Essay by Curator Jacquiline Creswell 

The many definitions of the word ‘vessel’ emphasise the versatility and richness of the term, its potential interpretations providing a medium for creative expression, symbolism and the exploration of concepts relating to containment, transportation, embodiment and transformation. 

Art + Christianity, in collaboration with Friends of Friendless Churches, are hosting a ground-breaking exhibition, offering an art trail and pilgrimage to a number of ancient rural churches near the Black Mountains in South Wales. This area in the Brecon Beacons /Bannau Brycheiniog is famous for its dramatic series of peaks and stunning summit views. Nestled within nearby valleys are many hidden churches which hold outstanding visual culture including sgraffito wall paintings, medieval screens and other fine and ancient ecclesiastical features. Six of these are remarkable buildings in the care of Friends of Friendless Churches and, together with Dore Abbey, each will host a single installation or artwork, sympathetically and sensitively presented as a coherent and meaningful experience. 

In Christianity a vessel is often used as a symbol of the human body or soul, which is seen as a container for the Holy Spirit. The concept of the vessel is used to illustrate the idea that Christians are called to be vessels of God's love, grace, and power, and to carry the message of the Gospel to the world. Centre by Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir is an androgynous human form representing all of humanity. It is a solitary, graceful figure sited in the churchyard of St Mary, Llanfair Kilgeddin; its contemplative gaze is raised toward the bell tower. The figure is both classical and abstract, devoid of any definition, yet its human scale invites us to engage with it. Centre is created from rough cast iron, pierced with a glass circle creating a window to the soul, and the sculpture is placed so that light will shine through the glass at certain times of the day. 

Lucy Glendinning responds using the human form as a vessel for emotions, ideas and consciousness. She comes from a medical family and is researching Neuro-aesthetics, a scientific approach to the study of the aesthetic experience when considering a work of art. Lucy’s work incorporates pale feathers to remind us of our symbiotic relationship with the natural world and the context of a church draws us to contemplate angels and their wings. White Hart possesses an ethereal glow which can be glimpsed through the richly carved 15th-century rood screen, and pulls the visitor towards the side chapel of St Jerome Llangwm Uchaf in which it stands.

The use of different materials offers unique qualities and characteristics that have allowed the artists to express their ideas and emotions in new ways. 

 Their choice of materials has enhanced the artists’ ability to communicate their intended message and create an engaging visual experience for the viewer. Vessels also have a wider connotation in the biology of living forms as carriers of vital fluids and nourishment. 

Situated in a 13th-century circular churchyard with ancient yew trees sits St David’s Llangeview, where Andrew Bick’s Compendium (Tree) tapestry is suspended above the West door. Andrew’s work both complements and disrupts the intimacy of the 18th-century interior with its austere spatially symmetrical wooden box pews and skeletal rood loft. The tapestry was created on an 18th-century loom, which belies its contemporary intensity of colour and geometry echoed in the grid systems of the slim wooden beams in the barrel-vaulted chancel. Compendium (Tree) is informed by Paul Klee’s The Nature of Nature, the system used by Klee to form a basic geometrical model of drawing a tree. From this Klee generated diagrammatic branches as a sequence of tapering lines, fusing ideas of structure and growth. 

Robert George’s love of trees and his arboreal experience affords him the opportunity to harvest his own timber, his immense knowledge of wood allowing him to explore and experiment. Robert is always pushing the boundaries of how he interprets the vessel form. Simmer Down, within the context of Urishay Castle chapel, offers a haptic experience. Textures smooth and rough invite us to consider events in nature including entropy, the degradation from order to chaos. Simmer Down is a commanding and complex font-like vessel dramatically sited within the single cell building, sparse except for its a concrete nave altar and massive oak lintel. Robert’s vessel is comprised of hundreds of small, oak pots which encrust a sycamore crucible. Each vessel has been burnt, causing the oak to change from rich honey to dark and ominous black. 

The artists in this exhibition navigate the tension between creating a vessel that is functional and one that carries conceptual or symbolic meaning. They challenge traditional notions of functionality, blurring the line between art and utility, or use the vessel as a canvas to explore deeper themes and ideas. The chalice which is used for Holy Communion holds wine representing the blood of Christ, a central Christian ritual explored by Lou Baker at Dore Abbey. Lou’s striking site-responsive installation titled Life/Blood, threads her red knitted wool sculpture through the architecture of the elegant apse at the east end of the Cistercian Abbey, transforming the site. Life/Blood also weaves itself around the broken, pieces of masonry currently stored among the pillars, winding and knitting the elements together like a network of blood vessels pumping life back into the stone graveyard.

In Christian thought a vessel may be seen as a conduit for grace and spiritual nourishment.  

Jane Sheppard’s Grace Vessel sits quietly in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Gwernesey. She embraces figuration while retaining the essence of a vessel as a container of the spirit. Jane explains that the rhythmic and repetitive process of making is a meditative state which dictates the form she produces. Her extensive research into ancient cultural artefacts has revealed to her a much more sensitive appreciation of form, atmosphere and emotion, a knowledge of line and space, and of how to create something with meaning and power, all of which is evident in her Grace Vessel.

As an object embedded in human experience, the vessel is profound in its quotidian nature.  

The different techniques and materials used by these artists are of the utmost importance to the overall expression, visual appeal, symbolism and innovation of their works of art. Carefully selected from different disciplines each of the artists enhances the creative vision and effectively communicates their own interpretation of a vessel within the context of a church. 

Maritime vessels are also used as a metaphor for the church, the word ‘nave’ deriving from the Latin navis for ship. In this sense, the whole church is called to be a vessel of God's love and grace, and to carry these gifts into the world. Barbara Beyer translates these ideas through her boat forms. Wiela, created from adobe clay, recycled wood and roof slates, are seemingly sturdy vessels with bare prominent cracks suggesting that they are also vulnerable to the elements despite the protective shelter of the slate roof tiles which offer sanctuary. The vessels are moored in the idyllic churchyard of St Cadoc, Llangattock Vibon Avel. Possibilities explores the vessel in a traditional format as a container to hold a substance: seven distorted and deformed ceramic containers echo the moment of a miracle where a chalice was dropped but no wine was spilled. They retain the stain of the spilled wine, evoking a sense of misadventure and loss, but equally bring to mind that changed shapes are not lost just reimagined. 

Curating contemporary art in these extraordinarily intimate churches, presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. It requires careful consideration of the historical, spiritual and architectural dimensions of each place. By selecting a narrative that resonates across the shared character of the churches and by placing a single work of art that represents a vessel within each of these exceptional ancient sites, we endeavour to create a spiritual environment that allows reflection, dialogue and connection