Events
Art and Monasticism
An A+C day symposium in partnership with Norwich Cathedral to coincide with the exhibition ‘Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval’ at the Sainsbury Centre (16 May – 4 Oct)*
Introduction by Canon Dr Peter Doll, Canon Librarian at Norwich Cathedral
Speakers include:
Dr Jessica Barker FSA, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art History at The Courtauld and Dr Ed Krčma, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of East Anglia, curators of ‘Living by the Rule
Professor Andrew Bick, Professor of Contemporary Art & Reinterpretation at University of Gloucester
‘Parallels in time; The Benedictine Rule, contemporary art, and their lived proximity.’
Dr Nicola Simpson, Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts
‘Performing the Rule: Benedictine Pattern Poems.’
Norwich Cathedral / Living by the Rule Artists in residence: Deborah Tompsett and Hardy Gru
Sculpting the Spiritual: an online conversation with Stephen Owen and Andrew Nunn
In 2019 Stephen Owen won the A+C Award in the permanent category for his Communion Table and Lectern in the prayer chapel of Guildford Baptist Church (also known at Millmead). He has also recently made the liturgical furniture for the main auditorium at the church. In this conversation with A+C trustee, Andrew Nunn (former Dean of Southwark), we’ll explore the power of materials, iconography and physicality in making church furniture.
It’s Better Together: an online conversation with Jake Lever and Ayla Lepine
We mark the launch of a new round of A+C Awards with an online discussion between Jake and Ayla. In 2019 Jake won an Award in the Temporary Installation category for Soul Boats at Birmingham Cathedral, UK. He has often worked with the archetype of the boat and his practice explores sacred ritual in public and private contexts. As an artist and art educator, Jake is inspired by the Artist Teacher Corita Kent. This conversation will touch on themes of co-creation, connection and celebration, central to her vision.
Ecclesiart in Cathedrals: Westminster
Join us for a tour of Westminster Cathedral, which is filled with 20th-century artwork featuring Tom Phillips, Giacomo Manzu, and Leonard McComb.
‘Contemporary Art and Religious Architecture’: a lecture by Fr Marc Chauveau
Since 2009, Fr Marc Chauveau has curated many contemporary art exhibitions at the Priory of La Tourette near Lyon – built by Le Corbusier – offering a rare opportunity to explore the relationship between contemporary creativity and religious architecture.
2025 Annual A+C weekend retreat in West Yorkshire
The weekend will begin with a lecture by Fr Marc Chauveau, who will share his experience as a Dominican curator during 17 years in the Priory of La Tourette, France, and ‘dialogue between contemporary art, religious spaces and spirituality.’
Yorkshire Sculpture Park tour
This will be a tour in which we explore our relation to art and nature through the senses, particularly sight and touch, and think theologically about human and natural creativity, all to be discovered in beautiful landscaped parkland. .
Closing performance - sixty beats per minute
Closing performance Sunday 29th June: Phil Coy invites local music producer and UK dub legend Adrian Sherwood and friends to hijack sixty beats per minute. They will perform a new composition and live dub remix that breaks down the mechanics of the clocks regimented beat.
Tour to 'sixty beats per minute' and Ramsgate churches
A day out in Ramsgate to view the art installation ‘sixty beats per minute’ at St George’s Ramsgate and the world famous Shrine to St Augustine by AW Pugin.
Tower Tour
Free Tower Tour at 3pm on 3rd May at St George’s Ramsgate as part of the launch event of ‘sixty beats per minute’
sixty beats per minute
sixty beats per minute turns St George’s Church in Ramsgate into a musical instrument and time machine. An array of microphones amplify the 1829 Vulliamy Turret pendulum clock, to form a multi-channel surround sound installation inside the church. The work performs a temporary reversal of time creating a feedback loop that focuses these technologies back on themselves. Matching the tempo of our heart at rest, the clock’s rhythm is known to raise consciousness and stimulate meditation. Specifically tuned to the resonant frequency of the architecture, sixty beats per minute creates a deep listening experience where audiences can reflect on the physical nature of time.
