Ecclesiart is an online project that raises awareness of significant works of modern and contemporary art since 1920 in UK churches and cathedrals.

The selected works represent the diversity of high quality church commissions and reflect developments in artistic practice and ecclesiastical art and design. You can explore the collection using the tiles below or by using the Ecclesiart map.

We seek to encourage increased responsibility towards works which may be under-appreciated or at risk and hope that this selection of works provides inspiring and challenging examples of art in churches useful to any parish or individual wishing to commission a new work.

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We welcome nominations of new works to be added to Ecclesiart. Please email us with a short text about why you think a work of art should be included with a short theological reflection on the work and its context (no longer than 150 words) and if possible please include images. Please note that we do not accept nominations from artists for their own work.

All permanent works shortlisted for the Award for Art in a Religious Context are added to Ecclesiart. For all other nominations, the Director and trustees of Art and Christianity reserve the right to select works which they determine as meeting the criteria of aptness to context, artistic and technical merit and appropriate theological meaning.

 

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock

Mark Cazalet: The Tree of Life

Mark Cazalet was commissioned to create a painting on 35 oak panels depicting the Tree of Life. Mark, speaking about the installation, said that the inspiration behind the piece was the music and choral tradition of the Cathedral and that he very much wanted his mural to reflect this, with the swirling motion in the painting representing the musical traditions. Mark wanted the symmetrical design of the tree to represent opposing ideas with the tree bursting into life on one side and dying back on the other.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock

Antony Gormley: Sound II

Who are we and where do we come from? These are the questions we are born asking, and they prompt answers we go on questioning. There we stand, hearing the sound of our own questions and the sound of our own answers, yet never satisfied, never finished with the task … there we stand, pondering the sound we make, longing for silence …

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 3 Stuart Hillcock

Sergei Fyodorov: Baptism fresco

One of very few traditional frescoes done in contemporary times. The application of paint to wet plaster extended the artist's work to a three-year period.

Born in 1959 the Russian artist Sergie Fyodorov is an important contemporary painter of icons and frescoes.  Having studied art in Moscow, Fyodorov was first exposed to icons in a public gallery rather than a church. Inspired and moved by the works of master icon painters such as Andrei Rubliov, he tried to make an icon for himself by studying from a book. This was a dangerous and subversive act in Soviet Russia, where the creation of religious icons was against the law.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock

Giacomo Manzù: St Thérèse of Lisieux

In response to the invitation by the Westminster Cathedral Art and Architecture Committee to Giacomo Manzu that he should produce a low relief bronze wall panel showing St Thérèse of Lisieux for the Cathedral, Manzu submitted a sketch in 1956. This was immediately approved and the commission awarded. Manzu then proceeded to design and produce the bronze in Italy with casting taking place in Milan.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock

Susan Riley: Reredos and High Altar frontal

The main features of the sanctuary are the Reredos and the stained glass windows... The Seven Angels Reredos was designed and worked by Susan Riley. Commissioned in 2000 it took two years to complete and was inspired by the angels of the seven churches to whom letters are addressed in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock

Norman Adams: Pilgrim’s Progress

In 1970 the church of St Anselm's Kennington planned to redecorate its interior and invited Norman Adams to paint murals for the two side walls. After some deliberation between Adams and the Vicar at the time, Pilgrim's Progress was settled on as a theme and Adams undertook an abstract series working from dark to light in a modern yet expressionist manner.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 2 Stuart Hillcock

Patrick Caulfield: Organ casing

This speaks of unity of sound and glory. It is a universally accessible symbol, as was specified in the artist’s brief. They themselves echo the Grassin case design which features a fish (or Ickthus) motif on the front of the closed case. The four fish – two on the left and two on the right are Christian symbols which, in turn, enfold the circle within.

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Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 1 Laura Moffatt Ecclesiart, Ecclesiart Batch 1 Laura Moffatt

James Dougall: Hanging Pyx

Hanging Pyx was finished and installed in 2011. It is constructed from fabricated Gilding Metal and nickel plated hot forged copper. The whole piece is 96 cm high and hangs 5 feet above the altar in the Lady Chapel at Holy Trinity. It works on a rise and fall mechanism located 8 metres up in the eaves of the roof, utilising 50 metres of 1.5 mm diameter stainless steel cabling.

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