THE WINDOWS

St Johns Church, Flinders

THE SEA WINDOWS

St Johns Church, Flinders

The Way

The Light

The Storm

Works photographed by James Grant Photography

The Resurrection

Foreign Shores

FOREIGN SHORES and

THE RESURRECTION

St Johns Church, Flinders

Works photographed by James Grant Photography

about.

The glass windows at St Johns Flinders pay homage to the beautiful environment in which Flinders is located and for which we give thanks and over which we have stewardship. God is to be found in the smallest detail of creation and in the complexity of its inter-relationships. Christ’s words of love to us are woven through this magnificent tapestry.

The windows are designed and created by glass artist David Wright. The theology that underpins the work is devised in collaboration with The Revd. Sue McPhee Wright.

ARTISTS BIOGRAPHY

David Wright is an internationally acclaimed glassworker with a unique technique of working the material. Since graduating in Architecture from the University of Melbourne he has completed commissions for glasswork in numerous private and public buildings including places of worship for Hindus, Jews and Christians, schools and hospitals. David has taught and lectured throughout Australia and overseas.

David’s art is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Glass Collection and over a hundred works are held by numerous prominent Australian and overseas collectors. Exhibitions of his glass have included Deutscher Gallery, Distelfink Gallery, 101 Collins St. and the Craft Centre, in Melbourne; the Australian National Glass Biennial, Canberra, as well as The Pilchuck Glass School, USA, Europe and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan.

Wright was awarded an Order of Australia Medal [OAM] for his contribution to the arts. He and his wife Sue McPhee Wright live in Flinders, Victoria where he has his studio.

Sue McPhee Wright

Sue McPhee Wright and David Wright have been together for over 55 years. In 1972, David and Sue married after meeting on the Mornington Peninsula as young teenagers who shared a love of sailing. Sue holds two Masters degrees and a Bachelor of Divinity, one of her Masters degrees is entitled “Perceptions of God” from the Centre for the Study of Religion and Theology at Monash University. Sue spent the majority of her career as a practising psychologist in a number of Melbourne Schools, and has undertaken considerable volunteer work. Sue was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church in 1998 and served at St George’s, Malvern, Holy Trinity, Williamstown and as a vicar of St. Johns, Flinders.

Photographed by James Grant Photography

“I regard my overall major influence in my work to be Sue. From the very beginning, which is now so long ago, some fifty years – apart from the fact that she was so cute - it was, and remains, her amazing brain that attracted me, her vibrancy, her incredibly wide interests and reading. We have always had wonderful conversations about everything in life. She was attracted to the church by the impressive people that we met through my work but increasingly it is her theological insights and the many discussions that we have that help me in my design.”

www.davidwrightstudio.com

windows.

THE STORM

Holding fast against the storm and the currents in the deep. Resetting our course.

This window shows the boat in danger of being swamped by the waves whipped up by the storm. Jesus has his arm outstretched in protection of the disciples, chiding them.

“Why are you afraid, you of little faith. Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a dead calm.”

Matt. 8:23-27.

The design celebrates the deep sea, with its forests of kelp holding fast to the rock. Just so must we hold fast to our faith in times of storm. Common to Flinders are the squid and stingrays. Anemones, snails, limpets and abalone abound. An occasional visitor, the stranger arriving on our shore, is the fragile and beautiful nautilus, a reference to the first window on the north side. Arching overall is the rainbow, God’s covenant with all of humankind.

THE STORM is a gift of the Barrett Family.

The Storm

Window size 55 mm x 210 mm

THE WAY

Life’s journey surrounded by the beautiful complexity of creation of which we are stewards.

Christ says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. Our safe journey into harbour is marked by lighted buoys, port and starboard, placed by those with experience of the perils of rock, reef and shallow, keeping us safe from wreck or stranding. Just so, we are guided on life’s complicated journey by Christ’s teachings as outlined in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

John 14:6

This window also celebrates the gentle shore, the calm, the beach. Shown are the leafy sea dragon, one of the wonders of Flinders. The rockpool is its own miraculous world of crabs, seaweeds and shrimps. Symbolic of epic journey is the Red-Necked Stint that makes the heroic round trip to Siberia each year after recovering its strength in Flinders during summer. The scallop shell is emblematic of Christian pilgrimage.

THE WAY is a gift of the Hamson Family.

The Way

Window size 55 mm x 210 mm

THE LIGHT

Light from darkness, fruitfulness from salt, wisdom from sorrow.

Christ says “I am the light of the world” John 8:12 and 9:5

Symbolic of Christ’s words in John’s gospel is the lighthouse with its beam of light guiding us past dangerous coasts, fixing our position in turbulent seas.

Christ says “I am the light of the world”

John 8:12 and 9:5

This window celebrates the rough and magnificent coast on the ocean side of Flinders. The salt spray from the ocean is used by such humble species as the Coastal Saltbush and Samphire which turn the saltwater to flower and fruit from which the honeyeaters feed. The wrens find succour and safety in the leaves of the saltbush and we humans may find saltbush chips or samphire on our menus.

Just so, our shared salty tears of sorrow may be transformed by love to wisdom and fruitfulness as our faith in Christ lights the darkness.

THE LIGHT is gifted by community donation.

The Light

Window size 55 mm x 210 mm

THE RESURRECTION

This window is about women’s ministry in the church. The women come to the tomb. They bring spices to anoint the body and a needle and thread to mend the shroud. It is an unpleasant but necessary task and one left to women. They find the stone rolled back and Christ’s body gone and an angel at the head and foot of the unwound shroud. Later, in the garden Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Christ and in her despair mistakes him for the gardener. She is commanded to go and tell the disciples the news of Christ’s resurrection, she is the apostle to the apostles.

