Dilston Grove

Hi

I'm sorry I disappeared again.  I was very involved in making work and find it hard to focus on other things.  I have completed most of the work now so can be a bit more relaxed and get back to blogging as there are lots things I want to share.

First up is Dilston Grove.  Heard of it before? no me neither.  I discovered it as I took part in the National Trust Pre-Raphaelite Pilgrimage a couple of weeks ago.  I was one of the artists involved and was at the Way Point in Dilston grove, which is in Southwark Park.  I'd never been to either place before so was excited to discover somewhere new.

This was my first impression of Southwark park, not bad.

And then I went off to find Dilston Grove, which is not the easiest place to find and totally unexpected when you do.  I knew it was a deconsecrated church, but that was all.

And here it is.  It looks like a fairly conventional old church from the outside. But once inside it is an amazing building.

It's a former Clare College Mission Church, designed by Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton in 1911.  It is one of the earliest examples of poured concrete construction.  It became unoccupied in 1962 and was pretty much left to rot.  It is now run by CPG (who also run the Cafe Gallery in Southwark Park).  It is an artist run initiative.  The space was refurbished in 2010 by Walter Menteth Architects.

It is an amazing space, very raw and very unusual in London, in fact I can't really think of any other spaces like it in London.  You can see some great photos here and find some more information about the gallery here.

Here are a few of my snaps

Wouldn't be amazing to have an exhibition there, I'm thinking a large wall installation of a swarm or flock of birds.  There would need to be a lot of birds, but it would look really stunning.  What do you think? I'm putting that request out into the universe so watch this space.

 cx