setting up - progress report

we've been in left bank on and off all week, and preparations are going well. boards have gone up and are being painted ready to receive the work, and the place has been swept. on sunday we begin to hang things... all very exciting!

simone lia's cards and stickers

yesterday i took delivery of simone lia's piece for the show, a digital print entitled 'Shepherd Chip and Shepherd Bean' and it 's great. you can now buy cards and stickers designed by simone online at moo.com. they're pretty great too...!

a word from our sponsors... revive seed fund

Revive seed fund supports new and innovative projects in Leeds that reflect the commitment of revive to faith, arts and justice.

a word from our sponsors...trust greenbelt

"Each year punters at the Greenbelt festivals donate tens of thousands of pounds at the event's Sunday morning service – and online throughout the year. Knowing that Greenbelt’s ethos and values are reflected in the projects funded is so important.

Greenbelt and the efforts of Trust Greenbelt are synonymous - a holistic response that ensures we continue to use the arts to liberate creativity in face of exclusion, exploitation and injustice.

Recognising the potential to be groundbreaking and life-changing Trust Greenbelt supports quirky, entrepreneurial and risky ideas. Many come from modest community focussed projects where a seemingly insignificant amount of funding can have an immeasurable impact. Trust Greenbelt gets ideas off the ground and gives voice to the marginalised often supporting initiatives that wouldn't make it in to traditional funding reviews.

'Trust people and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Greenbelt continues to hold true to Emerson's words, trusting some amazing people with your money, trying where others may not be able to, to help them to do great things. We can only do this if you continue to Trust Greenbelt too - trust us to find those special projects and people that need someone to trust their special vision..."

Trust Greenbelt.

a word from our sponsors...LCCT

'Advent' has been funded by several organisations, to whom we are very grateful. We'd like to tell you a little more about them, beginning with Leeds Christian Community Trust.

"LCCT is here to enable, encourage and support Christians, working in unity and in mission, to pursue their dreams and visions and make a positive difference in Leeds.

We do this by providing a legal and support structure to allow projects to focus on what they're passionate about, without forcing them to deal with the bureaucratic pressures normally associated with setting up a new initiative. In addition to this we are able to provide 'seed funding' and development support to help those with the vision and initiative to do what they need to do to transform the city..."

You can visit the LCCT website here.

'Advent' on the bbc website...

...read all about it here

introducing work in progress... michael hannaford

"How does one portray something that cannot be described or fully comprehended? This is a question I have asked myself when choosing to take the theme of angels. It is both exciting and challenging at the same time.

My artwork over the last year has all been centred on prophetic imagery and visions within the bible. I have been trying to make sense of all the vivid imagery described and working out what they mean and how I can take this imagery and bring it forward to a modern audience.

We are in danger of loosing touch with our imagination in modern life, with everything being spoon-fed to us via different media, cinema, the internet and television, etc. Yet our imagination is one of the greatest gifts we have. Exploring the world of visual storytelling found within the bible opens up the imagination.

During this exploration I have centred previous work on trying to use my imagination and the imagery found in the bible to draw images of heaven and hell. In that work I used both my own imagination and the imaginations of others. You’d be surprised how exciting and interesting it is too see people’s different interpretations of texts plucked from the bible describing and heaven and hell; texts such as “an enormous red dragon with seven heads, and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” taken from Revelation 12 verse 3, which is a description by John of Satan/The Devil.

For my angel it seemed only natural that if I wanted to find out what they look like I needed to see how the bible describes them. The bible describes several types of angels including Seraphim, Cherubim and Archangels.

There are various descriptions including Isaiah 6 verse 2: “Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.” This is the text I have taken as inspiration for my painting. All of the texts in the bible are very clear that the angels reflected God’s glory and one of God’s many characteristics is that He is Light. Take Luke, when he tells us about the shepherds in the fields: “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.”

To me this seemed a very important quality to capture in my painting. This is why I decided to paint using fluorescent colours and use optical illusions as the bible also tells us that God’s glory is far too bright for us to look at easily. So I hope the optical illusions make it difficult for the viewer to look at my angel.

When taking the above verse from Isaiah 6 I looked back at how artists have interpreted it in the past. I found that there was a design made by the early church for a Seraph that can be found particularly in icons. I decided to use this traditional design but with my bright colours and optical illusions. I like fusing the contemporary - florescent colours, optical illusions - with old and traditional things such as the texts of the bible and this iconic design.

This image here is a mock-up for my final painting..."