Following on from previous posts about Lace and Grace Public Artwork we can now announce it is finally in the ground. So what is the story:
The original brief was to explore the stories about Olney - a small Market Town in Buckinghamshire, near Milton Keynes. From early discussions with the client the name Lace and Grace emerged and from the subsequent site visit a form grew.
The focus for the artwork brings together the colliding themes of Lace and Grace. Lace offers a way of combining strands of thought into a unifying image. The threads are carefully connected together with seeming ease and without obvious joins. The delicate tracery of lace is like streams of consciousness that is woven from thin air.
The patterns created offer strength in unity and grace in thought. The words from Amazing Grace bring together John Newton’s bitter life experience and subsequent conversion to the anti slavery cause into a hymn that has been adopted by diverse communities across the globe.
These two themes show that we can all weave our own threads in life.
“Newton’s early years at sea and how he became involved in the trafficking of slaves, an involvement to which he later attested as part of his contribution to the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
How a storm at sea began a journey of faith and inspired a hymn.
His arrival in 1764 at Olney with his beloved wife Mary to be curate at the parish church of St Peter & St Paul, and how he came to write his world-famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace’.”
The sculpture carries three lines from Amazing Grace within it:
I once was lost, but now am found
How precious did that grace appear
And grace will lead me home
These words are intended to apply to everyone irrespective of their religion or otherwise and were chosen with the help of Kate Nicholas.
“Kate Nicholas is preacher, Christian author and speaker with 30 years experience as a national current affairs journalist and magazine editor. Formerly editor-in-chief of PRWeek, Kate has written for titles such as The Independent, The Observer and Business Life and was a regular commentator on BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 news programmes. She was also global communications chief for the Christian charity World Vision before a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer changed her life. ”
During the course of the design I explored not only the Amazing Grace story but the connected themes of lace making in Olney. After all John Newton wrote hymns, including "Amazing Grace," for his congregation in Olney, which was primarily composed of lace makers and other working-class individuals. He aimed to make the scriptures accessible and relatable to them through simple, personal songs. Newton's hymns were also intended to encourage his parishioners, many of whom had difficult lives, and to provide spiritual comfort and guidance.
The sketch above shows the first iteration of the design - actually done on the train back from Olney. The design evolved from this first rough sketch but the form has been more or less unchanged since this first design. At this point in the design I was thinking pretty much about lace and of course the sinewy shapes are reminiscent of the swirling waves that almost engulfed the “Greyhound” - the ship that led Newton on his path to conversion. Eventually the hymn “Amazing Grace” emerged.
“What is Amazing Grace about?
For his 1773 New Year Day morning service, John preached his sermon based on 1 Chronicles 17 v 16, 17, an ideal subject for New Year’s Day. As with his hymns, John often used examples from his own life to help his congregation of lace makers, farmworkers, tradespeople, young people etc understand his message. As David is encouraged to do in this passage, John talked about looking back at life and considering who you are now, as well as looking forward to what the future might hold.
‘Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come’
The verses of the hymn Faith’s Review and Expectation, now known as Amazing Grace, were also based on 1 Chronicles 17 v 16, 17. They resonate with John’s own personal history as a recalcitrant young sailor in the shipping trade & Navy, as well as his later participation in the transatlantic slave trade. They also remind us of a day that John never forgot throughout his life when on 21st March 1748 aboard a badly stormed-damaged trading ship and fearing for his life he began his journey back to his faith:
‘Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!’
Jonathan Aiken in his book ‘Disgrace to Amazing Grace’ also suggests that John might have been looking to support his friend William Cowper who was again slipping into deep depression.
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.’”
On visiting the Cowper and Newton Museum in Olney and having loads of information and help by the staff there the lace patterns started to take shape - including a DNA strand. I was particularly struck by the notion of “chains that bind” and “chains that connect” with an obvious nod to Newton’s experience working on slave ships.
After making some really basic models these shapes continued to develop but not veering too far from the original sketch. What I was looking for at this stage was to think about how the view may look from beneath the form - I really wanted it to feel that you were looking up at the arches in a church. And, as this was being placed at the entrance path to the4 community centre |I wanted to create a sense of arrival.
Next came the detailing. For this element I was looking at different lace patterns, edging, daisies etc. I spent some time with the Olney Lace Circle which taught me how to make lace - or in my case how not to!! Although I did manage a little piece of lace in the two hours I was there! Not much to show for my efforts but a really mindful and enjoyable experience. As part of the lace making research I looked at the Flash Stool that was used to help to light the lace makers work. This is a fascinating device and this gave me the idea to incorporate lighting within the sculpture. Once the community centre is up and running my hope is that the electrics can be incorporated into the sculpture and we have incorporated an LED strip which can change the colour sequence. Should look amazing!
The next stage was to start to realise the design. This is where the amazing Chris Brammall of CB Arts came in. Early on in the project I emailed Chris the first sketch and asked him what he thought - could he make it - the answer was a resounding yes and I would love to - although it will be a challenge. The form not only twists but has a variable shape and three pieces coming together. And of course it has to stand up! Chris then made a model to scale and he plotted the dimensions and distances in order to create a construction drawing which he shared with me. I could then import this into an software to create a 3D model so I could interrogate the form and see how it looked from different angles.
Once we were happy with the form and structure it was over to the fun work - the fabrication. The first stage was to create the files that needed to be laser cut - and these had to be modelled flat but with the intention of becoming the correct shape when twisted. Complicated! Each piece was welded together and formed into a hollow triangle shape for strength. The lace patterns were based on a daisy pattern and simple dots which I had taken from the lace templates from the Cowper and Newton museum The holes on the lower faces of the sculpture were filled in with “buttons” to prevent finger traps and then the base was created to connect the pieces in a structurally sound shape.
Once completed the structure was bolted to a central post to keep things secure and ensure that there was no further twisting! At this stage the metal was unfinished, although it was Corten weathering steel. So it was to the outside and let the weather do the rest. It didn’t take long for the rusting and patina to form - although we did have this onsite for longer than we anticipated due to the site not being ready for us. The installed pictures were taken on a rainy day and with plant and construction still ongoing. At some point we should be able to post some lovely pictures of the finished sculpture with lovely planting and a brand new community centre sitting behind it.
