Description
Curated by The Memorial Arts Charity
ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS
Geoffrey Aldred Eccentric Circles: a tribute to Max Ernst
Inscription: Ave aqua aeternitatis. Aqua salus aeterna. Hail, water of eternity. Water, the eternal preserver.
The fountain combines a symmetrical, tiered design with an asymmetrical principle which I have developed from a work by Max Ernst (his fountain at Amboise, Loire). I call it Eccentric Circles as, despite being classical in structure, it appears random and off-centre -- a bit crazy. The eccentric circle could have, and may yet become an iconic motif like Brancusi’s Endless Tower or Gaudi’s parabolic curves. The lettering, too, is classical yet informal in style. This combination of the formal and the offbeat could also be said to reflect the life and work of Edward James.
Ancaster Stone 1950 x 1520mm
Lois Anderson Old Slate Wall Plaque
I am an artist working in stone and my principle interest is lettering. I make a lot of headstones and do applied lettering on buildings but I am also interested stone lettering just for its own sake. I wanted to cover this stone in continuous lettering starting with the word Endless. Stone carving takes a long time. In itself it endures time. I am most interested in using old objects and appropriating them for another use. I had had this old piece of slate for a few years since I bought it from a scrap heap in a Welsh slate quarry. It is a discarded headstone blank from a monumental mason. The mason’s initials are carved into the back. I like the way it gives a visual history, and the associations and links it makes to the past. I have chosen to carve the letters from a modern typeface to contrast with the aged and worn stone (Gill Sans was designed in 1927 so its not exactly new, but I still find it very modern).
Welsh Slate 455 x 790 x 35mm
John Andrew Haiku Triptych: Day
This three panel work uses 17th century Japanese Haikus that I feel resonate with feeling and are a timeless reminder of the greatness and wonder of the world we live in. For me nature – and the senses we are blessed with – are celebrated perfectly in these short fragments and call up worlds of enjoyment, sensual pleasure, love and history. I see the slates as prayer-stones to the gods of nature. They also speak of the importance of really appreciating the present moment, ignoring the “tug of the future” ever present in all of us. Now is the only real time we have; the past and future do not exist. Be fully alive to the present moment and truly live it – it is the essence of life.
Green Westmorland Slate 1100 x 930 x 180mm
Andrew Baxter It is the Destruction of the World
I enjoy carved stone for its soulful capacity to carry a message through the ages; for its potential to act as a bridge of communication between ourselves and an unknown number of generations in the future. Holding this in mind, Wendell Berry’s poem - which brings our awareness to a loss and harm that we are all currently co-creating - has always felt like a good choice for a piece of letter carving in stone. I can only imagine that the loss, which the poem chooses to remember, will feel as - if not more - relevant tomorrow as it does today.
Blue Hornton Stone, inlayed with French Limestone 1400 x 340 x 75mm.
Poem from It Is The Destruction Of The World, The Gift Of Gravity:
Selected Poems 1968 – 2000. Golgonooza Press
Ralph Beyer (deceased) Words from a poem, The Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke
Design by Ralph Beyer, carved by Peter Foster.
Harriet Frazer: I first got in touch with Ralph about The Art & Memory Collection project in February 2006 to ask if he would be interested in submitting a proposal for the Collection. He said he would think about it. I rang again in the autumn of 2007 and asked if perhaps he had something existing that he could put into the Collection. He pondered… and then said there was a poem by the German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), which he had designed and he would like to see it carved.
Hilary Beyer: Ralph thought it would be very good if Peter Foster could carve it for him. Peter has worked with Ralph for at least 40 years and it was very pleasing to Ralph that this collaboration could be maintained. He read Rilke’s poems all his life. The last line from the poem is omitted as he wished. Ralph died on 13th February 2008.
Purbeck Thornback Stone 580 x 480mm x ?
Harry Brockway Silver Moon, Golden Sun
with apologies to WB for using only an extract and messing about with his line lengths
As a student I was inspired by the stone carving and wood engraving of Eric Gill. Since then, as with Gill, my engraving work has suggested ideas for my sculpture. I recently illustrated the poems of W.B.Yeats for The Folio Society. I came to love the sound of his poetry. I thought this last verse from The Song of Wandering Aengus, with references to hollow lands and hilly lands, long dappled grass and gold and silver apples, would make an enigmatic marker for reflection and nostalgic contemplation in a landscape or garden.
Portland Stone 1900 x 560 x 150mm
Sebastian Brooke Memorial to Spix’s Macaw (Doubtful will be ready for launch)
After consultation with Nigel Collar of Birdlife International, a world expert on Spix’s Macaw, the inscription has been changed a bit. But the idea of telling a story which is as yet unfinished in ‘raised’ letters remains. The implication is that - depending on how the story plays out - the raised letters can be carved out and a happier incised inscription carved in its place. Working on this memorial has led to the initiation of a much larger project to create a memorial to ALL known extinct species. It is called the MEMO Project and will involve carving the images of all plants and animals known to have gone extinct since the dodo. It stands for Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory because biologists are warning that the current rate of species loss is comparable to the five big mass extinctions of the geological past. The project has the official endorsement of the Royal Society. More information can be found at www.memoproject.org.
