Artistic work secures a place firstly in church (9)
I believe the answer is:
landscape
'artistic work' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'secures a place firstly in church' is the wordplay.
'secures' becomes 'lands' (land can mean to obtain or secure).
'firstly' indicates taking the first letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
The initial letter of 'place' is 'p'.
'a'+'p'='ap'
'ap' placed inside 'ce' is 'cape'.
'lands'+'cape'='LANDSCAPE'
(Other definitions for landscape that I've seen before include "variety of shot" , "scene" , "Scenic picture" , "Outdoor painting" , "Broad view of scenery" .)