Case study

The biennial Art and Architecture Awards, set up and run by Art and Christianity Enquiry (which works with visual art and religion), was the first of its kind in this country to recognise good practice in responding to the challenges of creating and enhancing buildings for worship. Now well established in their fourth cycle, the awards also invigorate the national debate on the quality of new religious art and architecture. Entries are welcomed from all faith traditions, although most commissions are from Christian communities.  

The process of the award is straightforward, consisting of an open submission, long-listing on the basis of images and short-listing after visiting sites. Fifty-one projects were submitted. If we had a disappointment, it lay in the fact that predictably, a disproportionate number of stained glass windows appeared. However, we were not looking for mere innovation of technique and were all delighted to be introduced to Leonard McComb’s mosaic St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds at Westminster Cathedral, London. Why did we instantly consider this for the short-list? Mosaic is one of the most ancient techniques in Christian art and is also a keynote to the interior of Westminster Cathedral. The original design included a programme of mosaic decoration which was not completed, so the Cathedral has now embarked on a series of contemporary commissions. The Art and Christianity Enquiry Award recognises not only the quality of works of art but the thinking behind the commission and hopes to encourage best practice. We found in McComb’s work many qualities that we were to search for throughout the judging process. Technically, the work is of the highest quality. St Francis of Assisi is surrounded by his ‘sisters, the birds’ depicted in exquisite and moving detail. As with all the short-listed works, we responded to the modesty of the work and the manner by which the artist achieved impact through simplicity and without rhetoric.
Our eventual short-list consisted of the McComb mosaic; Brian Catling’s Processional Cross, Dorchester Abbey; Tracey Emin’s For You, Liverpool Cathedral; Shirazeh Houshiary and Pip Horne’s East Window, St Martin-in-the-Fields; Rona Smith’s Northern Elevation and Alison Wilding’s Garden Fountain, Drinking Fountain and Baptismal Font, all at the Lumen Centre, United Reform Church, London.
We considered the works by Smith and Wilding both individually and as one project. Like Houshiary’s work, these commissions were managed by the art consultants Modus Operandi as part of major architectural projects. One of the messages that came through strongly is that the skills of such consultants are invaluable in creating strong and successful partnerships between client, architect and artist. Smith and Houshiary each took the vocabulary of the stained glass window and its metal frame to create entirely new forms. Houshiary in particular has created a remarkable sculptural effect which combines, through line only, the shape of Christ on the cross with an ellipse of light at its centre. Wilding’s three small sculptures with water as their linking theme and function, define and punctuate a visitor’s walk through the church from door to enclosed garden.
Our winner was Tracey Emin’s ‘For You’ in Liverpool Cathedral. Coloured glass, light and text have been the cornerstone of art in Christian worship for centuries and this work combines all three but as pink neon. The artist’s own feminine handwriting – a rare element in Christian iconography – reads “I Felt You And I Knew You Loved Me”. Its material and the fact that it is not functional nor built into the fabric of the building might suggest that it is temporary. Our task as judges was to look at both permanent and temporary projects, but the standard of the permanent commissions was so high that we wished to highlight this by choosing a short-list of outstanding works that will remain in perpetuity. The permanence of the Liverpool commission is significant and indicates risk-taking with conviction on the part of the Cathedral. The material and the message are ambiguous – by which I mean they could exist with equal weight in a secular setting – but set above the red sandstone of the west door the work carries a very simple and direct message, intimate as well as contemplative.