2025 A+C annual lecture
Given by the Director of the Wellcome Collection, Melanie Keen, the A+C Annual Lecture will explore the Ancient Art of Mothering: from iconography to lived experience.
Exhibition: Cloud of Witnesses
‘Cloud of Witnesses’, an exhibition taking place in March and April in central London, showcases a unique set of artists who have come together to explore faith and divinity while provoking the viewer to think differently about how these have traditionally been portrayed.
Conversations – an online event to explore racial justice and faith through contemporary art
A reflective online event focussing on the the Walker Art Gallery’s current exhibition ‘Conversations’, which brings together work by 40 leading Black women and non-binary artists.
Conversations – an event to explore racial justice and faith through contemporary art
A discussion event focussing on the exhibition ‘Conversations’, which brings together work by 40 leading Black women and non-binary artists.
Online workshop with Jane Sheppard
Led by Jane Sheppard, artist from the Vessel art trail
Vessel online talk with curator Jacquiline Creswell and artists
Led by Jacquiline Creswell, curator of the Vessel art trail
EdgeExchange considers Art in and for Churches
A HeartEdge event
On-line with Laura Moffat and Jonathan Evens.
Ecclesiart talk: More Than a Nail Man
Canon Christopher Irvine, former Canon Librarian at Canterbury and now Honorary Teaching Fellow at St Augustine’s College of Theology, will look at three extraordinary pieces of contemporary sculpture in Canterbury Cathedral: Stephen Cox’s altar and water stoup in St Anselm’s Chapel and the Nave, and Anthony Gormley’s ‘Transport’ in the Crypt.
Workshop: Lucy Glendinning – Unleash Your Drawing Skills at St Jerome’s
This is a workshop for experimenting and exploring the fun of drawing through different materials. Using a combination of speed, meditation and drawing with movement, we will be drawing from the imagination and subconscious, responding to the beautiful atmosphere of the church at St Jerome’s.
Workshop: Lou Baker – Social Knitwork at Dore Abbey
Join Lou Baker in some mindful making alongside her installation of red knitting in the spectacular Dore Abbey. Making is good for you; research shows that the repetitive actions of many textile processes can improve wellbeing. Making with others adds a different dimension; it leads to mellow conversation and a sense of connection.
POSTPONED Workshop: Jane Sheppard – Yielding to Softness at St Michael and All Angels
Our relationship with clay is as old as humanity. Working with it can bring us softly back into ourselves using ancient skills.
This 2 hour session aims to stretch time with a blend of guided meditation, basic making skills and a relaxing, applied and open approach to our lives and treasures.
Workshop: Barbara Beyer – Mud, Sticks and Stones at St Cadoc’s
A hands-on sustainable workshop creating sculptures with cob and a variety of found materials. We will use cob as our main building material and combine it with other natural materials and objects to create small scale sculptures.
Performance - Felled, yet unfurling - by Holly Slingsby
A performance by the artist Holly Slingsby drawing on the iconography of remarkable 15th-century Tree of Jesse within St Mary’s.
Lecture - ‘Living Stones: Buildings, Bodies and Spirit’
This lecture will explore the ways in which art, architecture and theology are intertwined - it will explore the ways in which stones speak of God in the communities where they are placed, and how flesh and spirit encounter the divine in and around religious spaces.
Annual A+C weekend retreat in Wales
Join us this September for a weekend in the beautiful area of the Black Mountains in South Wales with talks, walks and an art trail in churches curated by A+C exploring the theme of ‘Vessel’.
Ecclesiart in Cathedrals: Llandaff
Join us for a tour with A+C Director, Laura Moffatt, as we look at the many and varied works of art from the last century in Llandaff Cathedral.
Vessel: an art trail in remote rural churches
Vessel is a curated art trail in remote rural churches near the Black Mountains between Usk and Hay-on-Wye.
Ecclesiart in Cathedrals: Manchester
Join us for a tour with A+C Director, Laura Moffatt, as we look at the many and varied works of art from the last century in Manchester Cathedral.
A performance by the artist Holly Slingsby drawing on the iconography of remarkable 15th-century Tree of Jesse within St Mary’s.