For WAC 2023 there are 28 site-specific installations in and around Wells Cathedral:
A. Ian Marlow: Choral Harmony
Inspired by both the stained glass windows which are reflected in the colourful translucent rods and the choral singing, the sculpture sweeps its way under the Pilgrim arch, flowing like the cadence of choral singing, it draws you into the cathedral to experience the beauty within.
C: Caroline Broadhead and Angela Woodhouse: Who Cares
Thermal imaging video, initiated by interviews with ICU nursing staff in which individuals reflected on their experiences of touch during and since the pandemic. These accounts prompted practical explorations in thermal video with dancers, focussing on alertness to touching/not touching, social and emotional contact, and how this, and the expanded boundary of the self, can be made visible through thermal representation.
D. Rachel Goodison: Hatchings
Huddled together, “Hatchings’ is a play on organic shapes found within nature and humans. Magnified, on a human scale, it stands as a reminder that we are part of nature, created from the same shared matter - something we forget to nature’s cost.
Ultimately, this is a work of hope and comfort. Bright and soft, the ‘feelers’ reach upwards, echoing the soaring movement of the cathedral’s pillars and arches towards the heavens
E. Juliet Duckworth: Listen to them Falling
Moments in the cyclical persistence of nature are caught by encasing apples in clay and
suspending them like celestial spheres in space. The decaying process becomes part of the
installation’s aesthetic language as changes occur. The apple signifies original sin in the Old
Testament and redemption of that failing in the New. Throughout the Bible apples
symbolise innocence, knowledge, beauty, sweetness, prosperity, joy, and obedience.
Immortality, fertility, and decay are allegorically attributed to the appl
F. Lucy Large: Rubus Fruticosus
Historically the gilding of architecture or artworks affords a divine or sacred reading. This slow, reverential treatment has been applied to something wild – a plant with tenacious and untameable growth; a weed often removed to make way for cultivated spaces. Gilding here is an act of devotion; a meeting of the wild and the divine or the wild and the institutional?
G. Frances Carlile: West Wind Procession & H. Angela Wright: Flow (sound)
Transient and ephemeral, each small vessel contains an individual soul making its final passage. Constructed from fragile materials gathered on their journey to the sea, they are at once playful and serious. This is a celebration of life as well as a lament for the moment of death. They sail through the great ship of the Cathedral in procession, reflecting all beginnings and all endings.
Drawn to the beautiful, ancient stone steps, the artist imagined how it might be if one could ascend or descend them to the sound of babbling water. The experience might become a meditation on Nature rather than just a physical one. The sound was gathered by the well pools in the neighbouring Bishop’s Palace gardens.
J. Robyn Neild: The Bramble Briar
Swirling entanglements of bronze brambles and the delicate buds hidden among them evoke both the impenetrability of a hostile environment and the sanctuary that may be found within. Curvature of form is punctuated by sharp thorns, burnt away during the casting process yet losing none of their fierce threat. Gathered from nearby forests and woodland, the botanical forms’ textures and strength are stilled in metal - a momentary halt in time offering endless reflection.
K. Kate Windibank: A Gathering
‘A Gathering’ comprises 51 bowls, each with its own distinctive characteristics. The Chapter House has historically been a place for the joining together of individuals, and it is in this spirit that this exhibit has been created. The pieces sit in silent communion as part of a greater whole, and in this way represent the nature of the Cathedral itself.
L. Nicola Turner: The Uninvited Guest from the Unremembered Past
The installation combines found objects that hold traces of memory and materials from organic ‘dead’ matter such as horsehair - material used for bedding and furniture, hence soaked with lived history. It explores correspondences between beings and matter, ways of listening to past, present and future and the traumas that can be transmitted across time. The title comes from a book by Prophecy Coles, on unconscious transmission of intergenerational trauma.
M. Leah Hislop: A Safe Place
‘A Safe Place’ is constructed entirely from paper. The site-specific artwork is made of triangles that have been individually hand folded and made from donated and unwanted books. The three points of the triangle folds reflect on the themes of The Holy Trinity, the symbol of the number three, guidance and protection.
N. Rosie Musgrave: Offering Vessel
Hand-carved out of alabaster this solid form holds a vessel, its edge extending upwards allowing the stone’s translucency to catch a halo of light. Decorated with textile, the cords wrapped with Persian Red silk and gold thread; colours that would have adorned the stonework of Wells Cathedral in medieval times. This vessel, a symbol of nourishment, generosity and ritual, lies empty, inviting the new to enter.
O Mike Hipwell: Matins, Evensong (sound)
Southwest from this chapel in a winter’s dawn half a million starlings sing Matins. The wetland birds of the Somerset levels accompany them with the wind turbine providing the rhythm of industrial heritage. Returning to roost at dusk the starlings form balletic murmurations and sing Evensong as they dive into the reed beds. I work with field recorded sound to write deeply rooted contemporary sacred music.
P. Jane Taylor Weekes: Magnify
Circular mirrors reflect the magnificence reflects of the vistas above. The viewer is caused to see what is above as they look down, the humble act of bowing is simultaneously an act of exalting. The interplay of below and above speaks also of the faith that those who bodies lie below will, one day, be raised above. The mirror becomes a means of revelation.
