Cathy's Art Diary

Lovely small exhibition at Chichester Cathedral looking at their tapestries by John Piper. The show put the tapestries in the context of Piper's wider work for churches and how this reflected his religious beliefs. It also talked about the influences on these projects including the colours of stained glass. It then went on to discuss the commissioning of this work and others for the cathedral and took us though the iconography of the work. I must admit I love the work but never really looked at it properly. There was some fascinating archive material including a postcard with a preliminary sketch of ideas. It was a nice touch to include a chasuble designed for the cathedral by Piper which provided a nice focal point for the show. Closes 15 November 2026

Thoughtful exhibition at Chichester Cathedral of seven oil paintings by Alice Carter. The works were a meditation on key moments in the Easter story from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. I loved how they reflected the mood of each moment from the gloom of the first event to the joy of the last. The works were shown in a line in the South Transept and looked jewel like in the space. Closed 24 May 2026

Interesting exhibition at Chichester Cathedral looking at Christianity in Sussex over 950 years. The show was mainly information boards but with excellent objects in display cases underneath. The show became a history of Christianity in Britain with references to Sussex where appropriate and was struggling in places to introduce themes they wanted to cover like multiculturalism. I’m all for addressing these but not shoehorning them into a historic narrative where the point is that these issues weren’t addressed at the time. I wonder if a section on the modern church might have addressed these better. Given the show was in a cathedral I thought the language could have been more active. Rather than saying ‘Christians believe’ how about saying ‘we believe’ Closed 19 November 2025 but I saw it on 23 December 2025

Excellent sculpture trail in and around Chichester Cathedral of work by members of the Royal Society of Sculptors. The pieces looked lovely against the architecture of the church and I particularly liked pieces such as Rosie Musgrave’s “Totems for Sanctuary” marble and alabaster shapes set in niches or Tabatha Andrews’ “Of Wing and Life” where ribbons of material cascades down a pillar. Pieces looked good in the cloisters too particularly the one shown here, “Enclosed R2032 & Open Eye R2030” by Colin Reid. I loved the way you could look through one piece to the one behind it and the contrast in their colours. My favourite piece was Judy Boyt’s “Touch… No Touch” on an altar rail of a hand drawing the wonderful Graham Sutherland “Noli Me Tangere” on the altar before it. It’s a painting I love so I liked this riff on it. Closes 6 September 2022