This summer we spent a few days in Bath, Somerset. The city has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is the Bath of the Roman Baths, the fashionable spa town of Beau Nash and Jane Austin. For me, summer isn’t complete without visiting at least one of the historical churches or cathedrals of the places we visit (something that featured strongly in my childhood holidays), and whilst there we visited Bath Abbey.
The site of Bath Abbey has been a place of Christian worship for over 1000 years, though there has been rebuilding on the site during that time. The current Abbey building dates from the 16th century, but has undergone several restorations. At the east end is an enormous stained glass window, with its own history of destruction and restoration. However, what most interested me was the contemporary textile art on display.
The Bath Abbey Diptychs are the work of artist Sue Symons; a set of 35 pairs of a calligraphic illuminated manuscript style sheet of scripture and music, and a representative piece of needlework created using patchwork, appliqué and embroidery techniques, all depicting the life of Christ from Annunciation to Ascension. In “The Wedding in Cana” shown, the illumininated scripture (left) is taken from John 2:1-11. The description given by the artist of the texile piece (right) is as follows:
“The background: Unbleached calico is painted with acrylic paint. a drawing of pots is traced, moved and retraced four times, creating new shapes and lines,yet retaining a relationship to the original subject.The green pot is cut from painted fabric. It pours red wine which sparkles with fine gold stitching. Christ is the white circle. The border is a decorative, linear design of pot shapes.”
Images of all 35 pairs can be seen here.
In the side chapel of St Alphege is a large textile triptych, designed by Jane Lemon, and the altar frontal also by Jane Lemon is a beautiful depiction of the fount of living water. I was blown away.
Firstly I supposed that perhaps I hadn’t been paying too much attention growing up, but the only art I’d been aware of in old churches and cathedrals before now had looked old. I’d had no idea there were people producing these extraordinary pieces. Turns out Jane Lemon is well known in the world of embroidery, and her group have received commissions from the US, as well as creating pieces that decorate places of worship in Britain. Sue Symons went on to create a series of works celebrating the creation.
Secondly, I wondered yet again why our own places of worship don’t welcome such displays of artistic expression of faith and belief, are so sterile in comparison. We have artists, and an international art competition. But it says something that the competitions appear to be run by the Church History Museum (I was pleased to see that entry to the competition does not appear to require ceding rights to the piece being entered). We might be lucky enough to see small reproductions of the some of the pieces in church magazines. A lucky few pieces might go on to be used in print form as visual aids in lesson materials, or be selected to be used as an approved reproduction to hang in our corridors.
Thirdly, my thought was that this might be something I would enjoy doing. I don’t enjoy painting or drawing, but one of the more enjoyable things I did whilst my children were young was making the costumes for the numerous dressing up days at school. I enjoy working with fabric, ribbons, embroidery threads &c.
- Is there a visual form of art you particularly enjoy?
- What would like to see in our places of worship?
- Is there a place for more varied visual expressions of faith and belief in our places of worship?
- Which visual art form would you choose to work in, and why?
Discuss.
Wheat & Tares 
I’m a big fan of stained glass; a number of the beautiful cathedrals and even smaller churches I saw on my mission in southern Italy had some fascinating stained glass. Closer to home, Minnesota has some churches (most Catholic, but not all) with nice glass. Saint Paul’s Cathedral in St Paul, and the Basilica of St Mary in Minneapolis, of course. The Great Hall (former Abbey Church) for traditional, and some neat contemporary stuff in the new Abbey Church at St John’s University and Monastery in Collegeville, home to the Benedictine order in the US. St John’s is also home to the Saint John’s Bible, a hand-calligraphed, hand-illuminated Bible done in a semi-contemporary style but in keeping with ancient Benedictine tradition.
I’ve been lucky enough to know two stained glass artists, both elderly men since passed away; one was my great-uncle, who did many of the windows in his place of worship, Livingston Congregational Church (now “Living Hope Church”) in Livingston, Montana. Another was a neighbor of ours back when we were first married, some 25 years ago, and living in the Polish and Eastern European ethnic neighborhoods of Northeast Minneapolis (“Nordeast”). John did many of the beautiful windows in his place of worship, St Hedwig’s, just a couple of blocks from the house. Both of these tall, lanky men worked in cramped, ill-lit, low-ceilinged basement workshops, hunched over tables with chunks of glass, strips of lead, and soldering irons. I always thought they would have made good friends. 🙂
The Saint Paul Minnesota Temple has a beautiful painting by a local LDS artist of a Minnesota north woods stream, hanging in a prominent position at that spot where women go left and men go right to get to the locker rooms. Wayne is somewhat uncorrelated himself, and always wears a large white bowtie in the temple. It does my heart good to see his work hanging there.
