Spirituality & Perception - Paper 7
THREE
EXAMPLES OF ART IN BUILDINGS
INTRODUCTION
Singapore
ADELAIDE
MELBOURNE
COMMENT
INTRODUCTION
My annual journey to Tasmania in December
2010/January 2011 included stopovers in Singapore, Adelaide and Melbourne. In each place I
chanced upon something which reminded me of the contribution to buildings made
by artists in various disciplines – in Singapore a painter, in Adelaide a stained glass
worker, and in Melbourne a sculptor.
Singapore
In Singapore I went on a visit
to the Changi War Museum, not far from Changi airport, and saw the Changi
murals painted in the early 1940’s by a British prisoner-of-war, Stanley
Warren. He painted them in the barracks hospital chapel, known later as St
Luke’s; the Japanese took no steps to stop him. Often he was too weak to do
more than a little work each day. The only access equipment he had were a
couple of ladders and a plank. Paints had to be made up from whatever raw
materials came to hand, such as billiard cue chalk to make blue.. There were
four scenes from the life of Christ – the nativity entitled ‘Peace on Earth’,
the Last Supper entitled ‘This my blood’, the
crucifixion entitled ‘Father forgive them’ and the ascension entitled ‘Go and
teach the nations’ – and a fifth depicting St Luke in prison. Each was about
three metres long. The British Colonel, never normally seen in the chapel, went
out of his way to ensure Warren was not
transferred to another location before his work was complete. Warren didn’t sign the
pictures because they were his offering of faith to his fellow prisoners
The chapel had only a short life as such
and in the Japanese occupation became a store, with the murals distempered over
but never quite obliterated. Later, in 1958, they were re-discovered and efforts
made to locate the artist so that he could guide the necessary work of
renovation. Warren, by then an art teacher in England, was reluctant to go back
to Singapore and re-open old memories, but did do so on three occasions in
1963, 1982 and 1988. He died in England in 1992 aged 75.
Peter Stubbs ends his full story of Warren and the murals
thus: ‘Future generations need the Changi murals to
remind them not just of the futility of war, but man’s indomitable spirit in
the face of adversity and the hope of reconciliation. For
that was the message Stanley Warren intended when he painstakingly painted
them. The murals are his legacy to humanity.’
Peter Stubbs 2003 book, The Changi Murals: The Story of
Stanley Warren’s War is published in Singapore by Landmark Books
ISBN 981 3065 84 2
His website, one of many relating to the
murals, is www.petrowilliamus.co.uk
ADELAIDE
The foundation stone of St Peter’s
(Anglican) Cathedral in Adelaide was laid on St Peter’s
Day, 29th June 1869. Designed by the
English architect Herbert Butterfield, the building seemed to me as I walked
towards it across the river and wide Australian parklands, to be a European
transplant. Butterfield specified brick as the main construction material but
the people insisted on local stone, most noticeably the bluestone plinth. Well
done them, even though the disagreement brought about Butterfield’s resignation
and replacement by a local architect Edward Woods.
Well done too to the Cathedral for its
decision in 1991 to commission a set of replacement clerestory windows by Cedar
Prest, a pioneer of the Architectural Glass Movement
in Australia. It is her work in
these windows that will always come to the fore when I think of, and maybe revisit,
South Australia’s beautiful and
most spacious city.
Prest was struck by the
Euro-centricity of the building – by the fact that there was nothing in its
structure or fittings to suggest the 150-year history of specifically South
Australian Anglicanism. In her designs she brings together the vine imagery of
John 15 with the rich vineyards of South Australia; God’s care for
creation as expressed in Psalm 104 with both the natural environment of South Australia and the social and
industrial interaction with the land. There is a profound honesty in the
unfolding story – the land that was at peace before the European invasion, the
great courage of the voyagers and settlers, the cultural history of the land
and the continuing journey of all towards ‘a new universality of God’ expressed
practically through various forms of mission both in Australia itself and in
Papua New Guinea. In one particular lancet, ‘the widespread sunlit suburbs and
the individual family gathered around an outdoor meal are both touched by the
influence of the Church in schools and in the Ministry to the City (symbolised
by the shape of the boardroom table in ecumenical St Paul’s Centre)’.
Links: www.stpeters-cathedral.org.au
www.cedarprest.com.au
MELBOURNE
During a short return visit to Melbourne I
wanted to re-discover St Michael’s Uniting Church in the CBD (Central Business
District), originating in 1839 as an Independent church, the first place of
Christian worship in the State of Victoria
Previously I had been interested in what St Michael’s had done with
their city centre site. It blends a brick-built soaring tower, spire and
theatre-like auditorium of 1866 with a contemporary office and community
building. These surround a beautiful and peaceful urban garden. In addition,
there is The Mingary,
meaning ‘quiet place’ or sanctuary; open every day as a sheltered space in
which a fountain constantly but slowly and quietly flows over a simple
sculpture of rocks; The Mingary is where people of all religions and cultures
can simply sit and be. I watched and
listened to the water running over the stone for about twenty minutes – or was
it eternity?
Mingary is but one feature
of this fast-growing and open-minded church.
Link: www.stmichaels.org.au
COMMENT
These three passing experiences link bare,
or mere, buildings with works of art to create in each case what I see as a
living spirituality.
They are all religious. Is that a
shortcoming, or is it that only religions can do this kind of work authentically?