Art Exhibitions

Contact Details


Phone: 01483 547870

Guildford Cathedral's uncluttered, light and airy interior provides a perfect setting for art exhibitions. Exhibitions range from paintings, photographs and sculpture by local artists to topical national exhibitions. If you would like to investigate the possibility of holding an exhibition in the Cathedral please contact Carrie Tinsley.

Viewing times to visit the Cathedral and view artwork are Monday to Saturday    9.30am – 4.30pm. Before visiting please check the forthcoming events on the homepage to ensure the Cathedral is available.

Cruciform Vision by Jonathan Parsons - from 4 May

Cruciform Vision is an oil painting that presents a grid of purple, crimson, orange and brown brushstrokes, out of which emerge the horizontal and vertical golden bars of a cross, framed in the proportions of the Christian symbol. With this kind of painting, the artist seeks to reduce a hand made picture in oil paints down to something like its fundamental constituents: brush marks, colours, configuration and illusion. Cruciform Vision displays what appear to be continuous brushstrokes of pure colour drawn across one another, which continue unaltered even when a pale colour crosses a much darker one. This creates the illusion of many layers of pictorial depth. The coloured brushstrokes are, in fact, transparent and thinly painted, so the illusion is of something that is physically impossible. The process of making this kind of painting requires highly focused concentration, almost meditation. It is certainly intended to be an object of contemplation.

Cruciform Vision continues Parsons’ long-established practice of making ‘grid paintings’. Notable examples are in public collections such as the UK Government Art Collection and in private collections around the world.

 Jonathan Parsons is an artist, writer and lecturer.  He has worked as a professional artist since 1990 and has been exhibiting internationally since 1997. He was selected for the British Art Show 5 and was one of the youngest artists to be included in the notorious Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts, which toured to Berlin and New York.

Recent exhibitions include: The Golden Record (The Collection, Lincoln), Waldweben (Kasteel Schuurlo, Belgium), Shifting Ground (Angel Row), The Jerwood Sculpture Prize (Jerwood Space, London) and Art Out of Place (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery). He has regularly taught at a variety of art schools and universities since 1999. He is currently visiting lecturer in Fine Art at UCA, Farnham. His work is represented in public collections in the UK and private collections around the world. See: www.jonathanparsons.com


The Spirit of Form - 17 April to 27 May

 Following the success of the Surrey Sculpture Society's inaugural exhibition in May 2011 and during our 50th anniversary celebrations, the Cathedral has invited the Surrey Sculpture Society to exhibit again.

A number of sculptures from a selection of artists will be available for sale whilst at the Cathedral. Members of the Surrey Sculpture Society work in a wide variety of styles, from figurative to abstract, using a diversity of media, which include bronze, metal, ceramics, wood, stone, and found objects.

Carving, modelling and construction are used to create flora, animal and human form. The styles are diverse and show beauty, movement, skill and can be thought provoking.

 

 

 

   Christian Aid's 'Poverty Over T our' - 8 to 21 June  

Over the next two years, Christian Aid's 'Poverty Over' exhibition will be touring cathedrals all over the UK giving the public the opportunity to learn more about there work and deepen their understanding about the issues behind poverty and how we over come them.

Image taken at Southwark Cathedral

The centrepiece of the tour is a specially commissioned sculpture created by British artist Mel Howse. The stunning sculpture takes poverty as its theme and explores the void between those inside the poverty trap and those privileged enough to be on the outside looking in.

Christian Aid will display a photographic exhibition alongside the sculpture showing their work with partners. The images portray the challenge of the organisation's vision to eradicate poverty.