I’d like to see more local competitions like the annual art/music competitions the Church holds. (Do they still?) We have so many creative people, and it seems like we don’t even express that amongst ourselves very much. I suppose if I have a visual form, I would either hand-sew some reproduction 19th-century garment, or refinish/restore some dilapidated piece of furniture. Neither is “art” in the classic sense of sculpture or painting, but I do both quite well.
It’s an interesting question. At the highest level, the LDS church does a good job of utilizing good Mormon artists in the Ensign and at the Conference Center. Some of the temples are beautiful architecturally, and certainly well decorated. There is a danger in making something too artsy or it might become dated. At the local level there is zero art of course, other than prints. But it would be nice if local stakes commissioned or purchased local LDS art for their buildings, which are so impenetrably utilitarian. I’ve actually seen a few original paintings in a few chapels.
Bath Abbey is beautiful with the fan vaulting. Salisbury Cathedral had an exposition of lifelike modern sculpture depicting everyday Christians in attitudes of prayer, which was quite moving, seeing them mingled with the ancient statues.
Thanks for those links NI. That Bible looks amazing. I loved the pictures in Ruth, and the image shown for Psalms.
It must have been interesting to see a stained glass artist at work. I’ve seen glass-blowing demonstrations, making such intricate figures, but not stained glass. I like the way different are situated, and different shades of the same colour can be managed.
I haven’t been aware of any local art competitions in church recently, nor am I aware of any local artists in my current stake (which isn’t to say there aren’t any). Back in my singles ward days, one of the sisters in the ward was a sculptor and art teacher. I remember a stake cultural arts exhibition (as opposed to competition) held when I was a teenager, but nothing since. The wife of a former stake president was an excellent photographer and had pieces in that exhibition
If you’re interested in historical clothing you might enjoy the fashion museum in Bath (http://www.museumofcostume.co.uk/). There was a big WW1 display for the anniversary – uniforms and the like, including a lot costumes from the Downton Abbey TV series. We also saw the Georgians exhibition, and my daughter and I got to dress as Victorians. All those corsets and underskirts were very cumbersome. I’m still partway through renovating our dining chairs. It’s been over a year, and only one has been finished, so I’m rather slow at that kind of thing. What type of furniture have you worked on in the past?
I don’t know that good art dates particularly Nate. Obviously there will always be a link with the time it was created, but I wouldn’t think of a Medieval style painting being out of place, any more than something the style of Turner or even Lowry. I do think institutionally we have a tendency to go for what I might term obvious illustration in the works of art selected, so I’d doubt we’d see anything like the Diptychs where Christ is represented by a white (or post-resurrection gold) circle. I agree it would be nice to have local art in buildings, but sadly getting it approved for display by the church office folk is likely to be a bureaucratic headache most would rather not grapple with.
Salisbury is still on my list of places to visit, but I haven’t been there yet. As a young child I had reproduction of Constable’s painting of Salisbury Cathedral (http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/constable/Detail.cfm?IRN=143752&ViewID=2) on my bedroom wall. I’ve no idea why, but it must have been before the days we were exhorted to display pictures of LDS temples in our homes. The prayer sculptures sound interesting. Looking at the website, the cathedral seems to host art exhibitions regularly (http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/content-themes/arts).
Thank you for a closer look at a part of Bath. I’ve been enormously curious about it since I first read Jane Austin.
As for what I suspect would move me, I think of the intimate and richly decorative chapel built by Mary Watts and her army of local women and children that I saw on the marvelous BBC series on the Art Nouveau movement in Europe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRAMyCTjmW4 So personal and enveloping. I can only imagine the physical and spiritual thrill of being in that environment!
I only like Greg Olsen.
Wow! That’s really beautiful. Thanks alice. I’d never heard of it.
Just taken a look at his website brjones (http://www.gregolsen.com). I’d only been familiar with the more illustrative pieces that get published in the church magazines sometimes, which I don’t find particularly inspiring, but I find I do like his modern art pieces (http://www.gregolsen.com/artwork/modern-art?p=2).
You might like the BBC series. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dxw0y It is beautifully done and absolutely sumptuous. Lots of shoulders. Lots of breasts. Nevertheless, breathtaking art.
Meanwhile, lucky you! One day you may actually see the chapel in Compton, Surrey. I doubt I ever will…
I was actually being a bit sarcastic, Hedgehog, because I know greg. He does have a lot of other stuff besides his more well known church pieces, though, as you pointed out. He’s also an incredibly nice person.
Looks like it was an interesting series alice. Thanks for the link. Currently unavailable on iPlayer, though. Compton has been added to my list.
Ah, good to know brjones.
Sorry it hear that it isn’t readily available where you are. Looks like it was produced quite some time ago but it was just recently aired in Canada and in the US I am able to screen the 3 episodes from the link I provided. Interesting how they decide what’s available where.
In any case, I loved it and think it would be worth some trouble to get your hands on. So many graceful and beautiful objects. So much more going on that one might appreciate today.
