day 6: for fear

I wonder why you brought me to these splintering days, this age of dearth-death and default extinction and the smothering of constellations nostalgia claws at me screaming send me back then I sense a fire that doesn’t consume, a cloud of breath-taking holiness passing across the face of a mountain and it says I putContinue reading “day 6: for fear”

day 3: for change

The ancient Christian monastic traditions, especially desert, Celtic, and Benedictine, offer great wisdom for the journey of unfolding. They understood that the soul’s ripening is never to be rushed and takes a lifetime of work. The gift of the contemplative path is a profound honoring of the grace of slowness.  We can grow impatient whenContinue reading “day 3: for change”

#adventapertures is back in 2024

After a break of a couple of years, I decided I wanted to write another series of daily photo reflections for Advent 2024. These #adventapertures (as I call them) bring a huge variety of source material together – from poetry, news journalism, cultural comment, scientific insight and music to biblical writings and liturgy. Each dayContinue reading “#adventapertures is back in 2024”

heart of stone

Once again it is my honour to contribute a reflection to the ‘monk in the world’ blog of the Abbey of the Arts. This piece was first published on May 15, 2024 (although it was written in May 2023). all words and images by Kate Kennington Steer  I arrived at February 2023 in a post-viralContinue reading “heart of stone”

well or w/hole (part iv)

I meant to write this in September 2023, but it is now February 2024.  I am recovering from a reanimation of the chest infection I caught before Christmas, but it has wiped out this month.  I am attempting not to fight the bouts of vertigo and dizziness which sideswipe me, even as I sit perfectlyContinue reading “well or w/hole (part iv)”

well or w/hole (part iii)

(This is the third instalment of ‘well or w/hole?’, and it might (?!) make more sense if you read the other two instalments first.  You can find them on the Blog Feed.) Let’s follow the water…  One line of research around the bright-+/well project led me to think about the ‘well’ in the name BrightWellContinue reading “well or w/hole (part iii)”

well or w/hole? (part ii)

We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows. ‘The Secret Sits’ Robert Frost For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the idea of essence: that there is a core, a kernel, a seed, a heart, a soul, which functions as aContinue reading “well or w/hole? (part ii)”

well or w/hole? (part i)

When will I be well? When was I ever well? In the beginning I had wellbeing,  I was a being of wellness  because I lived in a beingwell, a cocoon, a shelter, a haven;  those childhood homes,  where my parents held me in safety, safely, surrounded, enclosed, beloved, so I could be well, learn well Continue reading “well or w/hole? (part i)”

old wounds

I have now begun my artist residency at the New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, in earnest.  This week was moving-in week, a big enough challenge in itself.  It also coincided with me having the honour of staging a ‘take over’ of the Gallery’s Instagram feed while the director, Outi Remes, was on holiday.  Outi wanted meContinue reading “old wounds”

playtime is here

Regular readers of this blog will know that I was fortunate enough to have my first solo exhibition, ‘episodes’, at Farnham Pottery last summer. A surprisingly busy Autumn followed, with between 1 and 6 ‘episodes’ paintings appearing in the following exhibitions: ‘and we meet again’ at the Lightbox, Woking; in the Second Saturday group exhibitionContinue reading “playtime is here”