News – April 2006.
‘FINDING CHRIST, FINDING LIFE: an exhibition of new and rarely seen pictures by Elizabeth Wang, London, Summer 2006.
An exhibition of pictures by Elizabeth Wang, will be held in London at the French Church, Leicester Square, London between July 1st and September 24th 2006. Eighteen large-scale prints of original paintings will be displayed, together with written meditations. Entrance is free. The church will be open every day from 9:30am to 7:30pm. Visitors are welcome to attend Mass, which is celebrated in English (Mon-Fri, 12:15pm and 6pm), and in French (Sat 6pm, Sun 11:30am). The exhibition is closed during services. The French Church ('Notre Dame de France') is at 5 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX, UK, just off Leicester Square, between Haagen Dazs and Starbucks, 3 minutes walk from Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Sq stations. The church is near the Prince Charles Cinema. (For MAP click here).
Saturday September 9th 2006: A TIME OF PRAYER AND REFLECTION, at the exhibition church.
To go with the exhibition theme, there will be a time of prayer and reflection at the French church on Saturday September 9th 2006, from 2pm – 3:30pm; directions are above. This will include talks by Mgr. Keith Barltrop (Director of 'CASE'), Sr. Amadeus Bulger CJ, and the artist Elizabeth Wang. All welcome, no tickets required.
People from all over the world visit the Radiant Light online Art Gallery
In May 2005 the Radiant Light online Art Gallery was launched at www.radiantlight.org.uk The Art Gallery displayed about 250 pictures in 15 art exhibitions when opened and has had many visitors in its first few months. We have had a number of emails from people sharing about how the artwork has really helped them in their faith. Others have found it useful for evangelisation and catechesis. Hits have come from countries such as the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Poland, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Japan. During the last month the website received about 7,200 hits (actual site visits) and 13,300 total page hits. Some of the most visited exhibitions are ‘Some Favourite Pictures’, ‘The Glory of God the Holy Trinity’, ‘Prayer and the Spiritual Life’, and ‘The Rosary’ and ‘Comfort in Prayer’. It is wonderful that more people can now access this work, and we pray that it helps them to grow in their relationship with God.
New additions to the Radiant Light website.
Various new items have been added to the website in recent months:
There is a new exhibition in the Art Gallery called 'Picture Archive: A Spiritual Journey (Room 1)' at http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/art_gallery_archive_room1.php
This contains images of 78 monochrome watercolour paintings which are part of a larger set. Elizabeth has also painted many of these monochrome paintings in full colour, and these colour pictures are the ones which make up most of the Art Gallery. So some of the images in this monochrome set are the first versions of more well known pictures.
Last year's London exhibition is now online at the Art Gallery, titled 'Prayer and the Spiritual Life', at http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/art_gallery_spiritual_life.php
In the Photos section, there are two new photo galleries 'Painting in Progress' and 'In the Studio', at http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/photos_painting_progress.php
In the Meditations section there is a new meditation with pictures: ‘Reverence in Church’, at:
http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/meditations.php
There is a new Articles section at http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/articles_bess_davies.php
The new 'For Priests' section contains the full text to Elizabeth's book 'The Purpose of the Priesthood', which gives encouragement to priests. This is at http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/writings_priesthood.php
Other new items will be added to the website in the coming months.
Last Year's Art Exhibition 'Journey into Prayer: the Spiritual Life in Pictures' in London.
Last summer Radiant Light organised an exhibition of Elizabeth Wang’s artwork called ‘Journey into Prayer: the Spiritual Life in Pictures’. The exhibition was visited by many people during the 10 weeks that it was on display in the French Church at Leicester Square, London. Lots of tourists pass through the church as they visit the area, so it was great to be able to share the pictures with people who may not see Christian art very often. The church has a very peaceful atmosphere, and is a real place of prayer for the community and for visitors. We hope that the exhibition moved people’s hearts and encouraged them in prayer. As part of the exhibition we held an afternoon at the church on July 9th with some prayer time, a talk by Fr Anthony Doe, and a meditation on the pictures by Elizabeth Wang. This took place during a very sad week in the city as it was only two days after the London bombings, but it was also an appropriate time to be praying together, and thinking about what life is about. The talks were very inspiring and linked up with the theme of the exhibition. Photos of the day are at this link:
http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/photos_journey_2005.php
New publications and ongoing work
Radiant Light has published three new prayercards by Elizabeth Wang titled 'Reverence in Church', 'Attendance at Mass', and 'United with the Saints at Mass'. Each folding laminated prayer card has three pictures on it and a prayer meditation. For details see this link:
http://www.radiantlight.org.uk/publications_posters_prayer_cards.php
We will be adding more pictures to the Art Gallery in the coming months. Elizabeth is still in the process of writing a children's book, which will include a new set of paintings.
Radiant Light Resources.
Over the past few months Radiant Light pictures and resources have been used by a number of different organisations, such as the 'Come & See' renewal process of the Diocese of Leeds, St. Patrick's Evangelisation School, Southwark Catholic Youth Service (UK); also, Catholic Earthcare Australia (an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference); Trócaire, (the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland); Loyola Press, Chicago; and The Precious Blood Family Magazine, Canada. We are really pleased to be involved with these groups, and hope that the use of the pictures helps them in their different apostolates.