The needle and thread are symbolic of women’s continual role carrying the bulk of the burden of minutiae in “stitching” the church together, the cleaning and care of vestments and linen, the hospitality and catering, the provision of flowers for weekly services and for weddings and funerals and so on.

In Flinders at St Johns the women’s network of care and companionship runs deep, from knowing and having access to each others’ gardens for church flowers, to the work in the Flinders Op Shop which to a great extent finances the church. The Op Shop is a place where women work hard to recycle, sort, mend, clean and sell, always with much laughter and sometimes tears of compassion. It is a place of pastoral care and friendship. It is not surprising that at the tomb, one of the urns appears to have been provided by the Flinders Op Shop.

Mary Magdalene, telling the disciples of the good news of Christ’s resurrection is not believed. It is timely that women’s voices are again being heard in the church as they take up positions of authority.

THE RESURRECTION is a gift of the Wright Family.

The Resurrection

Window size 55 mm x 210 mm

Foreign Shores

Window size 55 mm x 210 mm

FOREIGN SHORES

Our lives are like voyages, sometimes gliding through calm, sometimes tossed by turbulent seas. We constantly arrive on new and foreign shores of challenge and possibility. Calm or storm, we are fortified in life’s journey by our faith in the future and our support for each other.

In the centre of the design is the boat formed from the figures. It could be many things. The boat could be the church, its mast the cross, its very being formed by the people in it. The figures could be Mary and the Christ child with the clematis like a veil on Mary. They could simply be parent and child in the vessel of the church, perhaps at baptism, the window situated near the font. Perhaps they are intrepid explorers seeking foreign lands, this window being set beside the Matthew Flinders memorial.

Or perhaps they are refugees, fleeing evil, anxious at their reception on this shore. Like the fragile and beautiful paper nautilus “the Sailor”, will they be cast and broken on a rocky shore of bigotry or land safe and whole on a bed of soft seaweed of love and care?

Or perhaps the boat/figures are simply ourselves.

Framing all this is the elegant silver leaved banksia which line our shores. It is interlaced with the native clematis running like a veil of stars through the trees.

At the top soars the wedge tailed eagle, symbol of The Holy Spirit at creation. It is also the emblem of St John, patron of this church. For the Bunurong people, the original and long term inhabitants of this area, the eagle is the creator, Bunjil.

FOREIGN SHORES is a gift of the Flinders Community.

music.

St Johns Flinders in collaboration with the Inventi Ensemble co-commissioned composer Caerwen Martin to create a piece of music inspired by The Sea Windows, an initiative lead by Ben Opie and Melissa Doecke.

The piece will have its world premiere at St Johns Flinders on Sunday 4th of December, 2022 as part of the 'Sea Windows Celebration - Inventi Ensemble & Liane Keegan' recital. For bookings please visit: www.trybooking.com/BZHZM.

Caerwen Martin has also composed a piece of music inspired by 'The Resurrection' window entitled 'Women of the Earth'.

CAERWEN MARTIN BIOGRAPHY

Caerwen Martin is the composer and artistic director of Silo String Quartet founded 1998 and is a Represented Artist of the Australian Music Centre. Their multi-genre work as a freelance cellist, arranger and composer includes 24 years extensive international experience across the USA, Western Europe, Scandinavia, the Balkans, South Africa, Japan, Taipei, UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Caerwen has released 7 albums and works from their extensive catalogue appear on multiple ABC and independent releases reaching international audiences and media including works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, small ensemble, solo works, choral, film, dance, art installation, and theatre.

Career highlights include SiloSQ Rising Festival with Dr Lou Bennett AM 2022, Melbourne International Jazz Festival with Ambrose Akinmusire and SiloSQ 2019, Birds Duo National Opera Centre Manhattan 2016, Jolt SuperDelux Tokyo 2016, SiloSQ Carnegie Hall 2008, Black Arm Band Melbourne Sydney Perth Darwin International Arts Festivals and WOMAD 2006 – 2009, Aphids Skin Quartet TBA Festival USA, Brussels, Opera House Syd, Johannesburg 2006, Reception installation (Hellow) Adelaide Biennale 2006, Berlin, Köln, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Dresden, Freiburg, Strasbourg, Brussels, Lucerne, Dranoute, and surrounds (Metamorphose) 2002-2003, Aphips MAPS Copenhagen 2002, David Chesworth Ensemble Slovenia, Bang on a Can & Next Wave Festivals (NYC), The Kennedy Centre USA, The Forum (Mel) 2001-2003, Concertgebouw 1998, Croatian premiere of Requiem for Cello Alone Sculthorpe live television broadcast 1998.

Photographed by Ana at Verve Portraits

www.caerwenmartincomposer.com.au

INVENTI ENSEMBLE

Inventi Ensemble have established themselves in Melbourne and are a leading force in Australian chamber music. Award winning performances in Australia’s leading concert halls and at festivals around the country have led to an enthusiastic following of their innovative programming and outstanding performance style. They are one of the most prolific chamber ensembles in Australia, with over 50 diverse concerts in their 2021 season. Inventi is an exciting voice in Australian music.

Leaders in promoting new repertoire, Inventi have commissioned numerous works by Victorian composers that have gained worldwide recognition - international festival performances and competition winning works. Inventi’s discography is growing, with two new albums released in Nov 2020, in an unprecedented project recorded in 3 days between lockdowns in Melbourne. Women of the Earth celebrates Australian female composers & Peer Gynt is an innovative retelling of the Norwegian tales in true Inventi style, narrated by the inimitable Ed Ayres.

Inventi have unmistakably had a positive benefit and impact on the careers of many artists and Inventi’s diverse contribution to the Australian arts sector is unparalleled.

www.inventiensemble.com