the first print:

first vine print
© Teresa Newham 2012

When I saw the result, I was delighted.  Because of the way I intend to display the four prints, I think this one will work even better the 'wrong' way round!  I went on to make six prints in total:

six vine prints
© Teresa Newham 2012

Having completed the third print I'm now keen to get on with the fourth and final one, of which more another time . .  .!