Untitled [Baldacchino, St John’s Te Awamutu]

1965

Jim Allen

Accessible

Type

  • Baldacchino (altar canopy)

Medium

  • Plywood
  • Acrylic paint

Dimensions

  • W2500 x D1300mm

Jim Allen, Untitled (Baldacchino) (1965), St John’s Church, Te Awamutu

Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, Sept 2023.

1965–Current

St John’s Church, 162 Arawata St, Te Awamutu

Artists
Associated Artwork Person(s)
    • Doc (Richard) Toy (Architect)
    • F. O. Jones (Architect)
Associated Artwork Organisation(s)
    • St John's Anglican Church, Te Awamutu (Host site, Owner, Commissioner)

Description

Jim Allen recalled this commission as arriving in 1962 from the architect F. O. Jones, who had become aware of Allen’s practice through the Futuna Chapel project (Wellington). The commission was for several parts including a “Baldacchino” over the altar, windows for the nave and finally the three glazed walls of the baptistry bay.

Allen described the altar canopy as simply “a shallow wood frame 2500mm x 1300mm” with ”plywood for the painted surface.”

This work is one of four Allen made for the church. The others are:

  • Untitled (Baldacchino)
  • Untitled (Nave windows)
  • Untitled (Clerestory window)

See also:

  • Allen Jim et al. Jim Allen : The Skin of Years. Auckland : Clouds & Michael Lett, 2014, p73-4
  • ‘St Johns church’ (1965) by Jim Mandeno. (Te Awamutu Museum Online Collection, accession number 2009.13.343)