Background
Edna
Read was a remarkable woman compared by one friend as ‘a
ball-bearing, eg shiny, beautiful, indestructible and always on the
move’. Sadly indestructible she was not!
Her
life was shaped first by her history - an Anglo-Japanese teenager in
Britain during the 1940s - and, secondly, by the intuitive way she
embraced the visual arts as a critical and vital humanising presence
in the life of the emerging new city of Milton Keynes.
She
remained beautiful into her 80s, remaining energetic, persuasive and
also completely impossible at times. She died aged 83 following a
road accident in November 2012.
The Remarkable Edna Read
Address by The Reverend David Moore
Tuesday 13 November 2012
There
is no avoiding it - I cannot avoid being political!
The
news that a Henry Moore sculpture sold to Tower Hamlets Council in
East London at a reduced price is now to be sold to offset the impact
of Government cuts is, I fear, a clear sign of the true terror of our
times - that of knowing the price of everything and the value of
nothing.
It
is not just that the economy is in trouble, but far more critically,
the vision of civil society, of our life together, has itself become
disposable! Can you imagine what Edna would be doing about the
Moore sculpture - she would be firing off letters and emails in all
directions, whilst the rest of us go Tut, Tut,Tut and carry on as
usual!
Edna
understood value and worth in terms of human enrichment, community
enrichment ..... for her, cities were not battery farms for people,
but launch pads for exploring the, as yet, unknown. For Edna art was
far more than decorative, she believed it to be transformative, the
very stuff that leads the human adventure/development.
With
the death of Edna Read this city has lost an arts Champion at a
terribly dangerous moment for the arts. We must all pray - believers
and unbelievers together (!) - that the challenge of taking up the
baton of her vision will be accepted as a high priority in these
austere times. We dare not allow the present restraints to lull us
into believing that austerity means the loss of artistic vision, that
the new, the unknown is somehow unattainable or put on hold.
There
was a time when Edna regularly drove down to London in an old van,
convincing Gallery owners to lend her paintings for her to hang in
the new offices and other work places of Milton Keynes! You heard
earlier John Napleton’s comment on an Arts Loan Scheme Edna
organised with the Library Service.
Edna
believed to her very bones that the visual arts were as important to
civil society as public footpaths, clean water and roundabouts! It
is because she was so driven by her vision that I want to nudge you
again with words from John Chapter 1 and the Andrew Motion poem A
Garden in Japan.
St
John writing to an early community of Christians described how he saw
things: They
heard the conversation still going on, here, now, and took part,
discovering a new way of being people.
New
ways of being people - that was Edna.
Or
again the concluding verses of A
Garden in Japan :
but
the real event
will
be my decision
to lift a red leaf
from the fang of rock
overhanging the pool,
and so free the current
to fall to earth
which will never again
be one and the same (Andrew
Motion The Cinder Path)
Edna refuted the view that we could
do nothing. She believed there were things we could all do which
would make a difference. She was a ‘believer’! We could all find
a leaf to lift which would release some energy!
‘Visions’ don’t have a
particularly good press at the present time - perhaps to a certain
genre of film makers - but visions, or if you prefer, deep seated
change, only
takes place in real time
- never somewhere else, and that was what Edna was always about.
Deep seated change and Public art was her gateway and her highway.
She knew in her heart the immense
potential of the arts and how a place as ‘barren’ as a new city
could be gently transformed by the arts, especially public art, that
a culture could be led through infancy and puberty to becoming a
life-giving entity.
As we might give a meal a lift by
the addition of a twist of black pepper, so Edna knew the arts was
charged with a similar mystery and as such was as important as
anything else - a twist by the hand or imagination of an artist can
produce/uncover the deepest mystery of life!
A work of art can last for ever
while almost everything else in life must change or die!
To my mind, the arts are the
permanent hand and footprint of God in the world. Edna also knew the
art of lifting the leaf, allowing the water to flow and everything
being transformed. But this has to be done on the hoof, in the
hustling and bustling of everyday life. It is not reified activity.
I remember, as yesterday, the first
time I met Edna. It was 18 years ago in her small office on the
lower floor of Saxon Court. I was the newly-appointed City Centre
Chaplain and had an interest in the arts. I was looking for a brief
introduction to the arts in Milton Keynes and I got far more than I
had bargained for!
The
fact that I had stumbled upon more than I could quantify or
comprehend did not matter - that first conversation sealed a
friendship which sadly concluded a few days before her death. It was
in the Guildhall of this church, a Fair Trade Sale - we had a coffee,
lots of laughter and as
usual plotting, plotting,
plotting. And I must say that although she was frail, she looked
spectacular! She was herself a fantastic work of art!
