Projects

Fragments – images from a vaulted ceiling

Edmund gallery, Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

 

Following her work as project artist for St Edmundsbury Cathedral during the building of the central tower (see below), Lillias watched the consruction of the vaulted ceiling that now sits at the top of the tower itself. She drew the individual sections being carved, pieced together and later re-assembled and decorated on site. Her work came together in an exhibtion, ‘Fragments – images of a vaulted ceiling’, in November 2011 and a 36 page, fully illistrated book accompanied the exhibtion.

Watch video (1.20 mins) by kind permission Freeland Rees Roberts Architects

“I followed it through from beginning to end, watching the initial pieces being carved and assembled in the joiners to it being reassembled and painted in the Cathedral tower. As the ceiling slowly appeared other things disappeared. Each individual stage of the process had its own beauty which soon became absorbed within the next stage – the frame sank beneath the carvings as they were put in place, the carvings relinquished their independence as they came together and the bare wood was eventually cloaked behind a veil of pale undercoat. All these stages ultimately came together behind the glorious decoration that sings at the top of the tower. The work reflects my interest in the ‘individual components’ which make up the ‘whole’ – an obsession that started when I was project artist at the cathedral during the building of the Millennium tower (2000 – 2005). They may be hidden but without them the thing would collapse.”

 

A – Z of Still Life

Wildwood Gallery, Churchgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

 

In 2010 Lillias painted 2-3 still life paintings a week culminating in an exhibition, ‘A – Z of still life’. 24 of the 26 paintings were sold and a percentage of the sales were donated to the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution (AGBI – charity no 212667) for whom Lillias was the 2010/11 RI steward.

” I find still life a good discipline – it keeps my eye in. But, equally, it can give ordinary objects a new life where their simplicity can be evocative and symbolic. Since July I have done about 2 – 3 paintings a week, each representing a letter from the alphabet. It has been an intimate and absorbing project.”

24 of the 26 paintings were sold and a percentage of the sales were donated to the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution (AGBI – charity no 212667) for whom Lillias was the 2010/11 RI steward.

see article EADT 4th December 2010

 

The Millennium Tower  2000 – 2005 St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

 

  

Symbolically taking place at the start of the third millennium, the Suffolk Cathedral Millennium Project included the completion of the central tower, the north transept, part of the cloisters and two new chapels at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk. Built to last a thousand years, it is one of only a few Millennium Lottery projects with a spiritual significance. Lillias was project artist during the construction of the tower. Her work culminated in a very successfull exhibiton, the production of an illustrated book with an essay by Ronald Blythe and her personal response to the project, the Cross Series, which toured to several cathedrals.

 

For further information including book purchases please contact Lillias through her contacts page