Blue Forest of Dean Sandstone 2000 x 400 x 200mm
Lucy Churchill Cupped Hands
This is a very personal response to the loss of a loved one. I wanted to make something that would feel gentle and cherishing. It came from a very simple need to feel that the person would still be held - if not by me, then by the earth or a greater spirit. While the gesture is shelter¬ing and protective, there is also a sense of offering.
Clipsham Stone 900 x 1250 x 1450mm
Martin Cook Earth’s Patient Timekeeper
I like to make pieces that have more than one function. Sundials make very fitting memorials with the associated harmony between the inevitable passage of time and life, death and re-birth. From a letterer’s point of view, the white space has always intrigued me. I have found that the technique I have developed of shaping the background of white spaces adds depth and a new dimension. When designing I am always looking for shapes within shapes. I am increasingly interested in the challenge of writing words to be carved in a specific space and for a predetermined purpose. This text I wrote for this project and this piece of slate.
Welsh Slate 1524 x 222 x 50mm
Iain Cotton Flame
The world is charged with the grandeur of God
It will flame out like shining from shook foil
These words are from God’s Grandeur by the Jesuit poet priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins. He was writing about his 19th century world struggling under the effects of industrialisation. He explores themes of God’s glory in creation, the destructive power of industry, and hope for a new dawn in our relationships with the natural world: themes which have acquired greater urgency in our own time. I particularly like these first two lines, which express something of the glory, wonder and animated energy we experience in the natural world. It has been great to have an opportunity to express the power of these words in a very sculptural way and to enjoy the challenge of creating letters, which flow around the form, and convey the energy of the words. I like to think that this sculpture would make a fitting tribute to all those who work for the protection of the earth, using words which express the present glory, and a future promise for both the earth and ourselves.
Portland Stone 1300 x 600 x 600mm.
David Crowe Stone Ring
The constant adjustment that exists between Man and his environment, one influencing the other, has always been an ongoing partnership. The continuous loop of lettering reinforces this idea of a cycle that exists between us and our surroundings. Both the stone and the copper lettering will age and change, while it is gradually being reclaimed by nature. Tooling the stone with a pattern and making the surface rough, I hope will encourage this process - the emphasis being on how this reclamation can be beautiful and add to the overall feel of the piece.
Kilkenny Limestone with stainless steel bar. 1400mm diameter 150mm wide
Zoë Cull Four Woodland Waymarkers
He who plants trees loves others besides himself - Dr Thomas Fuller (1654 -1734)
These waymarkers are inspired by the story of Edward James, the aristocratic surrealist founder of West Dean College. The waymarkers line the route to his grave in the arboretum. My idea draws on two of James’ passions: his fantastical garden in the Mexican rainforest – Las Pozas – with its extraordinary concrete flowers, and his great love of trees. Each marker celebrates a tree-type well represented at West Dean, including its two National Collection species: redwoods and tulip trees.
I chose Chilmark stone for its concrete-like colour, wood grain markings and softness of carved finish. The lettering around the collar of each piece is treated three-dimensionally to complement the carving and to enhance tactile interest. I believe sculpture can only be half-appreciated through sight alone, and must be touched to be fully experienced.
Chilmark Stone 900 x 180mm
John Das Gupta Pebble for Nicholas Heiney
The stone, a hard and unyielding porphyry from an Italian riverbed, has been transformed by the passage of time into this familiar pebble form. The short inscription is taken from the writings of Nicholas Heiney and is set out simply and cut deeply into the polished curve. Its surface characteristics and legibility will vary greatly depending on the fluctuating quality of the light and the changing seasons. Porphyry has a timeless appeal and seems an appropriate material to use with a text that asserts unequivocally the importance, diversity and complexity of the individual.
The writings of Nicholas Heiney are to be found in his book ‘The Silence at the Songs End’ edited by Libby Purves and Duncan Wu
Italian Riverbed Porphyry Stone 585 x 560 x 230mm
Sheena Devitt Seed Shop
When I first saw this piece of Highland Moor sandstone, the markings on it triggered in me a memory of a poem entitled The Seed Shop. The imagery in the poem suggests nature’s cycle of death and rebirth. I had originally intended to carve two verses of the poem within the central shape of the stone. However an accidental hole made during the shaping process ended that idea and the seed of a new one began. The lettering has now been etched out of a sheet of stainless steel creating a strong contrast with the ancient stone.
Highland Moor Sandstone with insert of stainless steel 1500 x 1300mm
(This stone used to be quarried in Yorkshire, but no longer. It was obtained from a supplier in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.)
