Morphe Arts, St Barnabas Church, Shacklewell Row, Dalston, E8 2EA, London (2026)

19/04/2026

This side of the Easter hols, we're still looking over the feedback for HADAU conference weekend. Thank you to everyone who took part, whether as attendee, supporter, speaker (Adrienne Chaplin and Alastair Gordon) or artist.

We had many positive comments on the sense of togetherness and passion in the room.

We had feedback such as: “Excellent. A wide variety of speakers which was so good, and a chance to engage with them in the small groups was very welcome.”

“Something I’ll take away with me is a deeper love for my practice, a shared joy with others.”

17/04/2026

About last night... We kicked off the third Morphe Residency programme with a beautiful evening that reminded us of exactly why we do this work. Hearing from the artists about the joys and struggles of keeping going in the arts, and the delight in making as a grounding practice, was a real privilege.

We are so grateful to and our founders and supporters for providing us this space to give to these artists for six months. So thankful for our third year.

Save the date for 16 October for the opening of the final exhibition!

10/04/2026

This Thursday, 16 April, will be the launch event for our 3rd Artist Residency Programme . Join us for a chilled evening with drinks and short talks from the artists.

The Morphe Arts Residency is a six month studio based programme focusing on art practice in dialogue with Chrisitan theology and faith. The residency culminates in an exhibition, which will open on 16 October 2026. Studios are provided at a subsidised rate, with a weekly programme of talks, workshops and Crits, and community lunches.

This year's artists are:

myers
calvert

The residency is run by and

23/03/2026

Less than a week to go until our London conference - Sat 28 March
Join us for a day of talks, workshops and performances, and dinner! 10am - 7.30pm

Link to book in bio...

With talks by

Workshops by .helen.smith

Performances by

Hopefully see you there!

27/02/2026

Our **National Conference is on 28 March in London** and we will be joined by Lydia Oak and Ruth Smith both of whom run their own arts spaces, prioritising community and social practice in Newcastle and Devon. Lydia is Director of Shieldfield Art Works and Ruth is Director of Ruth Smith Gallery. helen.smith

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Link to book in bio ---

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Lydia Oak's artistic activities explore embodied hospitality. She creates spaces and hosts events that enable conversations about hospitality. Lydia is also Director of Shieldfield Art Works (SAW) in Shieldfield (Newcastle), a project of the Methodist Church seeking the good of the city through creative practice and operating on the intersection of contemporary art, theological reflection and community activism. Check out www.saw-newcastle.org for more info. Lydia facilitated the collaborative co-creation of the SAW community garden; she practices printmaking and drawing; is writing a collaborative musical album called ‘The Arboretum’; and last year made her own wedding dress.

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Ruth Helen Smith is an artist based in Devon where she runs a gallery, an art residency programme, and teaches. Her paintings are loose abstractions painted en plein air and centre around the miracle of existence. Ruth began with an art historical background studying her BA and MA at The Courtauld Institute of Art, before training in painting at Heatherley’s. One of her most recent projects has been setting up an artist collective called Red Mud Arts, which has been bringing over 100 artists together through several monthly groups, to collaborate, critique and support.

24/02/2026

On **28 March at our National Conference in London** we will also be joined by Julia Lucero (Associate Director ) and Kieran Dodds (artist, writer and speaker

Julia and Kieran will be joining Funmi for our morning keynote talks.

Link to book in bio --

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Julia Lucero: 'Curating your career: applying gallery strategy to your own practice & how community actually sells work'

The art gallery has too often been confused for an impenetrable, temple-like space that holds the keys to creative visibility and success. For ten years, I've worked with people from top to bottom. It isn't as glamorous as it looks, and most importantly, it doesn’t need to be lonely.

I'll share how curatorial thinking can help artists manage their own careers, reframing 'selling yourself' as thoughtful stewardship rather than compromising integrity. And, how networks and relationships are what actually move careers forward. Collectors buy through trust, not just talent. Artist communities create opportunities that no amount of studio isolation can.

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Kieran Dodds: 'Photoalchemy: the art of turning light into gold'

A sustainable artistic practice requires deep creative and spiritual resources. It also requires cold hard cash. This talk will discuss the perennial challenges and offer some solutions to hep you live the life artistic, learned from two decades of professional experience.

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23/02/2026

We are so excited to announce the line up for our National Conference on 28 March in London. Headlining the day we have Funmi Adewole-Elliott who will be speaking, leading a workshop and performing.

Funmi Adewole Elliott is a performer-writer. After moving from Nigeria to Britain in 1994, she toured for several years with African dance drama and Physical theatre companies whilst working as an arts consultant and as a dance advocate writing about and leading projects supporting Black dance. She lectured at De Montfort University, Leicester, for eight years before returning to full-time independent practice in 2025. FAEStudios is the platform for her work in arts consultancy, dramaturgy, pedagogy, and performance.

