Main Areas of Focus

My interests are wide-ranging, primarily in how human beings affect and are affected by the natural world of which we are part, and the related theology and psychology of connectedness.

Artist

Creating beautiful and thought-provoking art as a means of supporting care for planet and people, nurturing a sense of place, and building community

Writer

Articles and blogs on economics, environment, nature, attentiveness, applied theology, arts, and anything that interests me

Consultant

» Website development and training
» Energy efficiency and renewable energy consultancy
» Research and reporting

Latest News and Produce

What I’ve recently produced. What I’m working on. What’s in the pipeline.

News

Pitch Me!

I had this little idea of Paying It Forward during 2019. I'm offering up to 3 hours of my time to help you with something inspiring, worthwhile, bonkers, thought-provoking, or maybe even useful. So it's not wholly altruistic, as I want to have fun too!

Blog

Catching the wind

Mucknell Abbey, Worcestershire, 10 March 2011 - The anticyclonic frost and cold of the beginning of March has become cyclonic bluster and low cloud. I take advantage of the force 5-ish sou'westerlies, and reach for my kite.

Article

"Looking slant" for Science and Belief blog

Ruth Bancewicz of the Faraday Institute asked me to write a piece for the blog "Science and Belief – A blog about the positive interactions between science and faith". I finally took the opportunity to write up my reflections about "Green|Blue" more fully.

Exhibition/Installation

"Angel of the SW"

Set on a high point within Ludwell Valley Park, Exeter, the Angel's weathered steel reflects the rust-red warmth of the local stone. It serves as a focus and an anchor, helping to tether us and give us a sense of place in an ephemeral and rapidly changing world.

Performance/Event

"This world is not conclusion"

It took several days to create a sand painting of the Compact Muon Solenoid at CERN, laboriously piling grains of sand one on another. Then soon after completion it was destroyed.

Recording

"...and the Greatest of these is Love"

In their second album, Antiphon presents world premiere recordings of three choral works by Michael Walsh: an unaccompanied Mass of the Holy Trinity; a full-scale Requiem Mass; and The Way of Love, a setting of five love poems by Rupert Brooke. We recorded it in July 2017 in the crossing and Lady Chapel in Exeter Cathedral.

Talk/Workshop

Workshop on "Slow Bible Reading"

workshop was on the ancient monastic practice of Lectio Divina, part of a Prayer & Spirituality Day at Exeter Cathedral.

Academia

“Live the questions now: control, connectedness and making conceptual art”

Giving fourth year students at Exeter Medical School an introduction to conceptual and environmental art, looking at meaning-making and how we turn ideas into art, making art.

Random Work Generator

There are a number of threads running through all my work. Here’s a random sample from each.

Attentiveness

Workshop on "Slow Bible Reading"

workshop was on the ancient monastic practice of Lectio Divina, part of a Prayer & Spirituality Day at Exeter Cathedral.

Environment

Community Energy Schemes

Community renewable energy schemes, which are registered for Feed-in-Tariffs, summed and mapped by postcode districts.

Making

"The art of knitting, chemistry, and gentle protest" for Power Culture blog

RegenSW asked me to write for its new blog "Power Culture: exploring our energy generation through the arts". It took me 44 years to learn to follow the energy, so here's the story of how Particulart sparked and took on its own energy...

Place

Regeneration with Lynn Bailey

Yesterday I had a great meeting with print artist Lynn Bailey, who had come to Kaleider to hear my talk on Working with Gold. She had produced work responding to Mincinglake Valley Park for the dissertation part of her Fine Arts masters.

Play

"Particulart: Up in the Air" pop-up at TEDxExeter

Clare was honoured to be able to show Particulart at TEDxExeter 2016, in between a nice lot of Particulart-relevant talks(!) such as Danny Dorling on different ways of mapping the world, Alan Smith on how statistics are about Us, and the video of Al Gore's latest TED talk on climate change.

Public Engagement

I made a trail!

When Steven Bramble suggested designing an alphabet of Heavitree Stone, I immediately thought of its potential use in an A-Z. I came across Placeify some years ago, powering Exeter University's Sculpture Tour, and the two things came together as an idea for a trail.

Science and Data

Review of "Green|Blue" on Phonic FM "Culture & Review" show

Culture & Review is the monthly round-up of cultural activity in Exeter. My Cathedral Chapter House show was reviewed back in June by presenter Josie Sutcliffe, musician Emma Welton, and playwright Emily Holyoake. Five months later, I've managed to get hold of the recording!

Social Justice

Ethics on hold?

Clare Bryden. Ethics on hold? Third Way Magazine, November 2013.
Is the smartphone in your pocket fuelling violence on the other side of the world? Clare Bryden asks some uncomfortable questions about our complex relationship with gadgets – and investigates new ways to connect more ethically.