Chris Elsey Rock of Ages
For The Memorial Arts Charity’s first exhibition at Blickling in 1998, Michael Renton carved his own memorial. I was introduced to Michael soon after. His gentle character and Christian faith was for me a wonderful example to follow. Sadly for us he died in 2001 after a long illness, so for this exhibition I have chosen to reflect on the Christian life and the hope of eternity with the words of Augustus Toplady’s hymn Rock of Ages and Saint Augustine’s encouraging words of life after death.
The work has been carved from three Cornish slate monoliths that form a triptych. The central one has the first line of Rock of Ages and the gilded aperture in the cross represents our journey from this life into the next. On the other side and to the left and right are Saint Augustines’s words. Michael used a line from Rock of Ages when carving his headstone: Not the labour of my hands can fulfil thy laws demands. Thank you Michael.
In 2005 my dear brother Paul died and at his farewell the words of Saint Augustine were recited. So these monoliths remind me of the hope I have through Christ’s salvation of seeing him in the world that is to come.
Cornish Slate As seen looking up the hill: left hand slate: 2186 x 660mm
central slate: 1600 x 405mm right hand slate: 2000 x 685mm. The slates vary in thickness but average 180-205mm. All measurements approximate
Gillian Forbes Three Hares
I would like this stone to be seen not as a memorial, but as a reminder of the fact that change has the potential for bringing in new life and energy. The front face of the stone shows the three hares contained within a circle and is lettered. The back is carved with abundant, unrestrained, wild foliage. This is my response to a specific development in my hamlet, here in Perthshire. But I feel that the message has relevance to all of us in many areas of life. The motif of the hares is an enigmatic symbol depicting three hares chasing each other endlessly in a circle, each with only one ear, which is connected to form a triangle. This image has been found not only here in Britain, but also as far away as Europe, Iran and China, echoing its universality. Symbolism: Rebirth, Fertility, Connections with the dawn and moon. Trinity Unity Eternity.
Woodkirk Buff Sandstone. 1000 x 400 x 80mm
Peter Foster Alphabet
I have been drawing and carving letters since I was a child, mostly based on Eric Gill’s carved letters with which I was surrounded because of my father’s connection with Gill. Over the years I have evolved my own little differences, taking in influences, especially from Ralph Beyer to whom I was an assistant for many years. I am still fascinated by the shape of hand carved letters and realise more and more the power and beauty they can have. They seem to be able to say something profound, beyond what they are arranged to spell out. This is why I wanted to carve an alphabet for this exhibition – to try and show this power and beauty, away from a script of some sort.
Ancaster Hard White stone, 455 x 585 x 65mm
Peter Furlonger Leaves of the Trees
The idea for this design was derived from a recent commission. The frieze text was chosen by the family as an expression of their sense of the value of their young daughter’s life. I have combined with this a text, which while expressing a sense of the impermanence of life, embodies a sense of continuity and joyful rebirth.
Cumbrian Green Slate 610 x 455 x 75 mm
Bettina Furnée Till Death Do Us Part
The three light boxes show photographs of different generations of women: a young girl at a wedding, a bride and an older woman. In each image seeds or flowers appear, and WORDS (a text) the women have recently spoken. THESE words express each of the women’s attitude to death, although the bride does not mention death. However, the title of the work Till Death Do Us Part refers directly to the bride and her marriage. The women are connected, not by marriage but by mother-daughter bonds (conveyed in the mention of the word ‘Mummy’). The interplay between images and texts hints at complex matriarchal relationships, where rivalry and succession play a role, as much as dependency and love.
Powder coated aluminium exterior lightboxes, Duratrans and sandblasted glass
437 x 611mm
Malcolm Gibbons and Malcolm Sier Change
In choosing to collaborate on this project, we both saw this exhibition as an opportunity to explore the concept of ‘Change’ and to take on board influences from different cultures and religions. Primarily concentrating on those which we both come into contact with, either through our work or personal interest. We have seen it as an opportunity to develop and expand our own understanding and awareness of the multi-cultural world that we are part of, with the intention of bringing some of these aspects together and expressing them through the aesthetic and medium we are both passionate about. At the outset there was uncertainty as to where to begin and what to incorporate with no clear notion of what the outcome would be. The culmination has been a journey of discovery. We have been inspired by a quote from the Dalai Lama, ‘The only constant in the whole universe is change.’ TABDIL is an Urdu word meaning ‘Change’ with its orgins in Arabic. RIGPA is a Tibetan Buddhist word meaning ‘The innermost nature of the mind.’
