My name is Naomi Billingsley and I’ll be running a Slow Art Day at Chichester Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace in Chichester, England.

I work at the Bishop’s Palace in role created last year as Bishop Otter Scholar. The post is something like a ‘scholar in residence’ with a focus on the arts — my job is to do scholarly research in theology and the arts, and to engage members of the Diocese of Chichester (i.e. members of Church of England churches in the counties of East and West Sussex) with the arts.

The Diocese has a rich history of engagement with the arts — probably best-known is the work of Walter Hussey, Dean of Chichester Cathedral (1955-77), who commissioned a number of important works of art and musical compositions.

My role builds on this legacy by creating new ways for people to engage with the arts — and especially visual art — in the Diocese; my hosting a Slow Art Day event is one way to do this.

I already run an monthly discussion group in which we spend time looking at — usually two — works of art in the Cathedral and then discuss them afterwards. In these sessions I record the discussion and will integrate some of the responses into new webpages I am writing about the artworks. So Slow Art Day is an opportunity to try something similar, but with a slightly different format — looking at more works, and not recording the discussion.

I hope it will interest not only people connected with the Cathedral — or indeed with any connection to Christianity — but also those who are simply curious about the Cathedral and its art.

For more information about my role, please visit my blog: https://bishopotterscholar.wordpress.com/

You can book to join the Slow Art Day via the Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/slow-art-day-chichester-cathedral-tickets-21335402764