This new public sculpture is based on plans for stained-glass windows found in local archives. The designs are inspired by two historic Liverpool Cathedrals – St Nicholas’ Pro-Cathedral and Lutyen’s Crypt at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
1 artist in this exhibition
Isabel Nolan draws inspiration from a diverse range of different sources to create her artwork, including religious relics, architectural plans, literary and historical figures, and human and animal behaviour. These artistic investigations are driven by intensive research, but the result is always deeply personal and open to different interpretations.
Built in 1813, St Nicholas’ stood on Copperas Hill and served as Liverpool’s Catholic Pro-Cathedral until 1967 – the upright section of Nolan’s work is loyal to the original tracery of the east window. The other half is geometric – reminiscent of the windows in Lutyen’s Crypt, which sits beneath the Metropolitan Cathedral. The Crypt is all that remains of an earlier design for the building, after plans were redeveloped following financial issues due to the Second World War.
Lying here on its side, the piece might evoke ideas of architectural ruins, yet the bright colours – a nod to stained glass and industrial steelwork palettes – suggest possibility and ambition. For Nolan, the piece attempts to claim space for these buildings that have ultimately been lost, or which represent that which was never realised – repurposing something once functional to reflect on rich histories of Liverpool. The piece draws not only the past and present, but also the real and imagined, together.
This work is temporarily located at the John Lennon Art and Design Building at Liverpool John Moores University.
Further work by this artist is located at The Walker Art Gallery.
Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Art Fund and Culture Ireland.