Nabresina Limestone 1625 x 355 x 355mm
Robyn Golden-Hann Blessed Stone
Memorials fulfil our spiritual need to make a mark; to show that we were here. Letters, although nothing more than simple abstract shapes, convey complex ideas and expressions of humanity. Letter-carving is the alchemy through which the artist realises the magical power of letters and gives them meaning. This is the famous stone that turneth all to gold, for that which God doth touch and own cannot for less be told. George Herbert
Portland Stone 900 x 590 x 75mm
Charles Gurrey Stone Memory
The text is the last line of The Creation, a poem by Pablo Neruda: But stone preserved the memory. Given the purpose of The Art & Memory Collection, this text serves to fuse a local and a cosmic meaning. The material is an effective carving stone: pale and with evident fossil traces. Setting the lettering on its side and carving it in relief, maximizes the definition given to the principal strokes by incident light. It also helps to make the piece more abstract and so further promote the sense of it as a concrete textwork.
Lincoln Silverbed Limestone 1120 x 373 x 150mm
Pip Hall Solar Seat
Sure on this shining night of star-made shadows round
Kindness must watch for me this side the ground.
The late year lies down the north
All is healed, all is health
Late summer holds the earth
Hearts all whole.
I was very moved when I first heard this poem sung in a setting by Samuel Barber. I feel a weight being lifted, when I read these words, seeing myself from the perspective of the solar system – and one that might be explained not by religious or scientific belief but by kindness. A simple, but powerful idea that I wanted to express using elemental forms. I wanted contrast of material too, and took the opportunity to collaborate on the making of the seat with friend and local blacksmith Lucy Sandys-Clarke. The lettering moves around a carved raincatcher in a spiral – a form recognised by healing arts such as Alexander Technique, in the way we move.
Green Cumbrian Slate with spherical iron supports 40 x 1400mm
Charlotte Howarth Remember Me
I remember my grandma as on old, old woman, wrinkled, grey and wearing baggy cardigans and thick brown tights. At night she would sleep in an enormous support bra, which in my eyes, never seemed to be taken off. After she died, I came across photos of her as a young woman. I was struck by how beautiful and youthful she was and I wish I had known her then. I wish I remembered her as the beautiful young woman in the photos. I know she would like me to. It made me think… How do I want to be remembered? Do I want people to smooth over the lumps and bumps of my size 16 body, remember me as thinner and more beautiful than I actually am, forget my worst traits and remember my best? Yes, this is definitely how I would like to be remembered.
Kilkenny Limestone 170 x 450 x 360mm.
Incisive Letterwork Gates of Heaven
We found two very unusual pieces of stone in St Aldhelm’s Quarry in Purbeck. The stone - called Vyebit - was new to us. The shape of the pieces was unusual, taller than is common in Purbeck, and thin. The two pieces were slices of the same block of stone. The symmetry of the two suddenly suggested gates to us - Gates of Heaven. Finding the two quotes from Milton’s Paradise Lost was absolute luck. Our inspiration for the lettering came from ideas of forged iron and we tried to design it to have some of that flavour: simple, monoline, slightly fabricated. Enter through here all you who are worthy!
Purbeck Vyebit Two pieces, each approximately 1700 x 300mm
Text: from Paradise Lost by John Milton
Ben Jones Steps
Aspice, respice, prospice
This verse was chosen because it can be read upwards or downwards. ?On the printed page it is usual for the top line to be the first to be read. Here the top line is not necessarily the first line to be read.? This verse has the same meaning which ever way it is read, upwards or downwards. It should be possible to construct a verse that has ?different meanings whether it is read one way or another.
Riven Sandstone height of steps not known till installation; width 1000mm
Celia Kilner Standing Stone: Hidden Places
Happy are those who see beauty in hidden places.
I have chosen this text as, particularly in a garden, it is easy to overlook visual joys that are less obvious than those laid out for us; and the unconsidered, hidden things add to a feeling of contentment with life if we stay aware and ready to see.
York Stone 2134 x 508 x 76mm
Richard Kindersley Wilberforce Standing Stone.
I was asked to look for a suitable quotation to reflect William Wilberforce’s contribution to the abolition of slavery. I quickly discovered that he was a deeply pious man, not in a grand public sense, full of self-aggrandisement, but privately, setting himself high standards of behaviour and moral rectitude. This humanity drove his belief in the divine right that all men should be free. The text I have chosen is Wilberforce at his most poetic, affirming the mystery of life coursing through the body and mind, an emotion liberating us from the ordinary experience of existence, a feeling that is universally recognised. The lettering is a condensed lyrical form to resonate with the shape of the stone. The exception is the extended letter E which when sprinkled throughout the inscription gives a unifying structure -- a free spirit within the words.
Caithness Stone 2811 x 536 x 555mm
Richard Klose Alphabet Standing Stone
Caithness is one of very few stones that can be taken from the ground in slab form and have a natural finish on all its sides. It is one of the characteristics, along with its extreme durability, that has led to its being used for standing stones since Neolithic times. The rugged natural beauty of the stone and its long history, stretching back into our distant past, are what attracted me to using it. I chose to carve an alphabet as it allowed me to work round the stone using the contrasting front and back, and by cutting the background away it meant the letters could blend and match with the surface of the stone. I also felt that by using the alphabet, the building blocks of our language, it frees the observer from reading an inscription and allows them to consider the stone as a whole, and as a natural object.
