Jake Lever - A Pilgrimage to Oxford
I recently went on a visit to Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford to see some new stained glass created by Thomas Denny. The window is based upon the biblical story of the Return of the Prodigal Son and Denny has portrayed the story across six panels using the artist’s characteristic drawing onto intensely coloured glass. Soon after leaving art college I was really drawn to the idea of becoming a stained glass artist having spent a summer working at the York Glaziers Trust, so I am always interested to see new stained glass and I am really fond of the work of Thomas Denny in Gloucester Cathedral.
As well as enjoying the new window, what really drew me was the delicate fourteenth century grisaille glass in the chapel housing the shrine of St Frideswide, a Saxon princess and healer who became the Patron Saint of Oxford. This ancient glass was mounted low down, enabling visitors to enjoy the sensitive painting of foliage and twisting vines. For me this was a real inspiration to see how the natural world was portrayed by medieval artists.
Across the quad was the Christ Church Picture Gallery containing a collection of mostly medieval and Renaissance paintings including Piero della Francesca’s Virgin and Child with Three Angels. The ethereal stillness within his paintings is really extraordinary; their luminosity is captivating. Together the cathedral and gallery offered a very gentle series of incredibly beautiful imagery that felt like a real treat on this sunny, autumn morning in Oxford.
Artists-in-Residence at St Davids Cathedral
During August Gillian and I were invited to be Resident Artists at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. Over the years we have visited the cathedral and the surrounding coastline many times, drawn to its deep spirituality, rich history and incredible beauty. Janet Ingram, the cathedral’s Education and Pilgrimage Officer, collaborated very closely with Lever Arts to organise the short residency, weaving us into the summer programme of activities whilst also giving us time to experience the cathedral and surrounding area on our own. We stayed in a house normally reserved for Music Scholars, a former stables on the route that would have been taken by pilgrims approaching the cathedral, close to the ancient Penitents’ Bridge. This meant that we could immerse ourselves in the daily life of the cathedral including the worship; Choral Evensong, Parish Communion and Celtic Evening Prayer led by Revd Canon Sheridan James.
Daily walks took us to St Non’s Chapel and well, a place we found deeply inspirational and healing. The ruins of an ancient building overlooking the sea are said to be the 6th-century birthplace of the patron saint of Wales, St David, the inspiration behind a pandemic postal art project that I developed a few years ago called ‘Do the Little Things’. Legend has it that St Non gave birth to St David during a violent storm. Non clutched a rock in pain, leaving her fingerprints on it before a lightning strike split the stone and a holy well sprang forth to provide her with water. Blessing ourselves with this water, resting in the ruins of her home and spending time in the nearby chapel overlooking the rocky bay, was life-giving and restorative for us both.
As part of the residency I was invited to create a temporary installation in the Holy Trinity Chapel, a piece which I called ‘Safe Haven’. In the medieval period St Davids was at the crossing of major sea routes, at the centre of the Celtic world. Over centuries thousands of pilgrims used this space to give thanks for safe passage and venerate St David - ‘Dewi Sant’ - who founded a monastic order here. Drawings of boats etched by pilgrims into the chapel walls are still visible. The individual sculptures - 64 in total - were made with wire, tissue paper and gold leaf, evoking simple boat forms. These were arranged on the altar in arcs, all journeying towards a central point beneath the sculptural relief of Christ on the Cross, suggesting a returning home to God. They also echoed the lines of the surrounding fan vaulted chapel ceiling as well as the scallop shell motif, symbolising pilgrimage.
The work with visitors during the second half of the residency took the form of three events in the cathedral - a talk about art and pilgrimage that I gave, and two events which we jointly led; a day-long drop-in pilgrim badge making workshop for families and a Quiet Afternoon for adults. Participants came from across the UK and abroad; pilgrims, visitors and holidaymakers drawn from near and far.
The talk focussed upon a number of projects that we have run over the last 20 years including the ‘Pilgrimage to Hailes’ events during our time living in Cheltenham, the Soul Boats project with Birmingham Cathedral in 2015-16 and more recent projects such and ‘Do the Little Things’ and the Pilgrim Cello Project that Gillian collaborated on with Kenneth Wilson earlier this year.
Medieval travellers wore badges to identify themselves as pilgrims and collected souvenirs from the holy sites they visited. Surrounded by enthusiastic pilgrims of all ages, Gillian I invited people to use recycled card and metal foil to make their own pilgrim badge, inspired by this tradition and the rich imagery all around us.
Our final event was more reflective, taking place in the quietness of the east end of the cathedral. Participant were invited to prayerfully make a ‘Soul Boat’ as a way of reflecting upon the “vessel” of their own lives in relation to the winds and currents of life.
So, it has been an incredibly creative, stimulating and restorative summer! Gillian and I were so warmly welcomed by everyone we met at St Davids, but we would especially like to thank Janet Ingram whose vision, skill and hard work made this residency possible.
Cherishing the more-than-human world
Gillian and I (along with two others) are both involved in the creation of the monthly Iona services at All Saints Church in Kings Heath and recently we led a service called ‘Cherishing the more-than-human-world’. This was prompted in part by the fact that July 24 was Earth Overshoot Day. This marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources exceeds what Earth can regenerate that year. So, from 25 July until the end of the year, humans began consuming on ecological credit, deepening climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and global inequality. As the graph below makes clear, each year this date is arriving earlier and earlier. In 1971, it was 25 December. In 2024, it was 1 August. The earlier the date, the greater the ecological strain.
Within these services we try to engage with issues and themes through words, music and making activities that enable us to share our experiences of faith and build community. The Iona community off the coast of Scotland was founded upon the vision of working towards peace and justice for all and with this service we wanted to consider our relationship with the natural world in the context of climate justice. We often involve art making activities as a form of wordless prayer, but in this service we simply gathered around a table of natural things (feathers, shells, flowers and dried leaves) and had a conversation. Making space for this kind of genuine exploration of our lives in the context of faith and spirituality is really important to us, and to the church. All Saints is planning to apply for Silver in Eco Church Awards in the near future, and worship is integral to this. In my reflection before the discussion, I highlighted the way that historically, regarding humans as both separate and superior to the more-than-human world has led us to abuse the natural world and treat it as a resource, rather than nurture our interdependent relationship it. A person who has interesting things to say on this is Robin Wall Kimmerer.
“In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.” We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been and have had time to figure things out.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (from Braiding Sweetgrass)
