St.Luke’s Church, Grimethorpe

St Luke’s is a large Church in the middle of Grimethorpe, a village in the heart of the coalmining area of South Yorkshire. Grimethorpe was formerly a close-knit mining community, and is still demoralised since the pit closure, although attempts are being made to regenerate the area by introducing new employment opportunities and housing.

The Church is to be redesigned to form a smaller worship area, with a large community hall, meeting rooms, business start-up offices and a caretaker’s flat. The architects Peter Wright + Martyn Phelps are a small firm with considerable experience in carrying out the sensitive conversion of churches to incorporate new uses.

Father Peter is embarking upon the programme of fund-raising and design to achieve this change. He is keen to engage a wide range of people from the local community in this process, as the Church is a significant feature for both the congregation and non-Church goers. The involvement of artists is an opportunity to both influence the design, through incorporating art and craft, and to draw local people in to the process of change.

Father Peter Needham
St. Luke’s Vicarage
High Street
Grimethorpe
Barnsley S72 7JA
01226 717561

The brief

The main role for the two artists on this bursary was as catalysts, of provoking thought and responses to the process of change going on at the Church. The artists could contribute to the process by liaising with the architects and putting forward sketch designs for the incorporation of art within the Church. No funds were available for the creation and installation of finished work, but it was anticipated that funds could be raised at a later date for accepted sketch designs to be implemented.

In addition to this, the Church want the artists to draw a wider audience in to the process of change at the Church, through running a series of workshops based on their artistic practices.

The artists were also expected to use the bursary as an opportunity to develop their own creative practices, and to create temporary works or installations. These would be in addition to preparing sketch proposals for more permanent work, and again would contribute to making more visible the process of change affecting the Church.

Anne-Marie Watson
Nathalie Liege