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To St Mary’s! On Friday evening. And *possibly* on Saturday as well. Sunday might be stretching a bit, but y’know, on the Seventh Day ‘n all that.

You know you’re not dealing with your average C of E Church when there is an open invite for an art exhibition on a Friday night.

It wasn’t too many summers ago when my average Friday night was all about:

“This is my church, this is where I heal my hurt.”

God is a DJ, etc.

But the bangin’ choons have been replaced by watecolours.

Blimey.

How did that happen?

Art in the Church has been extended over the traditional Wivenhoe Weekend to include Friday for this year. With much activity taking place in the St Mary’s churchyard on Saturday with the Wiv Soc Fun Day, art lovers get an extra chance to peruse, and possibly purchase.

It’s a world away from the fourth season @firstsite opening that was also taking place on Friday evening in Colchester. There is no claim that Art in the Church is the cutting edge of contemporary art, but it’s not all about wistful watercolours of women staring out of windows.

But all art has a price.

For Art in the Church and this starts with the £1 exhibition catalogue detailing the artists and the asking prices. It’s a fun game for a Friday evening to wander around oblivious to any of the asking pricesd and to speculate with a playing partner over the cost of each piece.

Those Friday nights of fun just whizz by around these estuary wilds…

It was encouraging to see for the early exhibition that a number of pieces of art have already had the red dot sticker treatment. All art is for sale, priced from £20 to £1,000. My alt art gag about stickering up the stain glass windows didn’t exactly have them rolling back in the pews.

What was definitely more amusing however was the instant art of the Essex Lion masterpiece.

Grrrrr.

Or even Meowww.

Elsewhere around St Mary’s and the subject matter covered the hyperlocal (Quayside watercolours) the local (Jumbo) and even the International.

Beach huts are currently in vogue it seems in the hyperlocal art world. As well as the current Slack Space Beside the Seaside exhibition, there is a corner of St Mary’s this weekend that is given over to a love of Brightlingsea. The artwork is infinitely more affordable than the actual beach huts.

Joyful West’s Shellfish Bar of Sheringham is also exhibited, the recent winner of the Colchester Art Society award at the Visons of East Anglia exhibition at The Minories.

The Friday night rock ‘n roll fun finished off with a painting of Twiggy positioned just past the Nave.

Not your average church, not your average art exhibition.

Art in the Church continues throughout Saturday at St Mary’s. Admission is FREE.