Iain Cotton stone-letters-sculpture

WEST DEAN ART AND MEMORY EXHIBITION

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.


Iain Cotton, 2008.