1. Enter the 2010 ‘Art in Heaven’ Competition This presentation invites to you make an art work on one of our five themes. The National Association of Teachers of RE will give prizes to the winners. See more details on our web art gallery at www.natre.org.uk www.natre.org.uk Perryfileds School, Sandwell, made tiles on justice in the style of Keith Haring’s art

2. What is ‘Art in Heaven’?  ‘Art in Heaven is an annual competition for pupils in RE that gives you a chance to be creative and imaginative in RE. It is all about spiritual ideas and your skills  There is a wonderful web art gallery. If you enter this year, perhaps your picture will be on the gallery next time. Have a look, and choose some favourites of your own from the gallery.  Teachers and pupils are warmly invited to join in with their own ‘Art in Heaven’. The closing date is 31 st July. The entry form can be downloaded from www.natre.org.uk www.natre.org.uk

3. 5 Themes to choose from Art in Heaven has five themes for 2010. Your teacher will choose a theme with you for you to enter. Have a look at some work from each theme now. The themes are: – Mystery stories! – Spiritual space – Respect: A logo for RE – Talking to God: Where is God? – Celebrating Life, Celebrating Love!

4. Mystery stories: Why did Jesus die? Yellow Jesus Alanta, Age 6 “My picture is about Jesus dying on the cross. He looks very sad, but later he was happy. When I am sad, I think of Jesus. I liked looking at a painting by Paul Gauguin called the yellow Christ, that's why it is yellow.”

5. LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE THAT WILL NEVER COME TO AN END In my ‘art in heaven’ Mystery art piece, I have tried to show what I believe: that it’s not scary when your life is at an end. My idea of the white chain describes Heaven. It comes down from the top, pulling the girl, who is ‘asleep’ into the light. The Earth shows a swirl of yellow and this shows the sun. Underneath the Earth, exists RED, ORANGE and BLACK colours: this shows hell. I decided to base the whole story in an egg because we ALL know that life starts in an egg and its good to know that ending life is like the beginning of another existence, as you’re never going to know where you go when you die. Julia, aged 12.

6. “Under One Banner” by Christopher Horton, Joshua Morris and Joseff Mayberry, all 13, from the Cathedral school in Cardiff Our design is of main religious figures of the world, standing under one banner, looking up, and searching for God, or in the case of the Buddha, Enlightenment. The figures are Guru Nanak, Jesus, Moses and the Buddha. The thought of all of the religions, united in searching for God, is the inspiration for ‘Under One Banner’. ‘The Tree of Life’ has the figures gathering around it to form one reality where we can all search for God or Enlightenment together. If we want to truly understand and abide with God, we must first combine together to search for Him. The flags which the figures hold are of the religions that they founded or were especially affiliated with. The tree symbolizes the growth, life and light we get from God. The flags show that we celebrate when we search for God, and it gives people great happiness. The natural environment of the forest is one of God’s greatest wonders. The tree is made from real pine wood, hand lathed and sanded in our own workshop. The religious figures are hand crafted out of clay and dressed in clothes we created for them. Spiritual space: Art in heaven

7. “Birds and fish, sea and sky, earth and air, all space is spiritual space.” Jack and Daniel are 10

8. “Based on the six main religions as subjects (Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Hinduism). All religions are the same but different so I moulded all the symbols into 1 in the very middle. Equality but also differences. I decided to make my piece of work a design that you had to look into hard to see things - just like religions. I think I have achieved this look by scattering related pictures around the six sections to create a collage effect. I used a Sun at the side of my design, as a light that everyone is aiming for, our goals in life. I created a border including things to do with religions. For each religions I chose two images: Sikhism: Kirpan and Khanda – among the five Ks and is sacred to Sikhs still today Judaism: Menorah - At special times (Seder Meal), Jews make sure they have one on display. Torah Scroll - a way of teaching and includes special Laws. Christianity Angel - spiritual beings that some people believe are messengers from God. Crown of thorns – worn by Jesus when he was crucified. Hinduism Lotus - A water Lily that Hindus believe are a sign of Purity. Fire - used a lot in Hindu worship of Siva, symbolising controlled destruction Buddhism Yin-Yan - This is the Chinese Buddhists symbol for peace Islam Globe - I used this to show that Islam was a world spread religion. Star and Moon - This was the main sign of Islam, as I mentioned earlier I used this as a sign of individuality. Fiona, girl, age 12 OPEN MINDED: a respect logo for RE