Q. Amy-Jane Blackhall: Beings of Light
Hand blown glass orbs suspended within a large-scale abacus structure echo the star-shaped pattern at the apex of the vault in the Lady Chapel, and reflect the fragmented pictorial sections of medieval glass that surround it.
R. Jacques Pavlosky: Homo Tacit
The English translation of the Latin title ‘Homo Tacit’ is ‘quiet man’ and refers to man waiting prayerfully and reflectively for the voice of God. The image of the face inside the glass reflects upon the spiritual and mystical dimension of the relationship between God and humanity.
S. Alexandra Conil-Lacoste: A Prayer for Ukraine
Deeply convicted that prayer can change the course of history, this piece is an intercession for the end to the conflict in Ukraine. It echoes the many prayers offered within the cathedral’s walls for this cause. The olive branch is a symbol for peace and the blue and yellow colours represent the Ukrainian flag.
T. Hamish Young: Field
‘Field’ consists of over two thousand cast paper limpet shells and explores notions of home (Earthly, Universal and Spiritual). The forms of limpet shells echo the architectural structure of the cathedral roof and the stars represented on the astronomical clock, connecting earthly and universal homes, whilst the submersion of limpets in water throughout the cycle of the moon and the tides alludes to baptism and the spiritual home.
U. Emily Lawlor: Study of a Wing III
This mosaic, made from reclaimed China represents an Angelic wing, made in response to the de Marcia Tomb. The soft tones of ivory and gold lustres are complimented by tones of gesso red, mirroring the beautiful hues and patterns of the tomb itself. Fragments of the red medieval paint remain on the stonework reminding me of the faded patterns on the vintage china.
V. Clare Phelan: Confetti
Nineteenth century paper organette and pianola music rolls have been repurposed for this artwork. The confetti motif screen-printed across the surface of the piece was inspired by the physical waste from the punched-out holes.
The ephemeral nature of the paper and the song titles reference our temporal existence, while the Cathedral’s light and atmosphere offer moments of ethereal beauty signifying the transitory nature of life.
W. Melody Clark: Wells Cathedral – Scissor Arches - Windows – Stained Glass
The artist has taken a contemporary approach to explore the affordances and constraints of the traditional codex book form to ask, ‘what might a book be?’
Wells Cathedral Library embodies the rich history of the book. This is a site-sensitive installation of artist's books responding to the Cathedral’s Gothic architecture.
X. Sheena Devitt: Communication Channel
Echoing the repetition of pattern found in the cathedral space, this installation encourages visitors to look upwards at the soaring structures of the scissor arches.
The marble channel represents water as an agent of communication, a thread that connects the earth’s underworld, our inner worlds and that of the cosmos.
Marble is known for its fragile and luminous qualities and like water, is a precious, natural resource.
Y. Paul Tuppeney: Media Vita
Perhaps the most recognisable temporal progression in our environment is the transition made by plants from green when living to yellows and browns as they perish.
The figure stands in the landscape, measuring its changes. The graphic that she holds is adapted from the sliding heater controls of a car, only here it is life and its loss that are in balance (rather than warmed and un-warmed air!).
Z. Srabani Ghosh: Peter| pan & Pandora| hope
Made of untreated ground clay blended with barley husk, these floating sculptures of oversized under-vests with their unmistakable human volume embody the memory of the many souls have sought the peaceful solace and solitude of Camery Gardens over the life and times of the site, a place that has helped them recall their inner Pan and rekindle hope in their hearts.
AA. Barbara Beyer: Wiela
Wiela relates to the four springs to which Wells cathedral owes it origin. The group presents three dichotomies: boats built as houses; hulls whose forms suggest water while the cracked adobe they are made from seems as if it had seen drought. Paradoxically, the slates, which also bring some promise of water, feel as though they might imprison and overwhelm, or provide protection and sanctuary.
BB. John Meikle: Pilgrim Staffs
The piece was inspired by medieval pilgrim staffs and medieval pilgrim badge making. The symbolic importance of number three features in the piece in direct and discreet ways. The pewter inserts, although abstract in nature, are based upon imagery associated with St. Andrew the apostle and weather patterns encountered on pilgrimage.
CC. Lou Baker: Life/Blood 2018 - 2023
Knitting is normally private, functional, perfect and finished. Installing ‘sloppy’ knitting in public subverts these expectations. It’s unsettling. As anthropologist Mary Douglas describes it, it’s ‘matter out of place’.
Blood is a sacred substance in sacrificial rituals for purification, consecration, and atonement. It symbolises both life and death.
The red, formless, unravelling knitting is alluring, yet somehow, also, uncanny. It stimulates thought, provoking a range of conflicting responses about mortality.
DD. Nicola Anthony: We Are All Connected
This artwork looks at pilgrimage, migration and the refugee crisis.
The words are from people who migrated into and out of Ireland: some by choice, and others who were forced to flee.
The artwork takes the stigma off of being a refugee, seeing migration and pilgrimage as part of the natural flow of human beings, and displacement (the forced movement of persons) as a disaster we can all find compassion for.