Caithness Stone 2000 x 430 x 55mm
Karim Lahham A standing stone
This is a standing stone inspired by the Celtic cross at Aycliffe, Durham.
I am intrigued by the presence of stone markers in Britain that serve as memorials for the presence of the sacred in nature. The Islamic world view is based on connecting everything to God, and it is this impulse to connect the mundane to the sacred that uplifts and feeds the human soul. Our intuitive appreciation of the harmony and beauty of the countryside points to this reality.
The relationship between Celtic Christian civilisation and the Islamic world is largely unknown. The Celtic Church’s inclination, however, to sacralise space by the construction of standing pillars has a deep resonance with Muslims. The common vocabulary of style and design as evidenced by the remains of this vernacular art are striking, inspiring and relevant. This stone is an attempt to explore this vernacular and indigenous expression of sacred space and its remarkable compatibility with the religion of Islam.
The first panel is a C7th Kufic script of the name of God, Allah. The design originates from one of my late teachers, Shaykh Muhammad Abdul Qadir.
The second panel is based on the 12 circle mazes of Celtic and mediaeval Europe. It represents the journey of the soul to God. As a circle it also represents a heavenly journey juxtaposed with the 3rd panel.
The third panel is inspired by and based on the octagon. It represents the earthly life that is nevertheless completed and complemented by the celestial journey of panel 2, which leads to God (panel 3).
The fourth panel is to provide a space where Latin lettering may be inscribed for commemorative purposes.
Indiana Limestone 2000 x 380 (panels 1-3) 580mm
Giles Macdonald Song of Ages II
This stone celebrates the different periods of geological time -- unimaginable ages stretching one after another perhaps for four thousand six hundred million years. During these periods, different stones -- slates, limestones, granites, marbles, coals, minerals, sandstones and fossils -- were laid down, consolidated, stretched, compressed, reformed, eroded, melted or extruded. We try to understand these ages and talk about them by the names we give them.
Ordovician Slate, about 460 million years old 2100 x 410mm
Gillian Maddison Song of Songs Birdbath
For the Art & Memory Collection I decided that a small birdbath would provide a focus of contemplation for the visitor who may have experienced some personal sadness. The birdbath carries the quotation from the Song of Songs – Winter is past, flowers appear on the earth, the time is coming when birds will sing -- encapsulating the message of hope that sun and peace will return to lift the spirit. Water too is life giving, with its own symbolism, reflecting personal dark and light as do the reflections of sun, clouds and foliage.
York Stone 762 x 406 x 356mm
Eric Marland Memorial to an English Oak
This headstone-shaped piece of oak had been intended as a memorial to a timber merchant but developed some rather large cracks whilst seasoning in my garden. I feel it is important to acknowledge the environmental impact of memorial-making, just as we are encouraged to consider our carbon footprint in every other aspect of our lives. This is not to suggest we abandon memorials as I’ve seen how cathartic their making can be, but that we carefully consider the materials we use when commemorating a life. I had wanted to carve To Create Is To Destroy underneath Memorial To An English Oak but that seemed too negative, so I came up with Every Act Of Creation Is, By Its Very Nature, Also An Act Of Destruction. In the end it was decided to leave the viewer to draw their own conclusions from the felling of an oak to remember an oak.
English Oak 1067 x 550 x 90mm
Alyosha Moeran
The idea for this piece came from being caught in a storm of whirling sycamore seeds one autumn. I wanted to convey a sense of weightlessness in the sculpture- for the material to defy gravity and appear to float for a moment and capture the essence of the sycamore seeds’ spiral fall in the breeze.
Blue grey slate on pale limestone base. Dimensions. 1800mm in height. (Sculpture is 1440mm on a base of 360mm), each sycamore seed will be 120mm at its thickest point and there will be twelve of these.
John Neilson Circle of Stones with Seat
Each stone carries three or four versions of one place name from near where the stone was quarried – the area known historically as Ewyas Lacy in south west Herefordshire. The first version (nearest the ground) is the oldest known from written sources, often the Domesday Book of 1086, the last (top) version is the current one, and others are between the two. These names contain Saxon, Welsh and Norman French elements. The intention is to suggest both continuity and change in the passing on of language from one generation to the next, and how language is thus a kind of living memorial.
Carved with assistance from Trev Clarke.
Red Sandstone from Grigland Quarry, Michaelchurch Escley, Herefordshire.
Average size of each piece approx 1680 x 330 x 65mm
Ian Newton All shall be well... quote from Julian of Norwich.