9. Respect for everyone “We designed these t-shirts to represent being open minded. We thought if we did this on a t-shirt it would show people that you should be opened minded. When we designed our t-shirt, we thought about what it would take to be open minded. The things we came up with on our t-shirt were loving each other which are represented by the giant love heart. The different symbols represent different cultures and that we are all equal even if we believe in different cultures. The hands represent respect and peace. Being opened minded means you can have your opinion but you still have to respect other people’s opinions.” Victoria and Samantha, Age 15

10. Talking to God: Who is God?  Who is God? What do you think? Is God a person like us, or completely different? What image will express your ideas? Atheists and agnostics may say ‘God is nobody’ or ‘God is a person no one knows’ Different religions say some things similar and some different about God’s identity. What do you have to say about this, and how will you express it artistically?  Look at the next five pictures to see how some others have done it. Think about how some people believe you can talk to God, but not everyone thinks this.

11. Jumping up to God By Ethan, Age 6 “Up in heaven there is God. All of these are planets and God made them. I am jumping up to give God a flower from the hill. God looks just like me.”

12. Who is God? Alix, Annabel and Olivia have used Islamic rules to create this image of the Islamic understanding of Allah. They think God, for Muslims, was in the words of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an.

13. Ben and Jacob, 13, show here that they are able to evaluate answers to questions about meaning and experience, and to express insights into spiritual expression of values. This creative reflection on the mysteries of human evil and on hope uses the symbolic possibility of spiritual art to express the insight that the boys bring to the topic. Their ‘answers’ to the question of evil are textured and varied The key achievement shown in this work is the expression of insight into questions of community, value and meaning at level 6. “Is There Justice In This Dark World? Our piece of work is to show that there is hope in a dark world. The black paper and the image of 9/11 represents the world we live in: it can be a horrible place of darkness, pain and hatred. The candle is there to represent hope and light in the dark world. The candle breaks dimly in to the dark world with its holy light. The dove represents peace, the heart is for the love we all need in the world to bring justice. Everyone should love everyone else as God intended us to: after all we are his children and he made all of us. The ‘live 8’ sign shows that some good is coming to this world by way of "Make Poverty History". Poverty is a horrible thing easily prevented, but not by the greed of many people. The lotus flower shows the need for awareness of the many problems of poverty and prejudice which people face. It is a symbol for awakening and opening your eyes to what is going on around.”

14. Where's God When You Need Him? By Hannah, Age 12 “When you ask a strong believer in God why are all these people suffering in the world they would probably say "they're being tested by God to make them a better person". I disagree. I'm agnostic. Why are people being tested to death when they probably don't deserve it? The white/yellow circle around the boy's head is where I believe God should be (hence the Godly colours) looking over this poor, hungry, suffering, dying boy's shoulder caring for him.”

15.  Who is God? By Rebecca, Age 14  “Fish have no certain knowledge of what is outside the pond. In the same way, we humans cannot literally find God. We have to be content that he is watching us and protecting us, like the man on the side of my pond.  The stone falling into the pond can be interpreted as all the bad things that fall unexpectedly into life, but could also stand for something heavenly, falling from the realms of God like a miracle.  The Earth asks Where is God? Who is he? Because we cannot leave the fishpond alive, we cannot find God unless he reaches down to us, as I believe he did with Jesus Christ. We must find God through the things he does on earth.”

16. Celebrating life, celebrating love A new theme for 2010 Religions mark big moments of life and love with celebrations: a wedding, a welcome for a new baby and many other festive moments are ‘big days’ in religious life - and human life. This theme invites you to get your pupils doing spirited art around marriages, human love, relationships, new babies, family and other festivities. The best entries will go beyond big red hearts and link love, promises and values to symbols and ceremonies, showing how celebrating life and love matters to everyone. We do a lot of RE work on these themes from Year 1 to GCSE: life, love, celebration: how and why? Celebrations and festivals are some of religion’s best days. This theme invites pupils to express their responses to special days, festivals or celebrations. Take a wedding, or the welcome for a new baby, and learn about what different religions do to celebrate, then create your own brilliant picture to show what you think about life and love. Make art that remembers a wedding story, records the celebration of marriage, or catches the thrill of the family day, the magic of the family feast. It’s not just about Valentine’s day: tell us: What does love mean, and where does it come from? Who finds it and how can it love grow? Let your imagination whirl.

17. And what about you?  You have seen a lot of examples of the brilliant entries to the Art in Heaven competition.  Now think over your own idea, beliefs and skills  Plan to make a super entry of your own, to send in before the end of the summer term –closing date is 31 st July  Write a note about how good it is – you can use the prompts we suggest.  All the best!  www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts Don’t forget - you can see hundreds of interesting entries and other winners on the web gallery www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts