Extraordinary Women of Portsmouth Cathedral
Portsmouth Cathedral are proud to have a number of fantastic women in both our leadership and ministry teams, following a long-standing history of inspirational women at the Cathedral. On your next visit to Portsmouth Cathedral, keep an eye out for sculptures, stained glass and textiles all created by fantastic women throughout the years.
For International Women’s Day 2022, we’ve pulled together just a handful of some of the extraordinary women who have created inspiring work for the Cathedral. These sculptors, engravers, glaziers, embroiders and artists have all left a lasting legacy in Portsmouth Cathedral’s history, and here we celebrate them today.
The challenging gaze of Nellie (b.1862, left) with her sister Rosie (b.1866)
Nellie Whichelo – Head of Studio at the Royal School of Needlework
Nellie Whichelo (1862 – 1959) designed and embroidered the Tree of Life altar frontal for Portsmouth Cathedral in 1908. She was working at The Royal School of Art Needlework, London (founded 1872), where she was Chief Designer for 50 years, from the late 1890s until her retirement. Nellie was a well-known designer in her own right who exhibited alongside the likes of Walter Crane and Burne-Jones in the annual exhibitions held by the Arts & Crafts Society. She came from a large and interesting family; she was the aunt of the great novelist E. M. Forster, and her great-uncle had been marine & landscape artist to the Prince Regent.
Christine Derry – Painter and Ceramist
Christine Derry is a painter and ceramist now working and teaching in Brittany, France. She taught for many years at The Portsmouth Grammar School and was Director of the Red Gallery in Southsea. Since 2006, she has been a self-employed ceramic artist, tutor and residential artist. In 1993 Derry created a new Nativity Crib set for Portsmouth Cathedral, it was designed and created to coincide with the completion of the Nave in the late 1990s.
Naomi Blake – Sculptor
Naomi Blake was born on 11 March 1924 in Mukaĉevo, Czechoslovakia. The youngest of ten children, she was originally named Zisel (meaning sweet) by her parents. She changed her name to Naomi in 1948. In 1942, Naomi’s family included 32 members: four grandparents, her parents, nine siblings, six spouses and ten young nieces and nephews. By 1945 only eight members remained; the rest had been murdered during the Holocaust.
Following training at the Hornsey School of Art, Naomi’s work began with ceramic pots and portrait sculpture, progressing to figurative and then abstract work. In 1997, Blake created the piece Family Group, a bronze sculptor which is now one of Portsmouth Cathedral’s treasures.
‘there is something positive in the human figure – there is a lot of good in people…with my past, if I were pessimistic, somehow, it wouldn’t have been worthwhile surviving.’
Naomi Blake
Much of Naomi’s life and work has focused on the expression of her experiences. However, her work is principally optimistic, forward looking, and positive. It stands determinedly to help keep alive the legacy of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, as well as promoting Naomi's vision for uniting faiths and building understanding between religions, and her hope for the future.
Susan M. Cook – Stained Glass Artist
Susan M. Cook designed the HMS Glamorgan memorial window
and the ‘Blessings and Crowns’ window, and both were installed on 5 March 1997.
The Glamorgan window commemorates the men of HMS Glamorgan who died in the 1982 Falklands and South Atlantic campaign. Below is a memorial tablet listing the names of 14 men who lost their lives, together with the ship’s crest.
Cook also designed the the ‘Blessings and Crowns’ window was created in memory of Norah and Morton Bloom.
Yoko Ono – Multimedia Artist
Yoko Ono (b.1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist who is also known for her work in performance art and filmmaking. She performs in both English and Japanese.
Retrospectives of her artwork have been presented at the Japan Society in New York City in 2001, in Bielefeld, Germany, and the UK in 2008, Frankfurt, and Bilbao, Spain, in 2013 and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2015.
She received a Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement from the Venice Biennale in 2009 and the 2012 Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Austria's highest award for applied contemporary art.
