‘Wonder’ in Worcester Cathedral in June
An Exhibition of Art and Poetry around the theme ‘Wonder’
Organised by Worcestershire Litfest & Fringe as part of their annual festival
The exhibition, organised by the current Worcestershire Poet Laureate Paul Robert, in Worcester Cathedral’s Dean’s Chapel from 6th to 19th June will form part of Worcestershire Litfest’s annual festival. Visitors will see artwork by 12 artists and poetry by 12 to 16 poets on display, all around the theme ‘Wonder’.
My A1 size piece took me over a month to complete. I’ve called it ‘Moment of Wonder’. Amazingly enough the piece sold – reserved via a deposit – while I was still working on it! Luckily the lovely buyer is happy to wait until the end of the exhibition to collect her painting.
Inspiration for my piece
I was one of a small group of artists and poets to tour the Cathedral’s Library and came across a fascinating ‘concertina-type’ document containing woodcut prints of Venice providing a highly detailed panoramic view of the city. The tour guide described it as ‘possibly the very first pull-out travel guide’.
This edition was printed in 1502 at Speier in Germany by the printer Peter Drach. The author of the book was Bernhard von Breydenbach. The original artist of the cityscape (in 1492) was Erhard Reuwich, originally from the Netherlands.
I took photos of the eight pages and chose one to replicate on a large scale. My piece is in colour but I’ve retained certain aspects to at least partly stay true to the style of the print.
Event in the Chapter House 8th June
On Monday 8th June there will be an event in the Cathedral Chapter House from 2-4pm to celebrate the exhibition. Alex and Tom (2morecellos – see their Instagram page) will be performing. Some of the poets will read their ‘Wonder’ poems (with or without cello accompaniment) and ‘Wonder’ artists are invited to go along too. If you’re reading this and are interested, you’re very welcome to join us as the event is open to all.
Worcester Cathedral is open for visiting 10am – 5pm Monday to Saturday and 12:30 – 3pm Sundays.
Find out more about Worcestershire Litfest’s annual Week of Festival here https://litfestworcs.org/
Note: the photos below show some of the woodcut print pages and an image of how I started my painting. I’m not revealing the actual piece itself until nearer the time…
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