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Willi Soukop A sculptor born in Vienna who studied at the city’s Academy of Fine Art. He left Austria for Dartington Hall in 1934, exhibiting at the R.A. from 1935. With the outbreak of war, Willi was interned on the Isle of Man and in Canada. Later he taught at the Guildford, Bromley and the Chelsea Schools of Art; he was a visiting teacher at the Glasgow School of Art. His fragile religious works made of wood, chickenwire and painted papier maché, exhibited at the Royal Academy, are now on loan to the Ecumenical Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes, as is the Madonna and Child which is part of this exhibition. Willi is remembered as a man of immense kindness. Bernard Schottlander Born in Mainz, Germany, and influenced by the Bauhaus Movement, he arrived in Leeds in 1939 and is best known for his public sculpture. He studied at Leeds School of Art, later transferring to the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Schottlander went on to teach metalwork and welding at St Martin's School. "Sculpture is the art of silence, of objects that must speak for themselves.” John Ndevasia Muafangejo Said to be Africa’s most famous printmaker, John Muafangejo was a man who inspired visions of African renaissance. He was born in Southern Angola but lived his life in Namibia/South Africa. In 1967 he was sent by the Bishop of Namibia to Durban to study at the School of Art. There he met the renowned art historian and critic, Edward Lucie-Smith who encouraged and helped him to organise a show of his work in Durban. Muafangejo’s works are primarily lino cuts and are filled with events of the life surrounding him, whether political, social or biblical. His art is often partly autobiographical in its content, and frequently depicts the hopes and aspirations as well as the sufferings of his people under the harsh apartheid regime of that time. Santiago Bell Santiago Bell was a teacher, academic, politician and a founding member of the Christian United Party in Chile. He was arrested in 1973 and consequently imprisoned and tortured by the Pinochet regime. Thanks to interventions by Amnesty International and ‘La Solidarité Mondiale’ he was released in 1975 and came to Europe where he had various manual jobs in Austria, Belgium and England. In 1985 he opened a workshop at the Bromley by Bow Church Centre and played a leading role in developing its innovative arts programme. Santiago Bell was deeply influenced by the Dadaist Movement and his work carries themes with religious and political satire. Always at the heart of his work is the agony and wonder of human experience. Derek Bird Derek grew up in North-east England; he always had an interest in painting and is largely self-taught. He studied medicine at St George’s Hospital, London, and now lives in Harpenden. He first became interested in the beauty of icons in Cyprus in 1992. Since then he has studied the canons by which they are painted. He has received commissions to paint icons for churches and private collections and has lectured on iconography. He has exhibited at Christ the Cornerstone Milton Keynes, Harpenden Methodist Church, Loughborough University, St Endellion Church Cornwall, and The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban. Angela Dewar Angela works with textiles and is an experienced embroiderer, designer and teacher, working with a wide range of techniques and specialising in machine embroidery. Examples of her ecclesiastical designs are in churches of all denominations throughout the UK, including major pieces for Truro Cathedral and Salisbury Methodist Church. She made a cope for the Dean & Chapter of Westminster Abbey, to be worn by the Rector of St. Margaret’s Church; in 2002 a set of 12 seasonal hangings for Rivercourt Methodist Church in Hammersmith; in 2003 further vestments for Truro. Other clients include Liberty of Regent Street, for whom she designed an exclusive collection of embroidered waistcoats. Private collections are in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. Jean Lamb Jean Lamb, an Anglican Priest living in Nottingham, is a woodcarver in the storytelling tradition. For a number of years she has been working on a series of Stations of the Holocaust which follow the path of Christ to the Cross, each one including in the background images from the record of the Jewish holocaust during the Second World War. Seven of these panels are now completed. Jessica Rost Jessica studied at Watford College of Art and Design and the Birmingham Polytechnic (1986-91) and has exhibited regularly, her solo exhibitions being at Milton Keynes Exhibition Gallery (1996) and the Acute Angel Gallery, London (2001). She has contributed to group exhibitions in Milton Keynes, Lithuania, Gloucestershire, Cambridge, Bristol and London. Jessica’s work, which is inherently playful, deals with serious contemporary themes. Her contribution to the exhibition is an exquisite three dimensional portrait of her aunt as a child. The image comes from a photograph taken of her aunt as a three-year-old on the day she left Berlin. This paper sculpture embodies the vulnerability and innocence of a child caught up in adult preparations for war. Richard Smith While studying Chemistry at University, Richard managed to fit in some life-drawing classes and has returned to this artistic discipline from time to time. He met David Moore working in a soup kitchen in the East End of London in 1966 and they have been making things together, including working together in social and religious spheres, on and off ever since. In the late 1990s David Moore, who had by then become a woodcarver, asked him to help him design a triptych on Jonah. Since then they have been producing their alternative religious art together. Richard has been involved with the Church most of his life, but not much now. Sharing in these creations is the main conscious expression of his spirituality. David Moore A Methodist Minister who was introduced to woodcarving in 1987 by Santiago Bell, David began carving seriously in 1994. Many of his projects are done in conjunction with Richard Smith, an ex-colleague from East London. They describe their work as ‘exploring stories and themes from biblical material as experienced through our working lives’. He has exhibited in London, Oxford, Bristol, Derby, Sheffield and Milton Keynes. Arun Weys Born in London, Arun studied Japanese language and literature and worked in investment management in Hong Kong, Tokyo and London for 10 years. Then she had a change of direction to pursue other creative interests, first in ceramics and more recently in glass. The original impulse for her glass sculpture ‘Blackbird’ came from a Beatles song; she was struck by the image of a lone voice singing urgently when the world is asleep:
When she heard about the Resisting Tyranny exhibition, she saw a connection with her sculpture. “My father fled Vienna and Nazi rule for Britain at the age of 15; his parents perished in Poland. Most people looked the other way but a few, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, found the courage to speak out in that dark time.” Philip Spence Philip is an Anglican priest who combines his work in several parishes with that of a part-time Diocesan Officer. He has drawn and painted all his life, his greater skill being that of the cartoon. Philip has drawn a cartoon for this exhibition. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga Ernesto is an Anglican priest. He studied art in his native Peru, winning several awards. In 1983 he embarked on studies in theology and anthropology. The rising political tensions of his country finally forced Ernesto into exile in 1987. He spent some time in Brazil and Spain before adopting England as his home. In 1990 Ernesto returned to painting and has built up a substantial body of work, finding a distinctive style which reveals both the richness of his native culture and the influence of Western tradition. His paintings have been exhibited in Europe and the UK and are held in private collections in the UK, Germany and the United States, and in public collections including at the World Bank Washington DC, Northern Light Gallery London Heathrow Airport, and Wycliffe Hall Oxford.
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