My work as a lettercarver began 23 years ago when I made the gravestone for the 3 year old daughter of friends; my second stone was for my young wife. My inspiration has remained grounded in my commitment to my clients - both living and dead - to make the most beautiful and appropriate monument I can; and to give my best attention to the entire process to aid their grieving. My love of stone and of words and my appreciation of loss and the need to honour and celebrate our dead makes for a very fulfilling working life. My piece has a line from Julian of Norwich, a 14th century Anchoress. It has personal meaning to me as it was used as a meditation by my wife when she was ill. The flowing entangled letters remind me of organic forms. The strand of gold indicates spiritual continuity.
Westmoreland blue/black honed slate 1530 x 220mm
Noah-William Travellers
I discovered this memorial, dedicated to Noah-William’s mother, through a chance conversation in the early 1990’s. I had been talking with a churchwarden from Essex about the problem there can be with the rules and regulations for churchyard memorials. She told me of a memorial to a Gypsy, in wood, that had been removed from the churchyard since ‘it didn’t conform to the rules’. She told me that it had been stored in the garage of Hatfield Broad Oak vicarage in the 1970’s. I found out from the then current incumbent that it was still there… and he said that I could look after it. I put a notice in the local post office hoping that Noah-William might hear of it. I would then help him to have the memorial put back in the churchyard – where other members of his family lie. I never heard from him. Sharon Floate, the Vice Chair of the Romany and Traveller Family History Society, published a short article and a photograph of the memorial in the Society’s quarterly magazine Romany Routes, to see if this would elicit any information. None came. We think this extremely moving memorial was probably made from a table top.
Wood 770 x 540mm
Kate Owen (designer) with Hugh Grace (letter-carver) Clock
Here is a marvellous quote from a book I enjoyed. By isolating it and carving it in stone, the passage is released from its pages and stands aloft. The words are from Alan Lightman's book 'Einstein's Dreams'. I have brought it to this exhibition because- in the act of remembering, we look backwards in time. We are suddenly set adrift to move about freely within our own particular experience of time. It offers a release from the here and now, which, because of the invention of the
clock, ticks away more accurately than our own internal heartbeats.
The piece has been laid out and carved with precision, and the words become proportionally, but subtly larger - as if to mock our restless unease and obsession with the measurement of time, and our need to align it with our linear sense of our world.
I no longer carve and am therefore entirely grateful to Hugh Grace for carving this piece so skilfully. I am though, mostly grateful for simply having read and enjoyed the passage in the first place.
Welsh Slate 1330 x 520 x 25mm
Ronald Parsons Memorial to William Green
I first met William Green in 1950 when I was a student at the Exeter College of Art and he was the Principal. It was not until 1962 that I was to become more acquainted with him. It was at this time my work as a letter-cutter and heraldic artist was beginning to become known and he gave me advice which was to prove invaluable with the finer points of heraldry and design. He had a vast knowledge of many subjects including Art, Church Architecture, classical music and gardening, all of which were made available to me just for the asking. It was in 1963 that I married his daughter Audrey. With all these very happy memories in mind, I decided that I must design a memorial to celebrate his life.
The headpiece is made in Iroko, an east African timber from a sustainable source. The wood is very durable and hard, but I have given it extra protection by treating it with Danish oil which also enhances the colour. Dimensions: 1065 x 535 x 50mm
Frances Pelly Three Haikus
I have so enjoyed making ‘Three Haikus’ for this collection. It gave me the opportunity to use a lettering form, raised work, which I am particularly interested in but rarely use on commemorative stones. It also gave me a chance to air my attempts at not very strict haiku! Raised work, I understand is very Scottish…our sunlight lacking the intense qualities of ‘the sooth’. St Magnus Cathedral, here in Orkney, has a fine collection. As a sculptor the more 3D quality of the letter pleases me as does decyphering the ancient headstones… I also like to create a puzzle in my work. Though greatly influenced by the seventeenth century lettering from the Cathedral, I have followed Rudolf Koch’s ‘Neuland’ letterform…its simplicity works well with the simplicity of the poetry form. The haikus are about Spring …small precious signs & sounds after ‘the long dark’. Though they do not conform, I enjoy attempting to write using this Japanese poetry form as a foundation.
Caithness Flagstones 255 x 205 x 50mm each
Tom Perkins ' The unreal has no being...' quote from the Bhagavad Gita.
Through my early training as a calligrapher, and throughout my career, the making of beautiful letterforms has always been of paramount importance to me. Also, it is my belief that we should not simply imitate past forms, but actively strive to modify classical forms to resonate with the times we are in. The text for this piece is taken from chapter 2, verses 11-12 of the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) c.500 BC, ‘India’s immortal spiritual classic’ -- a central text to the Hindu faith. The themes of love, life and light are woven throughout, with the subject matter ‘ranging from vast universal cosmology to our innermost life’. The message that the journey of life did not begin with birth and will not end with the death of the body, is key. The symbol at the top of the design is OM. OM is the original vibration. The universe has come from OM, rests in OM and dissolves in it. It is the sacred syllable symbolising absolute consciousness and is the greatest of all mantras.
