In the year 2000 AD, Canon Richard Davey of Southwell Minster organised an
exhibition of Stations of the Cross by modern artists in Suffolk.
The various sculptures and paintings were exhibited in a number of churches in the district.
Having been presented with a substantial gift for the purpose of obtaining new stations, our parish priest, Fr. Mclaughlin
went to see the exhibits and was immediately struck by the work of Nicholas Mynheer
and soon afterwards commissioned him to produce a set for the Good Shepherd church.
Nicholas Mynheer was born in 1958. He attended Hornsey College of Art and initially worked in advertising
before turning to full-time painting in 1986.
He has had a number of church commissions, including a set of Stations of the Cross for
St. Matthew's church, Perry Beeches, Birmingham, a triptych for Beckley church, Oxfordshire,
and a sculpture of the Trinity for Blythburgh church in Suffolk.
A comment by Canon Richard Davey
Stations of the Cross are simple signs intended to point beyond themselves to the greater mystery of Christ's Passion.
Mynheer's carved stone reliefs have a simplicity of form and expression that does not strive to recreate the natural appearance of things,
but rather to provoke an emotional and devotional response to their subject.
The narrative has been pared down to its barest essentials.
No lines or figures are included which might weaken the overall effect. As a result these images have an uncompromising directness and force.
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