WELCOME The Chichester Workshop is a centre for liturgical art, currently located in South Harting, north of Chichester. Alongside the Workshop’s day-to-day work undertaking commissions across a broad range of traditional media, we offer an education programme that includes both practical artistic training and theological engagement with the principles of Christian iconography.
Working in association with Chichester Cathedral, we seek to revive the place of traditional liturgical art within Christian worship.
On this website you can find out more about our team, our work, upcoming training opportunities, and access to other resources including a video series.
Chichester Cathedral, uk
cHICHESTER WORKSHOP ARTISTS AT WORK © RUSSELL SACH
Training at the Chichester Workshop
THEOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT © SCALA FOUNDATION
LITURGICAL ART is art made for the worship of God in Jesus Christ. It presents a vision of the heavenly glories, and earth transformed.
Liturgical art is diverse, including not only painting and mosaic, but also wood carving, metalwork, enameling, and more. These diverse visual forms relate to their architectural contexts and combine with other art forms within the Church’s liturgy to raise all the human senses to God in a single act of praise.
CHRIST PANTOCRATOR MOSAIC © RUSSELL SACH
LAZURUS RELIEFS, CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL, 13TH CENTURY
GOLD CHALICE, ETHIOPIA, 18TH CENTURY © V&A
ANCHANGEL MICHAEL, MANUSCRIPT, 12TH CENTURY © GETTY MUSEUM
THE PROJECT began in 2022 with a residency in Chichester Cathedral we called the Art of Worship. Over three months, artists Jim Blackstone and Martin Earle set up shop in the Cathedral, undertaking commissions in a temporary studio in the north transept. Alongside Aidan Hart, they also presented a series of lectures on liturgical art and hosted a study day. Encouraged by the positive reaction to this residency, the Cathedral invited Jim, Martin, and Aidan to establish a permanent workshop.
We have now developed plans for the construction of a purpose-built studio on land within the Cathedral quarter. In the meantime, Jim and Martin are working in a temporary studio nearby where they have begun to welcome apprentices. Working closely with Aidan, the Cathedral is also rolling out a teaching programme on the theology of liturgical arts for clergy, seminarians, and the wider public.
AT WORK DURING THE ART OF WORSHIP © RUSSELL SACH
THE ART OF WORSHIP RESIDENCY
A Visitor to the ART OF WORSHIP
Another visitor to the ART OF WORSHIP
