The course also features the work of Vincent Van Gogh, David Jones, Unity Spencer and other artists.

This course has been devised by Sarah Middleton, in collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History.

Supported by the Gibbs Trust.

Weekly for six weeks, starting 22 February 2021. Booking closes 15 February.

Art, faith and mental wellbeing are explored through the lives and creative output of:

Unity Spencer, painter and teacher, Quaker, author of 'Lucky to be an artist' (published 2015)

Eularia Clarke, two of whose works feature in the Methodist Modern Art Collection

David Jones, First World War soldier, Roman Catholic artist, poet and calligrapher and, quite remarkably,

Vincent Van Gogh, who preached in Methodist churches when he lived in London during the 1870s.

James Smetham provides the focal point. A friend of the artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Ruskin, Smetham was Drawing Master at the Wesleyan Westminster College and a devout Methodist Class Leader. His prolific visual ‘squarings’ (postage-stamp-size pen and ink drawings) annotate his personal bible and hymn book, recording his daily activity both in celebration of and search for God’s blessings. He also produced literary ‘ventilators’, which might be described today as a method of therapeutic journalling.

Bible study will be accompanied by the opportunity to create personal ‘squarings’ or other responses to these artists who struggled variously with their mental health.

Course Tutor

Sarah Middleton – Visiting Research Fellow, Oxford Brookes University

Sarah’s first course for Wesley House was ‘Drawing Closer to God – exploring art in worship and theology’. She has recently led ecumenical study days around the themes of this new course looking at the uplifting dimensions of visual art and practice.