The Invitation: An Installation in Print and Stitch with Embroidered Sound

The Cloisters Gallery, St Davids Cathedral, St Davids, Pembrokeshire

March 20th to April 2nd 2012
Open daily 11am to 4pm

Created during the course of my MA in Art and Art History at the university, my work, entitled The Invitation, will shortly be seen on exhibition in the Cloisters Gallery, St Davids Cathedral, St Davids, Pembrokeshire.

Inspired by scripture and the spirit, the piece is an installation comprising abstract portraits in print and stitch of Christ and the Apostles presented in a Last Supper setting.  Engaging in possibilities opening up through combining the centuries-old art of stitch with modern computer technologies, the portraits share a common ground, painted in acrylics for Christ, then inkjet printed for the apostles. This ground represents the town of Capernaum in both the physical sense of place and, metaphysically, the inner journey of the Holy Spirit. With panels representing Mary of Magdala and Mary, Mother of God welcoming the viewer to the space, the work also includes a bench situated within the space of the portraits as an invitation to contemplation.

Stitching into transparent painted fabrics built up on the prepared ground, I further developed this layering technique by extending the colour key into sound, composing a cadence in G-minor for voice and double bass which I then stitched together on the computer, cutting and overlapping the musical phrases.  This sound element, arranged and partly performed by myself, then plays in a continuous loop in the context of the exhibition, embracing and enhancing its contemplative atmosphere.

Delighted to be invited to show in the beautiful setting of St Davids Cathedral during the season of Passiontide, I first exhibited this work as Exhibition 1 of the MA in the Gallery of the School of Art.  Next seen as part of the exhibition, “NCompass: Encounters with the Soul” in CARAD, Museum and Art Gallery, Rhayader,the installation now tours to St Davids, where it will be on exhibition in the Cloisters Gallery from March 20th to April 2nd 2012.

At present working on the dissertation which will complete my MA and producing a book to accompany The Invitation, the cathedral is welcomed as a very important step in the installation’s exhibition journey.