Italian Limestone ‘Aura’ 2400 x 500 x 50mm
Michael Rust Memorial to John Donne: 1572 – 1631
Donne (a contemporary of William Shakespeare) lived a life of intensity and passion governed by an enlightened, brilliant mind and powerful emotions. He became Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral but died before the Great Fire of London when the Cathedral was destroyed, and he has no known tomb. Although these identical twin memorials, one in limestone, the other in oak are to a man long dead, the interpretation in terms of the design and lettering is modern, for his ideas and poems continue to speak to us all. The simple, unadorned design of these memorials allows his own words of the contemplative inner life to speak directly to us. You are invited to feel the material from which they are made, the one millions of years old with fossilised markings, the other less than 100 years old and warmly organic.
Nabresina Limestone 120 cm x 50 cm x 7.5 cm
and English Oak 120 cm x 50 cm x 7.5 cm
James Salisbury Standing stone: Touch
with credit to Tom Stogdon for slate river creation
I discovered Thom Gunn by reading his obituary. I was struck by these lines in his poem, Touch (1967) for their simplicity and feeling of shared isolation. Born in Gravesend in 1929, Gunn was a contemporary of Ted Hughes and during a period in the 60’s and 70’s they dominated English poetry, experimenting with improvised forms of writing. Gunn moved to west coast America with a good sense of timing to explore ‘within and without’ as the hedonism of the 60’s was in full swing. He remained there until his death in 2004 and never achieved anything like the popularity and status of Hughes. I wanted the tone of the slate to echo the colour of the night with the slate river of heather red chippings alluding to the hidden warmth found within.
Cumbrian Black Slate, face honed and reverse flame textured, with Penryn Heather Slate inserts
170 x 400 x 50mm
Robbie Schneider The Journey
‘”’In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood ...”
Dante wrote that the purpose of his great work, the Commedia, was “to remove those living in this life from the state of misery and lead them to the state of felicity” - quite an aspiration and inspiration for any artist. The beginning of the poem is very dark and I wanted the piece to be like a line in space, a dividing line, a point at which we can choose our direction. The double lines of lettering facing each other and on opposite sides of the stone are to emphasize this choice. The dark slate seemed appropriate to the place in which Dante puts the pilgrim, everyman, at the start of the poem’s journey. In the original Italian and using varying forms of some of the letters, the piece is not easy to read. I think we should be prepared to work a little to approach understanding.
Broughton Moor Blue Grey Slate: 1780 x 150 x 150mm
Nicholas Sloan (with ThomasonCudworth) Three Aspects of Aileen Sloan
The intention was to have three different stones made in memory of the same person by three different makers, to show how variously someone can be represented according to the nature of the design, the material, and the choice of wording. In other words: design makes a big difference to how we perceive the person through the stone. To place the three among old stones in a traditional churchyard would, furthermore, set the idea in the context of the English lettering tradition within which we all work.
I considered various fictional characters to commemorate, but they seemed too random, and a distraction from the essential idea. It came to me that my own mother might be an ideal candidate: she does not have a grave, and I have never made a stone for her, but regretted this. It suddenly seemed to fall into place that instead of being three arbitrarily different designs, each stone could represent an aspect of her character, or of our relationship with her.
I ended up designing all three variations myself: a formal slate, a friendly design in rough Purbeck, and an almost wholly pictorial version reflecting my mother’s interest in gardening and beekeeping. It occurred to me that the third “stone” would be an ideal vehicle for the wonderful modelling of my friends Philip and Karin Thomason, and an opportunity to show the potential of their high-fired terracotta as a practical material for memorials.
Cornish Slate 1130 x 430 x 41mm
Purbeck 915 x 585 x 125mm (average dimensions of rough and irregular stone)
Terracotta 915 x 510 x 100mm
Charles Smith ‘Ond rhaid yw mynd…’
But I must go, and must say farewell
To the flowers and the trees
And the wind says
This has always been the way of things.
These words, translated by Eileen Walker from the Welsh poem, The River, by William Jones, expressed in terms of the natural world, paraphrase beautifully and gently that we must all say
goodbye to that which we know and love. I have chosen to carve the Welsh and English in an alternative form for the visual effect and interest this offers. The overall movement aimed for in the lettering is suggestive of the wind and river, but it is also there for its oven sake. On the back of the stone the words are carved pictorially.
Dunhouse Fine Blue Sandstone 1800 x 460 x 100mm
Annet Stirling of Incisive Letterwork Memory Bench
We have been interested in boats and the sea for a very long time. The quarry at St. Aldhelms Head in Purbeck, where we sometimes work on larger jobs and where the stone for this seat was quarried, is very close to the coast. This text by Apollinaire evokes regret without pain and the promise that one might sail far enough one day….. The lettering is all lower case to reflect the intimacy of the thought and I have designed it so the ascenders and descenders fall within the x height as I wanted two straight lines. The ‘wave’ line divides the text into background and foreground, past and future.
