Making a Mark

New College hosted a major retrospective exhibition of sculpture by Nicolas Moreton in the Cloisters and Ante-Chapel which ran from Sunday 17th October 2021 - Thursday 30th June 2022.

The exhibition - Making a Mark - was Nicolas's first major retrospective. It covered the key ideas and concepts from across his 35 year career, exploring some of the wonders of human existence through stone, right back to a work from Nicolas's degree show in 1985! The show promoted the medium of stone carving and demonstrated that it is still a powerful and creative material in the contemporary context of art. 

"This exhibition is an opportunity for me as an artist to reflect upon and come to terms with what I have been doing for the last 35 years. I am looking forward to showing in such a beautiful space and seeing how people will react to my work. I hope I make sculpture that the viewer will want to engage with, to begin a relationship with, in order to understand what lies beneath the visual.

Every day is a learning day to find form where none really exists. The heritage of stone links all cultures and is in a sense the foundation of our society."

- Nicolas Moreton

Download a Guide to the exhibition

Featured Pieces

Nicolas Moreton

Nicolas Moreton is one of our leading contemporary stone sculptors living and work in Britain today. 

"A modern master of the medium of stone carving"

- Tim Marlow, Art Critic

Nicolas Moreton

 

Nicolas is an elected member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. He has exhibited at both the Royal Academy and the Chelsea Flower Show and his work is collected worldwide, with major public art works in London, Dublin, Yorkshire, and Milton Keynes. 

"Moreton's work is distinguished by sensitive carving of exceptional skill"

- Peter Webb, Art Historian

New College Cloisters

The Cloisters are a special haven of peace, and abut the western wall of the Chapel. They were part of the original College design and have remained an important part of College ever since, still retaining their reflective purpose. 

They regularly host events and are particularly famous for a holm oak which featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where Draco Malfoy is turned into a white ferret. 

New College Cloisters

Photograph of the Cloisters by New College Dean of Divinity, Erica Longfellow