Spirited Arts 2021

Summer 2021

This year we have been exploring the theme of Healing.  We have wrestled with a lot of tricky questions such as: 

  • What is healing?
  • How do you know when you have been healed?
  • Do we need God to find healing?
  • Do we all have the power to bring healing?
  • Does healing ever end? 

We hope our art work makes you think! There will be a display of all of our winners in church.

The Infinite Mandala – Oskar
The Infinite Mandala – Oskar

The Infinite Mandala

This is an infinity symbol in this mandala. The line in an infinity symbol never ends and in a mandala the pattern draws your eye into the middle over and over again. This is like the fact that healing never ends so it is an everlasting journey.

The religion that inspired my work is Buddhism. Buddhist monks make mandalas and then destroy them by sweeping the sand into the middle (which is like the repeating pattern again). They do this because it is a kind of meditation. It helps them to relax and calm their minds down. When they destroy it they might destroy their bad feelings e.g. anger or pain.

My inspiration came from when we wondered whether healing ever came to an end and we thought about healing being never ending so I thought I would do a never ending symbol. I think healing might be never ending because even if you go to heaven you will still be being healed because you will still have feelings. 

Oskar, age 9

Coventry Cathedral model

This is my model of Coventry Cathedral. I used red and blue Plasticine, red tissue, three small cardboard boxes and black pipe-cleaners. I made a green paper sculpture to go on the front. I put little heads on the roof so that they look like demons. I put a treasure chest on the roof too. The red colour I used looks a bit like fire. There is darkness in the sky.

The religion that inspired my work was Christianity. We learnt about the Cathedral in Coventry and how it was destroyed in the Second World War. They kept the ruins and built a brand new Cathedral next door. I think this was a good idea because it shows that healing can happen after a big war when things are rebuilt. The people of Coventry also made friends with people at a church in Germany and healed their friendship. The new Cathedral has a wall with lots of stained glass in it. I thought it looked amazing. On the front of the new Cathedral there is a sculpture about good and evil where the angel with wings is holding a spear that is pointing upwards and he is defeating darkness. I tried to show this on the front of my model.

I enjoyed making my model and I like the figures I made best. Colouring the small boxes and standing my big figure up were the trickiest parts. I kept trying until I got it right.

Clayton, age 6

Water of Hope – Stanley
Water of Hope – Stanley

Water of Hope                                                                    

The shell represents the type of shell used in a font and used for baptism in a Church of England. For me a shell is a sign of togetherness, they are often in pairs, for example clam shells. They are also found close together on a rocky beach.

I created water droplets coming from the shell. I made them from clay. The water droplets represent your problems dropping away as they fall from the shell. The pool of water at the base is to show how as the water collects it can filter your problems away.

Water is also the beginning of life in the Genesis creation story and so the water is a symbol of starting each day anew.

When you dream of running water it is a sign of peace. I feel like there’s nothing to worry about when I am immersed in it. I also love the sound of gurgling streams and water fountains in gardens, which make me feel relaxed and takes away my anxiety and so I feel this is a way of healing my mind.

Stanley, age 9