10 minute read
Rena Rouhipour
I am a textile artist. My chosen medium is fine art tapestry weaving. I also use wet felting, embroidery and sometimes stitch to create expressive pieces that capture the mood of the seasons and the landscape. Painting, drawing and photography are how I investigate and explore my subjects that I then translate to more simplified tapestry design focusing on colour, texture, shape and line. Linen and wool are my favoured weft, naturally dyed or undyed where possible.
Title of Work
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Saint Bronagh’s Well
Medium: Woven Tapestry
Dimensions 23 cms x 22 cms.
This tapestry piece is an abstract representation of the Holy Well associated with St Bronagh in the parish of Kilbroney. It focuses on the experience of looking down through the weathered stonework into the blackness of the water beneath, hence ‘inside and out’. It depicts the dry, weathered surface of the outer stonework with its multicoloured striations. The stark black rectangles show unknowable dark depths inside. The brighter half-circle references the ‘bulláun’, a cup-like indentation found commonly in the stonework of holy wells. The water contained by the bulláun was said to have strong healing properties. In this tapestry, the semi-circle references the arch above the holy well as well as the sun and the moon which mark the passage of time.
Ian is a local cartographer who began the onerous task a number of years ago recording the layout of graves within Old Kilbroney Graveyard, a protected historical site of religious significance that spans both traditions of Christianity and pre-Christian traditions. His work was interrupted and he lost heart in the project. He does not rate himself as an artist but his interpretation of the old Church of Bronagh belies his creativity.
Title of Work
Hand drawn Map of Old Kilbroney Graveyard
Olive Swanzy was born in 1882 and her family were members of St Mary’s Church in Newry. She and her sister moved to Rostrevor in the late 1950s and became active in Kilbroney Parish Church.
They lived in Rock House in the Square and she is remembered for her memorial front garden on Remembrance Day.
She nursed soldiers in military hospitals in France during the First World War. She was an accomplished artist and produced many small paintings of the hospital tents. She also used art therapy in her nursing. This is well demonstrated in her autograph books which contain pictures and poems by soldiers who were her patients.
Her portfolio was collated and curated by local artist Marie Claire Douglas.
The war material was exhibited in and now held by the Ulster Museum in Belfast. This also provided the subject and inspiration for a play which was preformed in Rostrevor, Armagh and Belfast.
Olive painted a large number of local scenes and often these were printed on postcards for sale in church fundraising events. Some of those which are connected with Kilbroney Parish church are included in this display.
I grew up on a farm. Loved animals. So when I came into this church the window at the font took my eye.
Acrylic on canvas
One night at Ladies Guild a lady, Shelagh Roberts, asked if I would like to paint. She ran lessons on a Friday morning. It was Shelagh who got me into the arts.
The “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) symbol can be traced back to 5th century Rome.
The “Lamb of God” refers to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial offering. It represents him as both suffering and victorious. Since the lamb is a sacrificial animal, it may also symbolize purity, as well as innocence and gentleness. It is also representative of meekness, humility, and forgiveness.
Title of Work
The Lamb at the Font
I got interested in painting a few years ago when a friend introduced me to a group she’d joined. I’ve tried oils and acrylics but finally settled on watercolour which I find very challenging and absorbing. I’m self taught.
Title of Work
‘NEAR and FAR’
Dimensions 11½ X 16½ inches
Although God may appear far away, He is always nearby.
I paint from the landscape at the site and in the studio working from drawings made at the location. There is a strong preference for a dual process of drawing and painting in my work.
My art training started at Rochdale School of Art from the late fifties followed by a Fine Art course at St Martin’s School of Art in Painting. This is one of a number of paintings that feature Rostrevor and the Kilbroney district.
Colin was born in Newry and spent a number of years as head of a secondary school art department. He is a full-time professional artist.
Title of Work
Rostrevor
Cynara is a ceramicist and was a prize winner at the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (RUA). This sculpture has toured with President Mary McAleese.
Cynara was baptised in Kilbroney Parish Church and the horse is linked both with the Tree of Life Window and the pursuit of the Israelites from Egypt.
