The E17 Art Trail is a biennial event that takes place across the borough of Waltham Forest in northeast London.  In 2017, its theme was STE(A)M; the acronym that recognises the place of Art alongside the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  At St. Peter’s-in-the-Forest Church, Tony curated the site-specific exhibition Sacred Geometry featuring himself alongside Jason Hawkridge and Mark McClure.  Each artist explored contemporary ideas of sacred geometry; an ancient geometry whose visual forms are constructed by only a pair of compasses and an unmarked straight line.

Colour Temperature Blue

Initially inspired by the symbolic meanings of the colours found in the stained-glass windows, Tony created a series of window hangings ‘Colour Temperature Blue’ with a photographic lighting gel titled ‘Colour Temperature Blue’ – the blue that corresponds to the same colour temperature as direct overhead sunlight (5,600K).  Each hanging is created from a process of layering and folding to replicate the darkening shades of sky blue from bright sunlight through to nightfall.

Each pattern created is based on the same background composition created from using only a compass and a straight edge. This is combined with a different set of rules for each that are based on the first four integers of the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3); itself a sacred geometry numbering sequence where each new number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two.

The first triptych

The second triptych

The third triptych

Jason Hawkridge’s work is a progression of paintings evolving in colour and form from the one before.  Each composition is created from arrangements of intersecting diagonal lines producing images of geometric balance and harmony. All the colours found in the work reflect those in the surrounding interior architecture.

With a background in visual design, Mark McClure was trained to follow the basic visual rules of geometry. He says ‘Golden ratios and geometry underpinned everything I did and in transitioning to abstract art, I took these rules with me’. His mobile sculpture, Fracturing of the Sacred, expresses a conscious abandonment of those rules to explore how far they can be broken.