Willow lantern, light sculpture made for the Soldiers Arts Academy event in Cardiff castle promoting use of the arts as a tool for community engagement, healing and recovery for all. Something I am deeply passionate about.
Welsh poet Joe Dunthorne was commissioned to create a poem to mark the event at Cardiff Castle on 13th Aug. Hey worked in various workshops with veterans to create a personalised poem around their passions or arts used to help heal them after their service. They then hired me to design a light sculpture from willow inspired by this poem and the workshops. Below is the poem Joe wrote:
Legion
by Joe Dunthorne
You may find us backstage, stretching
while we wait for the house to go dark.
Then we dance, out onto the sprung floor,
out of ourselves, at attention and ease,
from plié to élevé. Our muscles remember
everything. We track and catch each other,
the weight and warmth of a body. We move
as one. Desert-heat beneath the stage lights.
Then the sound of sudden rain, applause.
*
In Swansea Bay at midnight you may find us
eating fire or breathing it. Beneath a searchlight moon
we hold the fuel in our mouths. There is no rehearsal
for this. It’s the first time, every time. We suck the darkness
from the sky and blow out heat, a glow that lives on
behind our eyelids. We are not under fire; it is under us.
It’s now and it’s now and it’s always now. The moment
opens up and we can breathe inside it.
*
As left foot follows right, you may find us alone
and hiking uphill at first light. From here I can see
for decades. The things I cannot forget and those
I want to remember. A deer slows in a clearing,
never less than vigilant. The snow falls as though the sky
has gone to pieces. A sycamore seed’s rotary blade
spins to a blur. Everything demands to be noticed.
So I open my notebook and let it in.
*
Yes and yes and you may find us in a troupe
of actors. The trust that comes from letting go
of ourselves. We could be Richard III, camped out
on the eve of battle, sweating in his sleep
as he greets a parade of ghosts. Or maybe
we’re know-it-all Malvolio in yellow stockings,
banging on about virtue. Or Beatrice falling
in love with a soldier. We are not lost in the role
but found in it.
*
And all together now, we hit our high notes
and hold them. Ascending chords beneath
an open sky. A million-part harmony.
This is the choir. This is the daily service.
This is the song that gets louder if you listen.
From this beautiful poem I designed this spiral lantern. The spiral in this piece symbolises consciousness starting from our centre and expanding outwardly – the way of all things. Its represents life, creation, awareness, growth and development. Made as a response to the poetry written for a dancer, fire performer, hiker, poet, actor, artist and a musician it symbolises an ever growing connection outward to community and inward to our individual centres.
For the event I curated a simple procession where the veterans would walk towards the sculpture, each with their own battery powered lantern I had made to match the larger piece,. The poem was read, accompanied by a 20 piece orchestra by other veterans on stage. Verse by verse the veterans marched to joined the sculpture in a moving but modest ceremonial style performance, symbolising their individual passions coming together for this beautiful event.
Willow Light Sculpture in the making
For this lantern I cut a spiral from ply wood to create the base form and give the 3D depth i wanted for the sculpture. Once I had cut this out I drilled holes in it to start weaving the willow into, building up its form.
Once I finished the willow sculpting I began adding the 80m of lights filling the inside of the sculpture. I then began to paper mache the skin of the lantern using special wet strength tissue paper.
