An interactive public artwork, created by a priest and iconographer will be revealed in Cirencester on Easter Sunday. The Revd Catherine Lomas describes her ministry as ‘rather unusually shaped’, being a full-time theological artist and iconographer working across the country, as well as Associate Priest at the Benefice of Cirencester with Watermoor.
‘Appearance’ is a temporary sculpture installation that will stand in the town’s market square from 9.30am to 3pm on Easter Sunday (5 April 2026), before being moved into church for a 4pm service. It consists of large upright letter-forms spelling the name of Christ, designed so that people can walk among them. Visitors will be invited to write prayers, hopes and fears directly onto the white-painted surfaces throughout the day.
“The sculpture grew from my training in calligraphy,” Catherine said. “I went to a workshop where we were taught to write in Saxon runes, an ancient form of lettering. As soon as I learned the letter forms, I saw them as standing stones. They’re upright and vertical, not rounded like the letters we’re used to, and they immediately reminded me of stone circles – places of spiritual encounter, connection, and gathering for a worshipping community.
“At the same time, I had the idea of representing the name of Christ through these standing-stone forms. I was inspired by Acts 17, where Paul says that Christ is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. It made me think that if the letters of Christ were placed around a space, people could physically move in and out of them, almost inhabiting that idea of being within Christ.”
As part of her Masters in Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University, Catherine was required to create work that would capture the imagination of a wider audience. “I thought, why not take these sculptures quite literally into the market place?,” Catherine said.
Her work as an iconographer began when she was in theological college. She said: “I got this overwhelming frustration with the quantity of words that we were having both to read and to write… there was a yearning within me to try to represent the concepts we were talking about in a visual way. With tutor support, I started submitting artwork alongside essays. I’ve been exploring visual theology ever since.”
Catherine later trained part-time as an iconographer for six years (alongside her 13 years in full-time parish ministry) before discerning a call to focus on art more fully. Following a sabbatical in 2022, she resigned her parish in the Diocese of Peterborough, moved to the Cotswolds, and established a home studio in early 2023.
“The iconography techniques and materials I use are unchanged from those used to create ancient icons. They’re made in the same way they have been for over a thousand years. I also felt an urge within me… to use art in a more provocative way, to actually open up conversations about what we believe. My contemporary artworks are theological in their basis, designed to make us think… to question what we believe, why we believe it, and where the gaps in our knowing and understanding lie,” Catherine said.
A diocesan mission grant made the project possible, covering the cost of materials and transport; each of the six letters stands more than five feet tall and weighs over 50 kilos, with concrete bases added for stability.
“My hope is that other communities might want to display it in their own church context,” Catherine said. “A large church could display the entire piece, but for smaller churches within a benefice, they could perhaps have one letter in each church to create a trail.”
Any community that would like to have the Christ runes appear in their locality can get in touch with Catherine at ku.de1773163286lcric1773163286ne@en1773163286ireht1773163286acdve1773163286r1773163286.
Catherine is also looking for volunteers for an hour or more to help visitors engage with the sculpture when it is in Cirencester on Easter Day. Do get in touch with her if you would like to be part of the team.
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