Rare exhibition featuring works of artist who created pieces for the coronation of King Charles III to be held in Shrewsbury

‘Eternal Light: An exhibition of Holy Icons’ will be held at St Julian’s Church on Wyle Cop between May 24 and June 6.

The exhibition will feature more than 80 works of art and is set to be the largest icon exhibition to take place in Shropshire.

Work by Aiden Hart who is widely recognised as one of the leading liturgical artists in the Western world will feature in the exhibition. Mr Hart from Shrewsbury has icons, frescoes, mosaics and sculptures in churches, cathedrals and private and royal collections in more than 25 countries around the world, including at The Vatican.

He was also the designer of the anointing screen used at the coronation of King Charles III and has repaired art at a Greek Orthodox chapel at the Scottish castle that is home to BBC’s popular reality show, The Traitors.

The exhibition will feature works – both large and small – by 15 contemporary iconographers and artists. They include works by Greek Orthodox nun Sister Theovouli, print-maker Markos Kampanis, Tamara Penwell, and young talents such as Joseph Craveiro and the artist, illustrator and wood carver Ewan Craig.

The exhibition will open between Mondays and Saturdays between 11am and 4pm with evening openings on Tuesday, May 27 and Thursday June 5 – between 7pm and 9pm. 

Mr Hart will also give a series of talks during the exhibition on May 24 at 11am, May 27 at 7.30pm, May 31 at 3pm and June 5 at 7.30pm.

“The unusual stylistic forms of icons inspired many of the great artists of the early 20^th century, including Matisse and Kandinksky,” said Mr Hart.

“Henri Matisse described how their luminosity and spiritual power made a profound impression on him, as though he had ‘discovered a new world of colour and expression’.

“People can see for themselves what Matisse was talking about in this exhibition of contemporary icons, painted in the same centuries old tradition as those which he saw.

“Icons, of course, are not merely an eastern Byzantine phenomenon. Britain’s early Christian tradition was iconographic, producing countless masterpieces of Celtic, Saxon and Romanesque sacred art.”

The exhibition is part of the Nicaea 2025 festival that is taking place in Shrewsbury throughout May and June to mark 1,700 years since the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea – a pivotal event in the history of Christianity.