Truro Cathedral; Luke Jerram, Mars

 This exhibition has now finished.


Luke Jerram is an artist who is probably best known for his very large models of celestial bodies.  His projects have included Gaia (the Earth), Helios (the sun), Museum of the Moon and now Mars.  Each of the models is huge, metres across.  High resolution NASA photos are used in the reproductions and they are lit up from the inside.  They also rotate slowly so you can sit and contemplate....

There are more than one of each of these and they may be in more than one place at a time.  They have been touring cathedrals across the UK for instance but they also visit festivals, museums and outside spaces.  There are some incredibly striking images of these models in different places, for instance Helios suspended within the ruined Fountains Abbey.

We were lucky enough to see Gaia at Truro Cathedral some time back so I was determined to see Mars when it visited.  It is awe inspiring to see these models and fascinating for any science geek.  I would have to say though, that I did not find Mars quite as inspiring as Gaia.  I think it helped that I recognised so many features on Gaia!  My knowledge of the geography of Mars is rather less though.

It was still very much worth seeing though!

The cathedral put on a number of events under Mars including a silent disco and several different concerts as well as a screening of the original War of the Worlds film.  We unfortunately were not able to go to any of these special events.  I had particularly wanted to go to the performance of the music from the film Interstellar on the cathedral's organ.  It was not meant to be though.

I have not seen Helios or Museum of the Moon but maybe I will catch them at Truro Cathedral or another venue at some point!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Box: Journey's with Mai

This exhibition runs until the 14th June 2026 Sir Joshua Reynolds is one of the greats of British painting and will be a name familiar to many.  I had no idea he was born in Plympton, just outside Plymouth though.  He is a major 18th century European painter and the leading portrait artist of the time.  He was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Art and its first president. Portrait of Omai is considered his best work and a timeless masterpiece that is one of the best pieces of British art.  In 2022 the portrait was up for sale and in danger of leaving the UK with a hefty expected value of £50 million.  It was place under a 12 month exportation bar.  The National Portrait Gallery started a fund to raise money to buy the portrait and the Getty Museum asked to jointly purchase the painting so that it could be shared between both.  In March 2023, the exportation bar expired with only half of the required amount raised and it was announced that pro...
Read more

KARST: Discord and Harmony, Beryl Cook and Others

This exhibition runs until the 18th April This was my first visit to this lovely little gallery but it will not be my last.  The exhibition was inspired by the work of Beryl Cook and included several of her works.  Other artists had been selected for inclusion based on some sympathetic aspect of their work to Beryl's.  Some of these were obvious but others needed a little more digging I think.  This made for a diverse and thoughtful exhibition with plenty of fun pieces. It's always interesting, visiting a show put together with various artists.  So many artists have a body of work that speaks as a whole as they develop a style, their own language and explore a theme.  Individual pieces do not always make as much sense by themselves, unless you have a knowledge of that artist and their work.  Putting pieces of work together from different artists changes what they have to say and understanding their relevance is an interesting thing to work out. This ex...
Read more

RAMM: Exeter's Fine Arts Gallery, Highlights from the Collection

This exhibition runs until the 9th August 2026. This one room changes regularly to give an insight in to the fine art collection.  This is a pretty impossible task as the collection contains over 7000 pieces including paintings, prints, drawings, watercolours, miniatures and sculptures.  The current display includes only around 30 pieces, so highlights is definitely a good term for this display. Looking around the room, the pieces are split in to a few different categories, beginning with portraits.  One portrait is called a Man in a Red Suit and shows a man of colour wearing a red suit.  The artist is unknown and it dates from around 1740 to 1780.  A huge amount of research has been conducted on this painting and yet there are still no clear answers.  It has been credited to Sir Joshua Reynolds and I can see why but it may also be by Allan Ramsay.  Nobody knows who the sitter is either, even though attempts have been made to link to two different free...
Read more