Rona Smith: North Elevation
Title: North Elevation
Artist: Rona Smith (b. 1983, British)
Location: Lumen United Reform Church (URC)
Date: 2009
This work was shortlisted for the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context 2009.
The North Window panel is constructed from a web of whirling squares suspended in the window alcove. The squares spiral out from a central ‘eye’ whilst the panel itself curves into the space forming a sculptural arc which echoes the two dimensional pattern.
This geometry is the basis for a number of traditional designs in various sacred contexts. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, geometric mandala designs symbolically represent the universe or cosmos and are used to aid meditation and establish sacred spaces. Variations on the spinning square pattern may be found in these designs. There are similar patterns in Islamic architectural plans which demonstrate how a dome is constructed and consequently decorated. The squares would unfurl from the highest point of a mosque for example, naturally forming a potentially infinite dome shape. They would be used as a template over which to create more elaborate geometric configurations.
Symbolic geometry is integrated into the design of Greek and Roman architecture as well as Medieval European cathedrals. In the United Reformed Church, the North window sculpture aims to explore how geometry unites different, often highly contrasting systems of symbolism and representation, all of which signify an approach to the eternal.
The pattern can be detected in natural phenomena such as whirlpools, surf and hurricanes. A sense of the vital energy and swell of water, of ‘living water’, is suggested by the fluid sculptural form of the installation as it falls into the space.
See more information here.
Rona Smith (b. 1983, British) is a visual artist working in sculpture, installation and public art.
Further Information
Medium: Bronze (installation)
Size: 800 x 330 x 6cm
Permanent display
See Smith’s North Elevation on the Ecclesiart map here.
Commissioner: Lumen URC with Modus Operandi
Other artworks in churches by Rona Smith: POWER OF TWO, St Mark’s Church, Leeds, temporary installation in marble dust, commissioned for Situation Leeds Festival of Contemporary Art
Other artworks in Lumen United Reformed Church: Font, drinking fountain, garden fountain (Alison Wilding); window (Pierre Fourmaintraux).