Richard Bartle's Tiny Interfaith Sheds of Divinity

THE STAR
By Colin Dury

UNITED KINGDOM---The humble shed: a place where generations of men have retired to pot plants, fix tools and, perhaps just occasionally, escape the boss indoors. But in 2009 Richard Bartle had a rather unusual notion about this most reflective of environments. “I got thinking being in a shed is almost like a religious experience, a kind of refuge,” he says. “And I thought how great it would be if, in these buildings at the bottom of the garden, there really were secret religious temples.” So, the 45-year-old of Sheffield city centre, built one in miniature. He constructed a two-foot shed and then, inside, he fitted a tiny Islamic Mosque. Now, three years later, that collection - which so wowed the Arts Council they agreed to help fund it - is finally complete. In these 12 tiny sheds are, among others, detailed interpretations of a Catholic Church (complete with stained glass windows of Mary and Joseph), a Sikh Gurdwara, a Baha’i House Of Worship and a Jewish Synagogue - holding a complete Hanukkah just an inch high. [link]

At the Round Table, 2010 - 2010