Sacredness and the Aesthetics of Religion

I do not belong to any religion, though as a child I went to a Church of England school and I sing in the local church choir every Christmas. I enjoy religion as an idea, a community based around faith is very appealing to me, but not to the extent that I would fake a belief I do not have. I love the aesthetic of Christianity, of gothic architecture and illuminated manuscripts, the idea of a physical object being somehow sacred. In my art I am trying to capture a feeling of sacredness without religion.

My work last semester was based around landscapes in gothic windows.

This semester I am focusing more on objects. Currently I am working on a series of miniatures so that I can make what will essentially be a reliquary or portable shrine, but with landscapes instead of religious imagery.

The countryside feels sacred to me so I wanted to show that in my art, both through it taking the form of a shrine and through the use of gold leaf which is often used in religious art.