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

Almost one year...

...since the beginning of Lockdown 1

Blog

Seeing and believing and living

Another in my very irregular series of 'were I to have preached'... Thomas was not the first, nor the last.

Talk/Workshop

Slow Book Group: The Cloud of Unknowing

Some notes on running a group reading The Cloud together. Through it, we hoped to gain a deeper understanding of prayer and through that to deepen our own prayer lives and relationships with God.

Article

What can I do about the Climate Emergency? Part 9

One of a series of articles for Exeter Cathedral’s monthly news. It's the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, and I'm looking at the emotive issue of food.

Exhibition/Installation

Experimenting for "Moths to a Flame"

The amazingly creative Chloe Uden from Art and Energy has made oak gall ink, so I attempted watercolour for the first time, and a Great Oak Beauty moth.

Academia

Working title: “The application of weather forecasting techniques to health forecasting”

In a past working life I conducted a thought experiment, looking at the different aspects of numerical weather prediction and weather forecasting at the Met Office, and asking whether these techniques might have an analogue in health forecasting. At the time, I thought there might be a paper in it. It never came to be written, so this is how I am keeping the idea alive.

Performance/Event

West Barok Singers & Players

A concert of Handel "Dixit Dominus" and other baroque gems, held in the Music Room at Powderham Castle.

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.

Random Work Generator

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

Attentiveness

Slow Book Group: The Cloud of Unknowing

Some notes on running a group reading The Cloud together. Through it, we hoped to gain a deeper understanding of prayer and through that to deepen our own prayer lives and relationships with God.

Environment

Now we have Trump

Armageddon outta here...

Making

"Particulart: Exhausted" at Oxford Festival of Arts

The overall aim of Particulart is to engage people with environmental and social issues and challenge the status quo through the power of knitting, science, and public art. In addition, “Exhausted” aimed to promote public awareness and provoke reflection on urban air quality, through a quirky display enabling playful interaction. It appeared at “Test Drive the Future”, an exhibition of electric vehicles, that will help solve the problem of air pollution.

Place

Clare's Open Studio

For Art Week Exeter, I thought I'd open my newly-painted garage studio up to the world. Complete with kettle and lots of cake. It was a chance to show some of my work since 2014, and to ask for ideas for art in St Loyes.

Play

Press Release - "Knitting exhibition shows climate change to be ‘Up in the Air’"

An innovative art installation goes on show this week to bring alive the greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. Local artist Clare Bryden has been knitting larger than life versions of the particles and making card games. The exhibition, which will be on display from 11-24 July at the Glorious Art House in Fore Street Exeter, is designed to be a playful way of sparking people’s interest in the science and issue of climate change.

Public Engagement

We made a font!

Over the last few months, I've been collaborating with local artist Steven Bramble on producing an alphabet and font for the Quarry Pod.

Science and Data

"Freefall Climate Graffiti" at Exeter Phoenix

The visible results of Freefall Climate Graffiti at the Exeter Phoenix will be ephemeral. Have a drink in the café outside seating area, and ponder the graffiti climate maps of the UK, before they're painted over. Help yourself from, and add to, the woolly wall. Pick up a booklet about the project from the Phoenix box office. Repainting Exeter Phoenix’s graffiti wall with UK Climate Projections, with Miss*C and the Freefall Youth Group.

Social Justice

Far more than two’s company

Clare Bryden. Far more than two’s company. Church Times, 11 October 2013.
Crowdfunding is one way of raising finance which can benefit church and community projects, and offer ethical projects for donors and investors, Clare Bryden discovers.