Drawings: Canterbury Cathedral

Places that Grace has encountered while travelling and in the course of her career as a conservator have always been at the heart of her work. This series of drawings explores the perspectives of the fabric and environment Canterbury Cathedral that are often unseen by the visiting public.

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The quiet, undecorated, less visited rooms and passageways of the cathedral have always inspired Grace's imagination. The stillness of these seldom-seen places was the catalyst for a body of work exhibited simultaneously at Canterbury Cathedral and The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge in 2017-18

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Having worked as an artist and a stained-glass conservator at the Cathedral for many years, Grace wanted to take the opportunity to capture the essence of these spaces, and document the Cathedral and its precincts. She was able to observe and document parts of the building that very few people ever see, such as the roof spaces, where an atmosphere of stillness lingers while a hundred feet below the noise and bustle of cathedral life is going on.

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These hidden areas of the Cathedral have an almost contemplative atmosphere which Grace has captured in this work. Grace is fascinated by the way light can shape the mood of a place and was inspired by the light that fills the spaces and its effects on the surrounding architecture. Beginning with a set of exploratory drawings, she also developed a series of paintings on glass for an exhibition in the cathedral crypt. Some of these panels can be seen here…