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From Paint to Poetry

Twelve works from the Methodist Modern Art Collection

The church of St Mary’s is the oldest building in Guildford, dating from the 10th and 11th centuries. After it became a joint Anglican/Methodist church in 2013, it underwent a full and imaginative restoration which both rendered it useful for many exciting new developments and also further enhanced its beauty.

The church was then chosen to be the venue for an exhibition of 25 works of art from the Methodist Modern Art Collection during Lent 2026, with the title ‘From darkness …. to Light’. As a poet, I was invited to write poems to accompany each work of art, and these poems, along with some of the pictures from the exhibition, will be published in February/March 2026 in a book entitled From darkness to light (ISBN 978-1-906856-95-3).

I have selected a dozen of these works for short reflections, to illustrate how poetry can lead us into an even deeper experience of art:

  1. The Raising of Lazarus by John Reilly

  2. Good Friday: Walking on Water, 2006 by Maggi Hambling

  3. Christ enters Jerusalem by Sadao Watanabe

  4. The washing of the Feet by Ghislaine Howard

  5. Fool of God by Mark Cazalet

  6. Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ for R.3.00 by John Muafangejo

  7. The Stripping of Our Lord by Philip Le Bas

  8. The Cross over the City by Michael Edmonds

  9. The Deposition by Graham Sutherland

  10. The supper at Emmaus by Ceri Richards and also by Roy de Maistre

  11. Dalit Madonna by Jyoti Sahi