Kate Keara Pelen’s work explores the conventions, rituals and structures of spiritual practice, specifically those of the Christian tradition. These are manifested in the production of environments, garments, furnishings and kits -- a parallel, re-imagined set of material and props, implying new behaviours and uses, often with an implied relationship to a given institution or site.

Borrowing from familiar forms and ideas, the artist modifies these through unfamiliar treatments, abstractions, adaptations and juxtapositions. The research process is governed by an intuitive clustering of objects, materials and concepts, gathering together multiple perspectives, component parts and interpretations. As such, works remain propositions -- provisional, open to future iterations and configurations -- whether by the artist herself, by a collaborator or by the public. For this exhibition at Kensal Green, Pelen has produced a series of embroidered objects relating to the interior and exterior setting of the Dissenters’ Chapel. This interest in needlework derives from the traditional presence of embroidery in the church interior - and of the community tradition of the ‘sewing circle’.

James Cave's setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60 uses the interplay of choral and string textures as a means of illuminating the poet's reflections on mortality and the passage of time. A longtime songwriter with his band, the Illuminations, James' recent projects for choir nbsp;have combined elements of the jazz, folk and choral traditions that make up his musical background. His Jazz Mass (commissioned by St James' West Hampstead) is being performed at churches across london throughout the Autumn, with a New York performance scheduled for Spring 2010.