Hereford and Exeter Cathedrals are hosting exhibitions this month that put stewardship and our care for creation at the heart of this season of Creationtide.
Ely Cathedral is holding its second Green Fair showcasing local environmental groups and eco-friendly stalls and Worcester Cathedral has a series of environmental events to help its community live greener and more economically as part of its Living Gently on the Earth project.
Season of Creation – Starts Now.
Artist Ilya Fisher’s Unravelling – a response to the climate emergency – opens in Exeter Cathedral this Saturday (3 September). Her work explores issues around climate change and attempts to make sense of the world around her. She combines photography and embroidery, creating layers that invite the viewer’s eye to explore.
Stitched words are a graphic element flowing around the image, prompting the viewer to engage with the topic. Central to Ilya’s practice is being mindful in choices such as printing, materials and size to reduce waste and pollution.
This series of artworks look at the climate crisis and our response to it and our need to look away, and our need to face it. It’s about the anxiety that is stirred up in us and the excuses we tell ourselves. And it’s about hope.
The Dean and Chapter of Exeter have welcomed the exhibition, which aligns with the cathedral’s current drive to engage with environmental issues, as the Revd Canon Cate Edmonds, Canon Steward at Exeter Cathedral, explained:
“By hosting Unravelling, we hope that the cathedral will play a small role in helping local people explore the critical issues of climate change.
“As well as reducing our own carbon footprint with some innovative building improvements, Exeter Cathedral is looking to work with partner organisations to offer a space for climate discussion with the wider community. There is an urgent need for all of us to explore these issues, and face them together.”
Unravelling is at Exeter Cathedral from 3 September until 30 October. Admission to the exhibition is included with the standard Exeter Cathedral entry price, and advance booking is not required. More information can be found at the Exeter Cathedral website.
Waste Not Want Not is the new exhibition at Hereford Cathedral that focuses on historic recycling.
The exhibition, which opens in Hereford Cathedral’s Mappa Mundi and Chained Library building on 12 September, will explore the historic use of recycling, and how this has managed to preserve artefacts and information which might otherwise have been lost.
The ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ exhibition will showcase items from the cathedral’s collections which have reused or repurposed older materials, and given them a new lease of life.
Ranging from old books and documents carefully re-using parchment, to reframing stained glass fragments or resetting silver and gems – there are many ways that the cathedral of the past ‘wasted not’.
In a culture dominated by fast, disposable and easy options, we can take inspiration from a time when resources were sparse and used in every way possible.
The exhibition features items such as a scrap of parchment used to record the receipt of a salary for the Dean’s Champion, and the oldest piece of manuscript book held in the collections, used as endleaves in a later volume.
Archivist Elizabeth Semper O’Keefe said:
“The story of archives can often be a story of chance survival against the odds, so it is fantastic to be shining a spotlight on some of these survivors and to celebrate their new purpose alongside their original use.”
Alongside the exhibition the cathedral will run a series of workshops, including one which will use ‘found papers’ to construct new notebooks.
The exhibition runs until Saturday 31 December. Normal admission charges apply.
To find out more about the Cathedral Library and Archives, please contact Elizabeth Semper O’Keefe on 01432 374 225 or library@herefordcathedral.org.
Ely has announced its second annual Green Fair will take place next Saturday (10 September) and showcases local environmental groups and eco-friendly producers and makers.
As well as artisan products, stallholders will also include local commercial suppliers of low carbon solutions for the home or business such as electric heating systems, heat pumps and electric boilers, solar pv and home battery storage.
There is also the opportunity for visitors to discover more about our local environmental groups and how they can support them.
There will be demonstrations from Blended Monkey (pole lathe demonstrations) and Wild Oak Workshops, entertainment, food and drink.
The event starts at 10am on Cross Green next to the Cathedral and you can find out more here.
Photo – James Billings.
Worcester Cathedral’s Eco Group has also organised a Green Fair for next month as part of its ‘Living Gently on the Earth’ initiative – a series of free community events, talks and workshops on caring for our planet.
Thanks to National Lottery Funding secured by the Eco Group, the cathedral is hosting these events for the whole community to come together and explore ways to live an eco-friendlier lifestyle through cooking, gardening, money matters, shopping, travel and more.
These events will include a Big Green Family Fair on 22 October in the Cathedral’s medieval cloisters for the whole family to come together with eco-friendly crafts and produce.
The first event in this series will look at ‘from garden to dish” with a visit to Transition Worcester Community Garden and organic and vegetarian cooking on 25 September
Other events include how to live a less plastic life which will outline the threats presented by unnecessary packaging to our environment (both ecology and climate), the obstacles and challenges to addressing it within our lifestyle and society, and how to make a real difference without it costing the Earth.
A visit to a reclamation facility to better understand recycling, how to reduce use and save money in your home and how to travel greener.
The events are all free to attend thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund as part of its ‘Together for our Planet’ initiative
For more information about the Cathedral Eco Group, further details on the ‘Living Gently on the Earth’ events and to book free tickets, please click here.
