An Artist in Residence
“Having grown up in the area, and working predominantly in the rest of the UK and in Europe, it is always enjoyable and satisfying to be able to create work in the community in which I grew up. Since 2005 I have been developing artwork in the area as part of wide reaching public art projects within the community. Therefore the development of the St Chad statue and residency with Lichfield Cathedral, offers great opportunity to further develop this work.” - Peter Walker
Peter Walker is the Cathedral's Artist in Residence. He is orginally from Lichfield, and is an internationally renowned sculptor and artist. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. Producing sculptures, paintings, drawings, installation pieces, as well as Son-et-Lumiere, his extensive creative ability has led him to produce over 15 public statues located around the country and have works in private and public collections worldwide.
Locally, Peter has founded Lichfield City's very first Sculpture Trail as part of the 'A City as Sculpture' Project TM. He is artistic director for The Sculpture and Art Foundation C.I.C and since 2005 has worked extensively with members of the local community to develop the visual arts and allow opportunity and access to the arts.
Peter now shares his creative artwork and experience with visitors to Lichfield Cathedral and the local community to enable participation in the arts and in the creation and development of projects - including the creation of the statue of Saint Chad.
You can read about some of Peter's latest projects, below.
'A Cathedral Illuminated' 2016
In December 2016 Lichfield Cathedral invited people to experience a stunning festive light and sound show projected onto the west front of the Cathedral.
The projections by Peter Walker were accompanied by original music by composer David Harper. The two collaborate under the name Luxmuralis. Following the show visitors were invited on a special journey through the Cathedral exploring the nativity, Christmas Tree Festival, and the culmination of our 10,000 Angels project involving local schools.
This is a free but ticketed event with donations strongly encouraged. Tickets are available from The Shop at No. 9, and a limited number will also be available on the evening.
To find out more about Peter Walker, please click here.
'The Second Day' - Lichfield Festival Light Show
On Saturday 2nd July, we celebrated Lichfield Festival's opening weekend with a light projection show, blending period film footage with the latest digital techniques. Luxmuralis (Peter Walker and composer David Harper) presented the light installation on the concept of 'The Somme', and provided a contemporary and moving response to this pivotal moment in the history of WW1. Thousands of visitors filled The Close on Saturday evening to watch this moving dedication to those who fell at The Battle of The Somme.
Oscar-winning Actor Eddie Redmayne teams up with the Cathedral
In August 2016 Lichfield Cathedral teamed up with Oscar-winning actor, Eddie Redmayne, to work on a special project in commemoration of the Battle of the Somme.
Eddie Redmayne OBE is a critically acclaimed actor best known for his roles in films such as ‘Les Miserables’, ‘The Danish Girl’, and ‘The Theory of Everything’, for which he won the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Actor.
The Cathedral’s Artist in Residence, Peter Walker, working alongside the star, transformed the inside of the Cathedral into a thought-provoking, emotive and poignant landscape, symbolising the journey taken by soldiers to the front, using the words of war poets, visual arts, light and sound.
Lichfield Cathedral Exhibition heads to Germany
May 2016
Peter Walker has returned from Lichfield's twinned city Limburg an der Lahn having taken artworks over for an exhibition in the historic town hall in Germany.
Over 70 Sculptures, paintings and drawings from ‘A City as Sculpture’ exhibition, which were seen in Lichfield last summer adorning the Cathedral and it’s grounds, were transported and exhibited for five weeks in the Kunstslammungen der stadt Limburg.
The exhibition was entitled ‘Orchestration of Line and Form’. With a great welcome from the twinned city, fantastic reception and opening by the town mayor, thanks and tributes were made acknowledging the cultural links made by the artist in his aim to bring art and culture from both twinned cities together.
Peter Walker was the first ever English artist to be exhibited in the Central museum and gallery.
Among the artwork a depiction of Lichfield Cathedral at night was hung for all to admire and to see the similarities of the twinned Cities.
During the visit, part of the project included outreach to working with local schools and young trainees who attended a guided tour around the exhibition and attended workshops held by the artist to learn about art, culture and to make creations, self-portraits and digital artworks themselves with the artist.
It was the first time the historic museum had young people attend an exhibition in such numbers and carry out workshops in the venue with an artist.
A City As Sculpture
In summer 2015, Peter produced a new exhibition, ‘A City as Sculpture’, which ran from August – October in the Cathedral and its grounds.
The exhibition featured eight artworks on display in The Close, and over fifty other artworks in the Cathedral itself.
"I am delighted to exhibit a collection of my work during the summer at the start of my residency with the Cathedral. The exhibition and residency are all about developing a series of such events, workshops and talks, all related to the visual arts during the development of the St Chad statue. Publicly accessible art is something that I'm passionate about. Art which people can interact with, which offers something new or which develops opportunities for participation and developing access, is key to the five year programme".
- Peter Walker, 2015
The exhibition was linked to the ‘Through the Artist’s Eye’ exhibition which was held at the Emporium Gallery.
Lichfield Sculpture Project
In 2015 Peter launched two new visual arts project in the Cathedral: The Lichfield City Sculpture Trail and the St Chad Project.
The Lichfield City Sculpture Trail is part of a Lichfield and District based project, and is the first sculpture trail for Lichfield, helping to highlight the many artistic treasures the city has to offer. The trail is part of the “City of Sculpture Project”, which has been developed over ten years, led by talented sculptor Peter Walker, and aims to increase participation, access and understanding of visual arts.
Artworks on the trail include ‘Sleeping Children’ within the Cathedral, ‘Captain Smith’ in Beacon Park Museum Gardens, ‘Dr Johnson Mosaic’ on Bird Street, ‘The Reading Girl’ on St John’s Road, ‘Samuel Johnson Monument’ in Market Square, and ‘The Formation of Poetry’ on Tamworth Road. The trail can be completed in approximately 2 hours, or visitors can choose to explore smaller sections of the city. It can also be completed using smartphones and tablets.
Mr Rob Carr, member of the project team, says: “The trail is the first part of a multi-layered arts initiative in the area. This is the first of many new exciting artist-led projects we are developing, which will help people view Lichfield and the district in a new way, through artists’ eyes.”
In addition to the City Sculpture Trail, we also celebrated the launch of the St Chad Statue project. Peter Walker has been commissioned to design and create a major new artwork for the historic landmark, which will take the form of a 3m bronze representation of St Chad. The launch gave visitors an opportunity to see a model of his 3m bronze statue, as well as a series of design sketches. The St Chad statue will be a new feature in the Cathedral grounds in the next two years.
Sculptor, Mr Peter Walker says: “It’s a great privilege to be working to create a statue of such an important figure in the heritage if the area. For me, making public art is about involving the community in seeing the work through the stages of its development, therefore it’s wonderful that we have unveiled the maquette, a model of the final statue.”
The St Chad Statue Project is kindly supported by Tempest Ford.
More information on the Lichfield City Sculpture Trail can be found here.