I had a good friend who was an ecclesiastical embroiderer, and there was always something amazing on the large embroidery frame in her home. I thought at the time that had she been a member, she would have been unlikely to make a living within her profession. A tough call as I am aware how for instance the poor were further impoverished historically in providing vestments for the clergy, and I’m glad we place a distance in defining a lay clergy without vestments (other than white shirts and suits!). I think the same applies to original artworks, we place more value on relieving the poor than beautifying our buildings, but of course that leaves the artist without means…
So I’ve given up on church encompassing my interests, and feed myself artistically elsewhere. Taste is so individual, I find temple decor often jarrs with my sense of the divine which I see in unembellished nature. Gold leaf is absent there.
Hedgehog,
Interesting post, I enjoyed it. I spent the last couple of days trying to figure out where I first found this site, LDS Lacemaker, but I have actually enjoyed reading the blog. Who knows, it might have even been a link I found here at W&T. I did not know that sisters made our altar cloths.
I would love to have more local and regional artists producing the art for buildings. Personally, I have always enjoyed tapestries, embroidery, vases, and tiles / mosaics. The best part of Sundays used to be the huge mosaic in front of the Honolulu Tabernacle, it faces the sun in the morning and if you had an earlier time slot is was a sight to see, all reflecting in the sunshine. I saw a beautiful vase once, painted with a Tree of Life motif painted on it, and that really caught my eye. It must have been a unique piece because it didn't have that Deseret Book art feel to it. I am not sure vases are chapel friendly though.
Re. #13, funny you should mention gold leaf. There’s actually a lot of it in the temple, if you look for it, in ceiling and wall decoration in the celestial room, and altar and table accents all over.
For a brief and glorious time I ran my own furniture repair and restoration business, and was privileged to do some repair and reupholstering work in the St Paul Minnesota Temple. I guess it must be tough to find reupholsterers with temple recommends. 🙂 Anyhow, I touched up the gold leaf edging on the central table in the celestial room, which some well-meaning member had cleaned with Windex or something despite instructions to the contrary. It seeped under the finish and botched the gold leaf edging. I had to strip the edge, touch it up, and re-coat the entire tabletop. I was instructed to buy pure gold leaf for the job, too. No corners cut in the temple.
As a follow up, I re-covered and re-tied the springs on several of the altar kneelers and tops in the endowment and sealing rooms. I was not overly impressed by the quality of the workmanship “below the surface.” I’m sure that those kneelers are much more durable now – better tied, and covered with much better quality foam padding – than they were originally.
alice:” Interesting how they decide what’s available where.”
Isn’t it. Here, a lot of the radio stuff can be available forever, but tv is usually only for a week after the final episode of the series was broadcast. I was caught out one summer – the BBC broadcast a series of Shakespeare plays I was hoping to get to watch with the children during the long holiday. Initially it had appeared the episodes would be available for several weeks after broadcast. In the event we only got to see the first because they all came down together the week after the last broadcast. I don’t know how much of it is due to bandwidth issues, how much intellectual property rights and associated costs, and how much not wanting to undermine current programming.
hwc, you’re right about the balancing of where we spend our money, how we and others earn a living, and so on. There are various incarnations of a Chinese saying about having a loaf and a lily as opposed to 2 loaves also (selling one loaf to buy the lily, or having 2 pennies and buying one of each instead of 2 loaves). I think we have a need the artist as well.
I must admit to feeling frustrated sometimes when I hear criticisms of the cost of embellishments in British/European churches and cathedrals and such like, and the consequent suffering of the poor, given we use the exact same arguments to justify those things when it comes to the building and furnishing of our temples, and that the early saints sacrificed greatly for the building temples.
Interesting link. Thanks forgetting. I’ll have to pay more attention to the different lace patterns. That mosaic sounds like it would be incredible in the sun.
We have vases in our chapel, but nothing out of the ordinary. We do have floral displays in the chapel, though they are mostly artificial flowers these days, and are not changed very often. I had assumed this was common church-wide, but perhaps it’s one of the few things to have carried over from British church practice. When I was a child they would be fresh flowers, and the RS sisters had an assignment rota (much like the CofE ladies I guess). I remember helping my mum with the flowers, and one of our regular YW activities was for one of the older sisters to teach us flower arranging.
Do you have flower arrangements or plants in your building hwc? Thinking back to your nature comment.
On gold leaf, NI, hwc, I was told that when the London temple was remodelled/refurbished it was necessary to redo the gold leaf on the pillar in the celestial room after the open house period and before the rededication because so many people touching it on the way round had worn it away.
That must have been an interesting experience working with the temple furniture NI. I’ve heard it said before that craftspeople really enjoy those jobs because they get to work with the best materials. It sounds like those kneelers would be more comfortable as well well as more durable after you’d finished with them.