In 2004, Ono brought her installation Morning Beams (1996/2014) to Portsmouth Cathedral. Drawing audiences into settings conducive to meditation and reflection, questioning the interrelationship between human beings and their environment. Ono often uses elements taken from nature. Through this installation, Ono invited us to meditate on the path of memory and to relive past moments and emotions. Our lives, the artworks suggest, are like rivers, a gentle stream at times and a raging torrent at others, and memory, like the stones, is slowly shaped by the flowing water and the passage of time.
Tracey Sheppard, Glazier
Tracey studied English Literature and Fine Art at the West London Institute of Higher Education for a London University BA Hons. She began engraving at evening classes in 1980 whilst studying, was accepted as a Craft Member by the Guild of Glass Engravers in 1982 and Highly Commended as First Time Exhibitor in the 1983 National Exhibition. She was elected Fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers 1987, Chairman of the Guild of Glass Engravers 1998 – 2002, and Hon. Vice President of the Guild in 2005.
Sheppard’s work can be found within Portsmouth Cathedral as you enter through the south door. Engravings of imagery related to the Cathedral of the Sea can be seen, including fishing vessels, fish and shells, undulating amongst the waves.
Annie Cattrell – Glass Artist
Annie Cattrell (the creator of Brink) has been a Tutor in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art since 2000. She has lectured world-wide and exhibits widely both nationally and internationally. She is Reader in Fine Art and Research Group Leader in Fine Art and Photography at De Montfort University, and since 2014 she has been Lead Artist for the New Museum Site at Cambridge University, a ten-year major redevelopment. Recently she completed a large-scale sculpture commission called Resounding for the new award-winning John Henry Brookes building designed by Design Engine for Oxford Brookes University.
Recent work by Annie Cattrell includes this 2018 piece of public art in Cambridge; she writes: ‘The concept for Transformation is a large-scale, visually scintillating and rippling surface that responds to the wind, rain and sunlight. The piece, formed from thousands of small tiles, will appear as a solid surface, yet each tile will have the ability to move independently in response to the wind, creating an ever-changing pattern and movement across the surface.’
Cattrell’s work Brink can be found in Portsmouth Cathedral’s Healing Chapel, this simple piece changes throughout the day, taking in light from outside and transforming its reflections throughout the day. Keep an eye out for this simple contemporary piece, which can often be missed if you don’t look closely.
Robyn Golden-Hann – Stone Carver
A traditionally trained stone-mason and former head-carver at Salisbury Cathedral, Robyn went on to study letter-cutting at David Kindersley’s renowned Cambridge studio, before she eventually moved to Project Workshops in 2006. From her studio in rural Hampshire Robyn hand-carves stone and slate. Specialising in individually designed lettering and stone carving, her commissions include memorials, headstones, gravestones, plaques, monuments & public inscriptions, including several memorial stones in this Cathedral.
Golden-Hann also worked on the Women’s Royal Naval Service memorial, of which The Princess Royal attended a Service of Thanksgiving in November 2017 to mark their centenary. The event not only marked the centenary of the service, but also celebrated the continuing role of women in the Royal Navy.
Charlotte Griffiths – Photographer
Over August and September 2021, we were honoured to host a portrait exhibition by local photographer Charlotte Griffiths. Charlotte was inspired to celebrate black lives by the experience of racism directed at herself and her daughter, and by witnessing the positive impact that participating in acts of solidarity can have on the self-esteem and pride of young black and brown women. The exhibition featured ten arresting portraits of black and brown women from Portsmouth alongside their stories of struggle, triumph, pain and happiness. We have continued to work with Charlotte on other photography projects for Portsmouth Cathedral.
There are so many inspiring women's work to see at Portsmouth Cathedral, many pieces which have now become an integral part of the Cathedral’s history. We invite you to come and explore our wonderful building for yourself and discover these works and the stories of the women who created them.
Portsmouth Cathedral is open daily for services, prayer and sightseeing, find out more about visiting the Cathedral of the Sea from our website.