Te Aroha O Rongoheikume

Regan O'Callaghan lucy's wharenui, Taupo Museum, New Zealand

Te Aroha O Rongoheikume(For the love of Lucy)

" Between 1924 and 1927 Tene Waitere (my great great uncle) worked on a set of carvings for his niece Lucy Rongoheikume Reid (left), daughter of Taima Te Ngahue. Lucy is my great-grandmother. The carvings were for a wharenui (house) which wasn't built. They were bequeathed to the people of Taupo in 1960 but mostly stayed in storage until 2000 when the wharenui was finally erected in the Taupo Museum.

When you enter the wharenui it is customary to take off your shoes. Inside are more panels carved by Tene. They represent our ancestors. Growing up I can remember in my grandmothers back garden another carving by Tene. It was slowly rotting away. I drew it as part of a project for school.  The design was used on the cover of the end of year school magazine. Tene was a renowned master carver.  He was often commissioned to carve pieces for visiting dignitaries including the Prince of Wales in 1921 and the Duke and Duchess of York in 1927.

Dancing with Death

Dancing with Death is part of my Koru series.  It's title might appear dark and gruesome but it is not intended. Death is a fact of life.  We will all die someday. Life is about death.

I like the The Day of the Dead festival in Mexico as an example of a way to cope with death and loss. Bereaved families will gather around gravestones and will celebrate and have a picnic in memory of their beloveds. Shrines will be set up in family homes and the deceased‚ favourite food will be placed there.

In the U.K where I am a priest people will commemorate the dead on All Souls Day.  Candles will be lit and the names of the departed will be read out. It is a moving service.

Sometimes though I do wonder if we allow enough space and time for grieving?  One never gets over a death of a loved one but rather in time learns to live with their loss. In a busy world people can be expected to be back to normal after a death within a few weeks! Yet grief comes in waves spaced out sometimes over years.  Some days the tide is out and the bereaved feel they can breathe, all is calm. Then the tide comes in and it arrives with huge crashing waves that threaten to overwhelm. People think they are going to drown. Eventually the tide will go out again and the overwhelming feelings of loss will settle down for the time being.  It is here maybe that grieving people need a quiet bay to shelter in and rest and to find a creative way of expressing their loss without having to wait for a formal expression or date on the calender

Melkite Church, Israel.

British Association of IconographersVoluntary project for the Melkite Church of the Sermon on the Mount‚ Ibillin, Israel.

In 2004/5 a dozen people from the British Association of Iconographers under the direction of Sister Bernadette Crook worked on an Iconostasis for a newly built Church in Ibillin, Israel.  The Iconostasis contains over 40 icons of various sizes. The BAI was approached by Elias Chacour a Palestinian Melkite Priest who has lived and worked in Ibillin for many years and is now the ArchBishop of Galilee.

Elias is the author of Blood Brothers - an account of his life.  From an early age Elias had a strong call to serve the Church and after years of study was ordained becoming the first Palestinian to earn a degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Today Elias ministry is one of reconciliation and peace between Christians, Muslims, Druze and Jews.  The newly built Church in Ibillin is a Chapel of Peace with the Iconostasis reflecting the positive relationships between people of different faiths and cultures.

For example the icon of Elijah (written by Sister Bernadette) which traditionally shows a raven sent by God bringing sustenance to Elijah in the desert instead shows Bedouin bringing food. This is based on a translation of scripture which suggests the word raven has been mis-translated and should read Arab.

I worked mainly on the icon of Saint Andrew and Saint Peter and was privileged to be in attendance for the dedication of the Church and Iconostasis in 2005.

www.pilgrimsofibillin.org 

I heard the trees sing and the stars laugh.

I spent time in the Amazon while traveling through Peru last year. One night my sister and I stayed in a tree house way up in the canopy. Amazing!!! When the sun went down the jungle became alive.  Strange noises filled the night and it was so so dark. When I blew my candle out I couldn't see a thing. While getting ready to go to sleep above me in the roof of the tree house something stirred. It climbed down and started scurrying around under my bed. Slightly freaked out I turned on my torch to see what it was. A rather large rat looking thing trundled past me. At this stage I thought I won't tell Lian we are sharing someone else's home. In the morning Lian said "something has been eating my soap" - large bite and claw marks clearly evident.

The place we were staying was Refugio Altiplano. Well worth a visit. I had some amazing experiences there.

Check out their website 

I heard the trees sing and the stars laughPen and ink on paper 2010

All Saints Day 2010

 All Saints Day was celebrated at St Saviours Church Pimlico in style!  Students from my icon class displayed their work in front of the altar. The icons were blessed alongside the baptism of Hadrian Trafford-Roberts the grandson of Ros who presided over the service. I preached.  The icon class has now been running for over 4 years.  It began at St John on Bethnal Green and when I left there I moved it to St Saviours.  As you can see from the photos the students have become quite accomplished!