Over
the years she introduced me to artists, arts administrators,
politicians and community leaders - her address book must have been
phenomenal - and it was in and through that address book that she
steered her own vision of a ‘world made right’. (How I would like
to get my hands on it!)
I
recall her speaking of her burning desire as a 14 year old (1943) of
not wanting to appear to be Japanese, of wanting to pass as English.
She wanted to be tall, white and blonde, not small and dark. The fact
that her best efforts were futile probably led to even greater
determination, ingenuity and guile in later life!
The
Exhibition at this Church ‘The Japanese in Britain’ was an
outstanding success. It involved me being driven by Edna to London
to meet with possible funders, but also hearing stories from her
childhood. Her driving certainly did encourage one to pray! On one
occasion she drove straight into the Royal Academy and demanded to
park outside the College of Antiquarians and we were immediately
admitted. We had tea and cake and left!
You
have already heard mention of those three exhibitions in the CBX
building - they were absolutely outstanding by anyone’s
standards - she put down markers about vision and quality and
audacity which are hard to live with and that is
the point. ‘A world made right’ does not come cheap and you
can’t buy it. It has to be worked for.
Paul
Tillich fled Nazi Germany for America. To my mind he was one of the
20th century’s most remarkable theologians - he learned to squeeze
himself beyond the immediate mysteries and problems of life to a
position where he could form a grand, more detached vision - indeed
not unlike Edna. Tillich wrote this about the arts:
“.... the arts open up a dimension of reality which is otherwise hidden, and they open up our own being for receiving this reality. Only the arts can do this: science, philosophy, moral action and religious devotion cannot. The artist brings to our senses, and through them to our whole being, something of the depth of our world and of ourselves, something of the mystery of being.”
Edna
may not have put things quite like that but that is what she was
about and that is why she was so passionate in her support for so
many artists. Her vision outstripped most of our dreams! For her,
what she did was not passing fancy, no time filler, this was the
STUFF of life itself. She “heard the conversation going on” and
joined in! And she was at it until the very end.
Recently
Edna was in conversation with this church as to how it might be
possible to fund the reinstallation of a Ronnie Rae Sculpture in
front of this church. Her proposal was a lease-lending arrangement
leading eventually to a transfer of ownership. She just could not
stop working against impossible odds, for public sculpture in this
city.
It
was, of course, Edna that we have to thank for the beautiful Willi
Soukop papier maché sculptures in the Reception Area of this Church
and the fantastic Madonna and Child in the Chapel. Most of us,
including me, have no idea of the debt we owe to this woman.
Public
Sculpture in Milton Keynes was a deep, deep concern for Edna - she
considered it to be the Jewel in the Crown of Milton Keynes and as
such required care and conservation. One of her dreams (that did not
come to fruition) was for vacation time courses in art conservation
for young people - both in terms of care for our heritage but also in
terms of opening windows to career opportunities for young people in
this city. She ached for her vision to spread beyond the art
specialist, to cascade down to the poorest streets and homes of
Milton Keynes.
Find
a piece of public sculpture in MK and you will find a trace memory of
Edna.
In
conclusion, a personal comment - I started making sculptures at the
age of 50. The first object I exhibited was at Edna’s insistence!
It was at an exhibition she had organised at the then De Montfort
University in MK. Since then, somehow, I have curated 16
exhibitions as far afield as Edinburgh, Taunton, Winchester,
Westminster, Tower Hamlets and, of course, Milton Keynes, including
places where exhibitions were virtually unknown. It was her, she set
that ball rolling! She caused something dormant within me to kick
start into life. I also “heard the conversation still going on and
joined in”. Edna the evangelist!
A
Champion has left us ... another red leaf has been lifted, causing
much to change .... painful change, untimely change ... and for the
moment there is a pause in the conversation. Rest in Peace dear
friend .... we will find ways to honour your memory. Remembering
your fortitude we will face the new challenges ahead of us.
In
Biblical terms Edna was the Good Samaritan - the one who did
the right thing. None of us can say we have not been given a good
example.
PS
This morning I received an email from Ronnie and Pauline Rae in
Edinburgh. It is their wish to donate one of Ronnie’s granite
sculptures to the memory of Edna and it is their wish that it be
sited in front of this Church - that means, it being granite, her
memory will be here forever and ever. Amen.