Purbeck Pon Freestone 1225 x 810 x 500mm
Text Apollinaire The song of the poorly loved
Una Sullivan All things….
Quotation from The Mistress of Vision by Francis Thompson
All things by immortal power,
Near or far,
Hiddenly
To each other linkéd are
That thou canst not stir a flower
Without troubling of a star
Since first encountering these words some years ago, I have thought about them periodically, and their meaning has acquired layers over time. In responding to them, the circle became important, encompassing my interpretation of the text. This piece represents my experience.
Nabresina (Dark) 152 x 1219 (x 50mm thickness of stone)
Phil Surey Sat Superest
The mirror is an object which reflects what is present in the world before it. As we near the memorial, we glimpse our image and are drawn toward it. We see ourselves and all about us; yes, the mirror confirms it, we are alive in the world. But we have also become part of the memorial and thoughts of our own mortality touch us. Moving away from the memorial our reflection disappears and we may ask ourselves about the transitory nature of existence - are we so easily lost? Sat superest (enough survives)
European Oak 1200 x 400 x 90mm
Jack Trowbridge Two ‘a’ s
In 1953 I went to John Skelton as his first apprentice - and stayed for twenty-five years. Work was varied - from letter-cutting to bronze sculpture. When the time came to part I sought to diversify into working with precious metals, both for commercial reasons and for personal development. Since 1992 I have lived in the far west of Cornwall. I still have a few commissions each year for letter-cutting on memorials. Slate is very much the local material and this I have chosen for my exhibits at West Dean. The design of new letters still engages me, the cutting of them less so. I have therefore chosen to carve three-dimensional letters as pieces of sculpture. I selected the letter 'a' because it embodies both straight lines and curves in different directions, offering potential for interesting shapes.
Cornish Slate 380mm high and 400mm high
Caroline Webb ‘…bird-song at morning….. star-shine at night’
If you come across this inscription amongst the trees, it should need little explanation. Bird-song and star-shine; the pole celebrates both, but it is also a reminder of things lost, or not experienced by many.
I will make you brooches and toys for your delight
Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.
I will make a palace fit for you and me
Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.
Robert Louis Stevenson Songs of Travel
Turned oak pole 2300 x 140mm
Pippa Westoby Nautilus
I researched Edward James on the internet and found a line from his poem This Shell which reads, My house grows like a chambered nautilus.... I felt that using a line from one of his poems, which refers to his house, would be a fitting memorial to him. I found a beautiful picture of a chambered nautilus on which I based my design. I did not want it to be an obvious memorial. My design is slightly ‘wacky’ to reflect the fact that Edward James was a somewhat eccentric person. As it’s a strong design, a strong colour was needed, so Green Slate seemed the ideal choice.
Green Slate 470 x 343 x 102mm
Andrew Whittle Six Stones: a memorial to lost and endangered species
The three stones with skulls and wings, species lost to West Sussex in the last century, look towards the stones with hourglasses whose time is running out. The symbolism is taken from the marvellous and explicit 17th and 18th century stones found in churchyards. The shape, however, is more akin to a milestone, suggesting that we are on a journey towards a different place. The sixth stone plainly refers to our possible extinction. What however is certain is that the joyful diversity of life which our grandparents knew has already been lost through the actions of man. The three lost species are taken from a long list, kindly prepared by Richard Williamson, containing sixty plants alone. Whilst the animals, plants, insects and birds referred to are specific to West Dean and its environs, they illustrate a story which is becoming universal of small and largely unnoticed losses everywhere. The stones are small and modest as are the names on the stones. Even the sixth species may become a footnote in the history of the Earth if we do not collectively take individual action.
Portland Limestone 600 x 300 x 75 mm
Teucer Wilson. Circular Stone Seat
For a tree to bear fruit and the seed within that fruit it must first lose its flowers
The imagery and symbolism in this work relate to the cyclical processes of loss and renewal and reflect upon our relationship with and our dependence on nature. The snake devouring its own tail (Ouroboros) depicted in the beading is a symbol of eternity. The Green Man is widely understood to symbolise rebirth as well as referring to our partnership with nature. It occurs widely throughout Europe as well as in India, the Middle East, and elsewhere. (It may have evolved in different cultures independently or possibly have been learned about by early travelling carvers. In Britain it can often be seen in Churches, despite its apparent Pagan origins.) The text I have used, taken from a Chinese proverb, relates to these natural cycles but on another level I feel it resonates with human mortality. It is suggestive of our struggle with the ego and our endeavour to balance the spiritual and the mundane aspects of life. 122 words or 153 inc bracketed section. This can go if necessary but I rather like the bit about ‘early traveling carvers’.
Woodkirk Stone (York Sandstone) 500 x 1600mm
Admission to the exhibition is via the Gardens and is £6.75 for adults. Concessions available. West Dean Gardens are open daily from 10.30am – 5pm
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