Her talk is on 'Arts as Vocation: Sustaining a Lifelong Practice' and her workshop is entitled 'Meditation into Movement'.

Link to book in bio. Tickets by donation (recommended price of £25-40).

30/01/2026

*28 March 2026* - The Morphe National Conference in London. Link to book in bio.

'On Sustaining An Art Practice and Growing Community'
A day of talks, workshops and performances.

Confirmed line up:
Dr Funmi Adewole (Performer, Educator and Dramaturge)
Kieran Dodds (Non-fiction Photographer)
Julia Lucero (Associate Director at Nahmad Projects, London)

Ruth Smith (Director of Ruth Smith Gallery, Devon)
Lydia Oak (Director of Shieldfield Art Works, Newcastle

BELLS (Kandice Holmes)

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Footage from 'Making,Seeing, Hearing', Oct 2025. Featuring .elbourne

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12/01/2026

The talks from our event Making, Seeing, Hearing are now online. Find them on the resources page on our website. link in bio.

And... Save the date for our next day event in London on *28 March*

Pentecosting an Art-Practice
- explores the liturgical contours of art-making, in dialogue with the Pentecost event (Acts 2) and Catherine Pickstock’s work on language, meaning, and doxology. We’ll consider what it means to retrieve the liturgical end Modernity has supposedly stripped away, offering a few reflections on the Holy Spirit’s role in contemporary art-practice

is a new media artist and writer. With a Master’s in Christianity and the Arts from King’s College, London (Distinction). He researches Australian Pentecostalism, the Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, and projection and light-based art’s theological dimensions. Isaiah has exhibited artworks across Australia, Asia, and the UK, in galleries, shopping malls, music festivals, and churches.

12/01/2026

The talks from our event Making, Seeing, Hearing are now online. Find them on our resources page on our website. Link in bio.

And... Save the date for our next day event in London, on 28 March

Words made flesh: the shared corporeality of audible spoken voices and its theological implications
- A conversation is a sharing of oneself and others. Listening and speaking in their rudimentary forms are physical acts and they become a sharing of bodies. This corporeal sharing has implications that are theological and artistic. In this presentation, I suggest possibilities that arise for interactions of faith and creativity.

works across the domains of Theology, Art and Sound through creative practices and critical theory. He is currently a lecturer in Worship and the Creative Arts at London School of Theology. Chandy recently published Bible Noise: Reading Aloud, Listening Anew, a resource to creatively engage with the bible through sound

15/12/2025

Our Artist Residency Programme is open for applications. Deadline: 29 Jan.

The programme will run from 18 April to 26 October 2026, and culminates in a final exhibition 17 to 25 Oct 2026.

Link in bio for Application Pack.

The available studios are in the upper room of St Barnabas Church, Dalston. The residency is a practice-based programme in dialogue between Christian theology and contemporary art practice. Artists will develop a new body of work for exhibition in October 2025. The programme includes a weekly schedule of seminars, workshops and crits from visiting tutors. Artists are expected to use the studios for a minimum of three to four days per week, and to commit to the residency programme which will take place most Mondays, from 10am - 3.30pm, and occasional Friday afternoons.

Artists will be accepted from a range of disciplines and interests. The residency is looking to create a space where questions of faith and belief can be explored alongside artistic practice yet there is no expectation for artists to be making work specifically related to ideas of faith.

Artists will be accepted from a range of disciplines and interests. The residency is looking to create a space where questions of faith and belief can be explored alongside artistic practice yet there is no expectation for artists to be making work specifically related to ideas of faith. The core programme of the residency will take place most Mondays during the residency, beginning with morning reflection and a communal lunch provided for the artists. Community and hospitality are at the core of the residency and this Monday programme is when we come together as a group.This programme is in partnership with St Barnabas Church Dalston and has been made possible by their incredible generosity. The programme is run by Sarah White and Alastair Gordon.

13/12/2025

OPEN CALL: (Deadline 14 Feb) Expressions of interest in contributing to the third issue of Agnoscis Journal

Editor Sarah White: "For this edition we are focusing on writing related to the work and philosophy of Simone Weil, with particular interest in writing drawn from artists' own practice and which attends to the theological within their practice. We are open to writing in various forms and registers, and which is experimental in nature.

The journal is an artist-led and practice-driven engagement with contemporary art, with a particular attention to the latent theology within this arena. This journal is particularly concerned with the theological, as it refers to the Christian tradition and experience of faith, and seeks to engage with current art practice and criticism."

If writing isn't your primary way of communication we also accept audio recordings of ideas and research you are pursuing.

Deadline for submissions is 14 February.

Details of past issues and current submissions are on the website agnoscisjournal.com

Morphe Arts

19/04/2026

17/04/2026

10/04/2026

23/03/2026

27/02/2026

24/02/2026

23/02/2026

30/01/2026

12/01/2026

12/01/2026

15/12/2025

13/12/2025

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