The Art of the Diorama

TIMOTHY HARROLD
The Art of the Diorama
St Catherine’s Church, Wickford
12-24 May 2023, part of the One Beautiful World Arts Festival

What is this?

An exhibition of miniature dioramas in boxes and drawers using the assemblage of found objects to create visual parables.

Who is Tim?

Tim was born in London in 1960. In the 1980s, he did a Foundation Course at Thurrock Tech and then a degree in Expressive Arts at Brighton Poly, during which time he co-founded the Theatre of the Bleeding Obelisk performance art group. His degree show included dioramas and assemblages using natural materials. Tim went on to teach art in secondary and further education, later working as a detached church youth worker. With his wife Vera, he created crossdenominational interactive prayer spaces and led creative workshops at national gatherings. Tim has shown his dioramas in a number of group exhibitions, notably with commission4mission in London and the Thurrock Art Trail. He has had solo shows: The Perceptual Eye at Well House Gallery (Horndon on the Hill, 2014) and Perceptualism at 35 Chapel Walk Gallery (Sheffield, 2017). Tim is also a poet, photographer, itinerant speaker, and has made a film. Tim & Vera live in Grays Thurrock, Essex and have 3 grown up sons and 2 grandchildren. 

What is a diorama? 

A diorama is a model representing a scene with 3- dimensional figures in miniature, or a work of art made by grouping together found or unrelated objects. The French word diorama means ‘through that which is seen’. 

What is assemblage? 

Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate (an underlying layer) that consists of 3-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate. Assemblage is 3-dimensional collage, typically using found objects. 

What is a visual parable? 

A parable is a story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels. These works of art are visual allegories or metaphors with spiritual meanings. 

What is Perceptualism? 

‘Perceptualism’ is ‘where the conceptual and metaphysical meet’. Tim seeks not to show only the surface of things nor to see into the shallows, but to perceive and pictorially express the deeper things that lie in hidden depths. His dioramas are creative journeys into the enigmas of discovery, adventure and explanation. Isaiah 43:19 asks us, “Do you not perceive it?”

The wonderfully creative Mothers Union in Wickford and Runwell have created a special Coronation display at St Catherine's Church. Their display is called The Way to the Coronation. Visit to see how many faces you can identify.

St Catherine's is open through the day from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm, so do come in to see the exhibition and the display.

The Doors of Perception in Traces

Tonight I saw 'The doors of perception' by John Espin and Tim Harrold in the Traces exhibition at Hadleigh Old Fire Station. The artwork in this show has been organised and commissioned by ENAS (the Essex Network of Artists' Studios). Hadleigh Old Fire Station is now a gallery space and studios. Traces will end on 14th September.

It is apt that this exhibition, entitled Traces, takes place in this recently re-purposed venue. Much of the selected work featured here deals with places, spaces and identities which formulate and shift through time. This exhibition constitutes one of a number of projects, events and opportunities occurring in the first year of the ENAS initiative which reflects upon these themes; as starting points from which to promote and highlight the work of Essex artists and to ensure that Essex retains and builds upon its reputation as a destination for visual artists.

The artists in Traces were selected in pairs through commissioning opportunities offered by ENAS, to identify other artists with whom they would benefit from a creative dialogue and who are working in complementary ways across a spectrum of theoretical or practical interests. Each of these commissions was designed to allow the artists to develop their networks, test out ideas, take risks, explore new ways of working and broaden their scope of work.

The brief John and Tim were given was simply to produce a three-dimensional artwork in partnership with someone else to sit on a plinth 90com high and 45cm by 45cm. They made a mixed-media 'assemblage' with four scenes so the piece has to be viewed from all sides. There are four themes within the piece, but each is related to another through certain obvious - and not so obvious - visual commonalities.

There is a strong sense of parable about each diorama. Visually, the scenes may at first appear fantastic, childlike, or surreal, but they are intentionally poetic with an oblique narrative. The themes were developed through prayer, direction and creative contemplation, eventually becoming the whole that is The Doors of Perception. They both believe that creativity is a prophetic activity that both interprets and requires interpretation. When Jesus told parables, not everyone 'got' their meaning, nor did he reveal their meaning to everyone. John and Tim hope that the piece will thus reveal to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

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Patti Smith - The Tyger.