Cathy's Art Diary

Thoughtful installation at Southwark Cathedral by Ugandan artist Matt Kayem. Commissioned by Christian Aid it aims to show what we can do when we work together. Made to look like stained glass each side highlights a human achievement and reflects on what can be done with that. I wish I’d seen the work at night when it is light from within and probably looks less flat. I liked the effect of it and would like to see it recreated in real stained glass rather than a Perspex version. Closed 29 January 2023  

Sweet exhibition at Southwark Cathedral of pictures of the cathedral cat, Doorkins Magnificat, by Celia Pike. The cat is a stray that has moved into the cathedral and now features on some of the merchandise there. Celia Pike says she was inspired by the light falling on his fur in different ways around the building. The show was in a couple of display cases in the corridor and featured some lovely delicate watercolours along with sketches and some of her artist materials.  He certainly is an excellent model.

Fascinating day   at Southwark Cathedral discussing the art of the First World War. The day had excellent speakers and was a real bargain! In the morning we had Rebecca Newell from the Imperial War Museum talking about the government war art schemes and the artists who took part. In doing so she gave us a good overview of the art of the period and the motivation behind its creation. The second talk of the morning was David Boyd Haycock comparing the life and work of Paul Nash and, one of my favourites, C.R.W. Nevinson, who had studied together at the Slade. I’d not realised that they were born and died in the same years. He discussed their war work plus the effect of the war on their subsequent work. In the afternoon we turned to the work of Sydney Carline with Jonathon Black. Carline, Stanley Spencer’s brother in law, was a pilot in the Italian campaign and produced extraordinary works influenced by his experience of flying and aerial battles. He also looked at Carline...

Small display at Southwark Cathedral by Sarah Christie. Christie invited members of the public to select a sherd of pottery, made by hand from cast bowls, and add their own words to break barriers. The idea came from the fact that in Ancient Greece people votes on sherds or ‘ostraca’ from which we get the work ‘ostracise’.   Due to the timing of the construction of this work the words reflect opinions during and after the EU referendum. The work has grown to nearly 2000 contributions of which a selection are shown in the display. It was fascinating to read the words on the sherds and see a snapshot of people’s attitudes as they wrote them and they came together to build a beautiful work. Closes on 4 November 2018