Jul 1: GAIA and Two Minutes Silence

Today it was over to Ely Cathedral for a school service, and it was the first day of Luke Jerram's GAIA.

This is a large model of the Earth, which rotates and features the continents and clouds. It is available to view until the end of July. As it was installed overnight, we were probably some of the first people to see it.

Experiencing art in a location like this is very special. It invites us to consider the fragility of the Earth.

Art should be part of everybody's everyday experience. I have some favourite pieces on the walls of my house, including some specially created by friends. Next to my desk I have several paintings which were created by my friend Caroline Kent. She has had her work featured in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

One of her paintings was shortlisted for the John Moore's Painting Prize last year and has been on exhibition until last week.

This painting shows a small community of birds, representing humanity. In a silent moment, in a Millet-esque landscape, they quietly contemplate the rare and extinct creatures surrounding them, amid a sea of velvet. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The tiny frames (72 in total) create a paradox. They hold the images safely inside them, preserving their integrity, but also serve to emphasise how irrefragable environmental damage and climate change have isolated or polluted ecosystems and habitats and left them imprisoned. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
With the displacement of people and rapidly increasing extinction of species, silences are growing louder, all over the world. A painting is, in essence, silent. It needs the viewer’s thoughts to give it a voice. In this painting I am screaming, silently, for the future of all life on earth. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
When I was young, my mother would take me to art galleries and exhibitions. She was once standing in front of a Cézanne painting and tears rolled down her face. I looked at her in amazement. Then, one day, I was looking at a beautiful painting by Degas and the same thing happened to me. I have strived to create that moment in myself, my work and in others, ever since.’

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Two Minute Silence, oil on board, watercolour, gouache, miniature frames and English woven velvet, 133 x 160cm by Caroline E Kent

Why does she paint?

The beauty of the natural world, combined with the creative process and its arts, inspires me. It’s the wonder of being alive and trying to understand it, by creating my own visual poetry and aesthetic.

A print of the piece is for sale from Liverpool Museums website and one sits in my classroom to promote discussion.