Font of Life for the 21st Century

My piece ‘Font of Life for the 21st century’ was conceived for a British Association of Modern Mosaics Exhibition 'Constellations' which was held in Chester Cathedral in 2022. I was drawn to the existing stone font and the connections of these features with the celebration of birth, life and the importance of water. This led to considering the relationship of our lives with the Cosmos, the birth of stars and stardust.

I am inspired by the interconnectedness of everything; man, plant and animal and how we as human beings are linked to the very elements that sustain us; water being intrinsic to life and the stardust from which we all come. My piece celebrates the cosmic dawn birth of stars, our birth and the significance of water and our links with nature.

The design aims to portray the otherworldly space between earth and water showing the welling up of water leading from a ‘network’ of interwoven ‘roots ‘all feeding upwards to the sea glass water table and from a sparkling central star nebula.
The plinth surface is covered in crushed glass and sand to represent the stardust from which we all come. The main base represents water welling up and the earths layers using natural materials; stone, slate, recycled glass and cobalt blue smalti hints to tie in with the materiality and stained glass of the Cathedral.
The central area holds a star nebula of black, amber, purple fused glass on black and gold mesh swirls symbolising the birth of stars. This is connected by dark peaty legs with stain glass windows cells, sinuous roots of rust meshes, tyres, springs.
The font is set off with rich red spaghnum mounds of shiny smaltii tesserae in star like and subtle birth constellation patterns around the edges of the inner shallow vessel. The central area represents a peaty pool with a fused glass star, surrounded by seaworn safety glass centred with a gold plug to signify that it is a play on a carbon sink.

No. pieces

Medium