Allsaints' Church, Hanley
Artwork Creation
Background Information
Allsaints' Church is a church in Hanley built in the late 1800s. It was built by pottery workers as a place of worship for the working class people of the area. Not long ago, the church had fallen into disrepair, but thanks to Reverend Eze, the church has grown from 2 to 40 members and hosts regular events. I was tasked with creating artwork in different art movement styles which portrayed the past, present and future of the church.
The Past
As we had to explore how the church has changed over time, I decided to dedicate two of my outcomes to the past, which portrays the origins of the church where it grew from the ground and then it's troublesome past, where the church fell into disrepair and had a congregation size of two. The first outcome was a Dada inspired piece, which included the local pottery workers seemingly working on the church, with the wealthy land owner crossed out in the back. This therefore reflects the nature of the church in which the church was built for the working people, with the wealthy land and pottery owners using Stoke Minster.
The second outcome was in a Vorticism style, which was an art movement which aimed to reflect the industrialisation of the early 20th century. This piece aimed to show how the church was a symbol of hope and a form of escape for the pottery workers amongst the factories and the over-towering buildings reflect how as Stoke grew, Allsaints' Church was overlooked and slowly began to decline.
The second outcome was in a Vorticism style, which was an art movement which aimed to reflect the industrialisation of the early 20th century. This piece aimed to show how the church was a symbol of hope and a form of escape for the pottery workers amongst the factories and the over-towering buildings reflect how as Stoke grew, Allsaints' Church was overlooked and slowly began to decline.
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The Present
I also dedicated two of my outcomes to the present-day uses of the church. I wanted to reflect how the church is beginning to diversify in what it offers, branching out into Jazz evenings. As well as this, something interesting which Reverend Eze mentioned was that the tea and coffee after the service usually lasts longer than the service itself, I therefore used this in the first outcome shown to portray how everyone is welcome at the church through the use of metaphorical mugs and snacks. Each scene in the Pop-Art inspired pieces shows the contrasts between people, old and young, plain and quirky etc. etc. I therefore wanted to show how everyone is welcome at the church.
The second piece features an outcome in the cubism style which was made famous by Pablo Picasso. I wanted to incorporate the trumpet, which is significant as a Jazz instrument and portray the changing uses of the church in this way. I also incorporated the organ pipes in the background which showed a growth line predicting future growth as the church begins to use the organ again.
The second piece features an outcome in the cubism style which was made famous by Pablo Picasso. I wanted to incorporate the trumpet, which is significant as a Jazz instrument and portray the changing uses of the church in this way. I also incorporated the organ pipes in the background which showed a growth line predicting future growth as the church begins to use the organ again.
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The Future
The final of the outcomes was dedicated to the future of the church and was completed in a Constructivism style, made popular through Russian Propaganda. I wanted to portray the uncertainty that remains in the future of the church but also the hope that the church will continue to grow. The piece features the organ pipes with the wind outlets being portrayed as arrows pointing upwards, with the two circles showing the growth in the congregation size. The good is represented by black and the bad is represented by red. In the top right the uncertainty is pictured with a question mark and the rays of red shining down onto the pipes.
