The Unsung Beauty Of Carlisle Cathedral

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The Unsung Beauty Of Carlisle Cathedral

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” - Albert Camus

Tree Noun: A woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.

In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, supporting branches and leaves in most species.

Origin: Old english trow, tro: from a Germanic variant of an Indo-European root shared by Greek doru ‘wood, spear’, drus ‘oak’.

The Tree Of Life Concept: The concept of a tree of life has been used in biology, religion, philosophy, and mythology. A tree of life is a common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies. It alludes to the interconnection of all life on our planet and serves as a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense. The term tree of life may also be used as a synonym for sacred tree.

The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, according to the EncyclopĂŚdia Britannica, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.

In turn we visited Carlisle Cathedral to gather two different opinions, about the trees which line the outside wall. We felt that capturing the Cathedral itself could become a very dry project as well as one that has been done countless times in the past.

We visited the trees on separate occasions so as not to taint our opinions by discussing our thoughts and feelings about the trees.

Liv: My thoughts about the trees were mostly about the spiritual impact they had, the trees appear as a protective barrier between the general public and the Cathedral itself.

The amount of colour that each tree had inspired me to use full colour in the publication as well as exploring faded colour as the weather is getting colder, which I noticed whilst I was standing around a bunch of trees for extended periods of time in a light jacket.

Steph: I was fascinated by the movement of the branches; so much so that it inspired me to create my illustrations based on the natural kinetics of the trees. I gathered my findings in different periods of weather to absorb an all round approach to the subject matter.

“I captured the trees entirely in photographic image as I wanted to reflect the beauty in the true natural form. On my visits to the trees I noticed that nobody else was, well, noticing. The structures, the colour and the overall purity and naturalness of the trees was simply being overlooked as people rushed by to work, school or into the city. Even the Cathedral visitors barely granted them a glance as they scurried through the gates. I have made the decision to collage some of my favourite photographs and I feel that in the future I wil be making more trips to capture more of the pulchritude that I witnessed on my visits.� - Liv

“I created the painting on the right using Photoshop. It is

inspired by looking at artists on the internet who specialise in capturing movment within abstract paintings. The image below was also made on Photoshop by layering the painting over a photohraph to represent the trees movemnt.� - Stephanie

“I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.�

Joyce Kilmer, Trees & Other Poems

“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures.�

Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Stephanie Poole Illustrator

Liv Whittle Graphic Designer