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.

Mind Changelings

Tim Harrold and John Espin will be exhibiting at St Catherine’s Church (Princess Margaret Avenue, East Tilbury RM18 8PB) from 15 – 30 July (3-7pm daily), as part of the Thurrock Art Trail and Essex Summer of Art. Their exhibition is entitled ‘Mind Changelings’.

Tim is an expressive arts graduate with performance art experience gained at Brighton Polytechnic from 1982-5. He has worked as an art tutor in both secondary and further education, and as a community and youth worker using creativity in contemplative installations.

Tim creates assemblage and photomontage by intentionally arranging found objects and words from a variety of sources into serendipitous tableaux. New metaphysical narratives emerge; playful perceptual parables appear; and re-imagined worlds on rediscovered natural materials or in recycled boxes full of unlikely juxtapositions hint at hidden realities.

He says, ‘My work is parabolic and numinous; where the conceptual meets the spiritual there is the “perceptual”.’

John was born in the mining village of Rossington in South Yorkshire. He moved with his family to Essex in the 1960's. On leaving state education he worked in an advertising studio in Central London. He was disillusioned with the advertising world and obtained a place on a foundation course in art in Thurrock, Essex and went on to obtain a fine arts degree at Maidstone College of Art.

He says, 'My work exists somewhere between painting and sculpture, despite being wall-mounted and marked with colour. Anything can be a starting point – an object, a word, found printed images or text, a photograph...'

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Jimi Hendrix - Angel.

Tim Harrold: Perceptualism

Tim Harrold is an expressive arts graduate with performance art experience gained at Brighton Polytechnic from 1982-5. He has worked as an art tutor in both secondary and further education, and as a community and youth worker using creativity in contemplative installations.

Tim creates assemblage and photomontage by intentionally arranging found objects and words from a variety of sources into serendipitous tableaux. New metaphysical narratives emerge; playful perceptual parables appear; and re-imagined worlds on rediscovered natural materials or in recycled boxes full of unlikely juxtapositions hint at hidden realities.

Tim writes, ‘My work is parabolic and numinous; where the conceptual meets the spiritual there is the “perceptual”.’

Perceptualism – a solo show in Sheffield at 35 Chapel Walk from 2 – 16 April, will be the largest Tim has held outside of south west Essex and London. It will include an installation of his 70 Endeavour poems – each set to music by musician friends – and film by his filmmaker son Jonathan.

In my review of an exhibition by Tim at the Well House Gallery last year I wrote that: 'Perceptualism involves re-combining and reconciling the disparate and disconnected, and Harrold sees this creative action as mirroring God’s love expressed in both creation and salvation. His series of ten photomontages, where fragments of maps are collaged within a heart-shaped mount to which texts of love have been added, is one expression of this perception.'

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Jonathan Harrold - The Artists At High House.

The Perceptualist Eye at Well House Gallery

Last night I visited the Well House Gallery at Horndon-on-the-Hill to see The Perceptualist Eye by Tim Harrold. This exhibition can be seen until 10 June.

The Well House Gallery is a friendly and vibrant art gallery championing artists and connecting creative people, which has developed from the running of ‘24-7 Create’ exhibitions by the 24-7 Prayer Boiler Room Community.

Tim defines 'Perceptualism' as 'the place where the conceptual and the metaphysical meet', and comes from the word 'perceive'. 'The Perceptualist Eye' is therefore about a way of seeing, a worldview, a certain perspective. Informed by his Christian Faith and inspired by his pilgrimage through life with Jesus, many of Tim's pieces are in some way 'prophocative' 'visual parables'.

Working mostly with mixed media, Tim brings together 'found objects' and rearranges them into new contexts, scenes and stories. Tim often incorporates words in the images he creates. This reflects his loves of graphic design and writing, especially 'found poetry'.

The Well House Gallery sits across the street from The Swan with its community art gallery in which Revd Max Blake, Associate Priest in the United Benefice of Orsett, Bulphan and Horndon-on-the-Hill, has just finished showing his visionary drawings of the Life of Christ.

Thurrock is a place of industry and transport. Visually it has little connection with the Essex of John Constable with his idyllic rural scenes of hay carts and country folk. What Thurrock does have is striking industrial architecture and the busy River Thames with its factories and ports visited by ships from all corners of the World. The people of Thurrock regard themselves as gritty realists. Thurrock doesn’t shout about its art. Yet the Thurrock Art Trail, with which the Well House Gallery and Tim Harrold are deeply involved, demonstrates that the area hosts many and varied artists.

In 2012 four local artists sought to raise the public profile of the arts in Thurrock by organising an Art Trail under the aegis of Essex Summer of Art. Their work was shown in various locations round the Borough. Thurrock Art Trail has now matured and is no longer a showcase of the small number of artists organising the event. It is now a framework that sets the dates and co-ordinates publicity to allow solo artists or collaborative groups to present their own exhibitions at venues of their own choosing.
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Iona - The Ancient Wells.