When the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, left Egypt they were pursued by the Egyptian horses and chariots.
Exodus 14:5-9.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
A further link with the church is the image of a horse in the Tree of Life window in the North Transept.
White Altar Cloth
Displayed above the Holy Table in the North Transept
The white altar cloth was worked by Ester Sophia Rainey early last century.
In 1959 the frontal was remade and gifted to the church by Mr John Perfect and Mrs Douglas-Nugent, a friend of the original donor. Finally, it was fashioned into a wall hanging by Mrs Margaret Mahood a skilled and talented needlewoman and parishioner until recently.
Margaret took tailoring classes for 5 years in Harrogate and moved to Rostrevor in 1966 when she married George Mahood. Needlework is part of the art curriculum nowadays.
Margaret is an artist in the textile tradition.
Red Altar Cloth
On the Holy Table at the East End
Margaret also repaired the red altar cloth displayed on the main altar. Margaret’s sewing skills have allowed several richly embroidered pieces of Church furnishings to be preserved and continue to be used. The Christogram IHS on the Altar Cloth is a monogram for the name “Jesus” from the Greek … ΙΗΣΟΥΣ. This symbol was first used at the end of the seventh century.
Pulpit fall design
Book of Kells
In glass cabinet North Transept (facsimile)
A copy of the famous fabulously Illuminated manuscript of the four gospels of the New Testament on a display in a glass cabinet. The Book of Kells was probably produced in a monastery on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, to honour Saint Columba in the early 8th century.
As many as ten different colours were used in the illuminations, some of them rare and expensive dyes that had to be imported from the continent. The workmanship is so fine that some of the details can only be clearly seen with a magnifying glass.
The Last Supper
Tapestry in the North Transept
This was made by Mrs Lorna McCurdy and completed by Mrs Peggy DeBeer.
Cross in Side Chapel
On the Holy Table in the North Transept
This small resin cross is a replica of Muiredach’s High Cross at Monasterboice. It is 5.5-meters high, and carved from solid stone, and it is suggested that the cross is Ireland’s greatest contribution to European sculpture.
Each of the four carved faces depicts different biblical scenes, including those of The Last Judgement, and the Crucifixion of Christ, the Adoration of the Magi, Moses drawing water from the rock, and David and Goliath.
The east face has Christ saving Peter from the water; Joshua; Saint Anthony tempted by demons; Saint Paul and Saint Anthony killing a devil; an angel shielding three children in the fiery furnace; and images of Elijah, Moses, Abraham and Isaac, David and Goliath, and David killing a lion.
Some scriptural panels also appear on the sides of the cross. At the centre of the head on the west face is a crucifixion scene, Stephaton is on Christ's right with his sponge and Longinus can be seen on his left piercing Christ's side with a spear. Above each of his arms are two angels. It has been suggested that the two bosses between Christ and the Roman soldiers may represent the Sun and Moon, and the figures behind the soldiers may represent Tellus/Ocean and the Gaia/Earth.
The inscription at the base of the west side, inscribed around the two cats reads, OR DO MUIREDACH LASNDERNAD.....RO, A prayer for Muiredach who had the cross erected.
Monasterboice was founded in the 5th century by Saint Buite, one of Saint Patrick's original followers.
Photo
Saint Bronach Book
On a side table in the North Transept
Leather bound with vellum pages and hand written calligraphy, this book tells the legend of Saint Bronach with two beautiful illustrations of her life. It also lists various gifts made by parishioners over the years.
Author and illustrator unknown.
Cradle Roll
On baptistry wall behind the font
Lists of the baptisms in Kilbroney Parish Church with calligraphy by artist Gladys Mulligan
The Saints in the East (Ascension) Window
This coloured sketch lists those saints depicted at the Ascension of our Lord.
This was created by Mrs Lesley A Gregg , second wife of the Most Rev Dr J A F Gregg, Bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. She was a talented artist and known for her interest in church architecture. Lesley became a parishioner of Kilbroney in 1961 and taught art to a number of parishioners.
The framed picture sits on the decorated brass book stand.
