A chalice is a church vessel which holds wine representing the blood of Christ and is used for Holy Communion, a central Christian ritual explored by Lou Baker at Dore Abbey. This striking site-responsive installation threads her red knitted wool sculpture through the architecture of the elegant apse at the east end of the Cistercian Abbey. Transforming the site, Life/Blood also weaves itself around the broken pieces of masonry currently stored among the pillars.

Mae cwpan yn llestr eglwysig sy’n dal gwin sy’n cynrychioli gwaed Crist ac yn cael ei ddefnyddio ar gyfer Cymun Sanctaidd, ritwîl canolog Cristnogol a archwiliwyd gan Lou Baker yn Abaty Dore. Mae’r gosodiad hynod o weledol hwn yn gwehyddu ei cherflun gwlân wedi’i wau’n goch drwy bensaernïaeth yr aps ddillyn yn y pen-drefn dwyreiniol yr Abaty Cistercian. Wrth newid y safle, mae Life/Blood hefyd yn gwehyddu o gwmpas y darnau maen torredig sydd ar hyn o bryd yn cael eu storio ymysg y pileri.

Baker makes public things that are normally private. The darker side of her sculptural practice is balanced by a brighter side of social engagement; it’s as if she ‘knits together’ materials and ideas with people and places, even when there’s no knitting involved.

Subverting the expectations of knitting and stitch, Baker’s work is alluring, yet somehow, also, uncanny. Sensory, immersive, and often body-like, her works are provocations – to thought, conversation and action.

Lou Baker recently completed an MA in Fine Art at Bath Spa University, combining her lifelong love of knitting and stitching with newly acquired skills in casting and metalwork. Some aspects of her practice investigate the transformation of materials through meditative processes and ‘sloppy craft’, some focus on facilitating participation through social engagement and, increasingly, some are performative.

She explores the ambiguous spaces between a number of binaries – self/other, embodiment/disembodiment, presence/absence, comfort/discomfort, and, ultimately, life and death.

Photo by Lou Baker

loubakerartist.co.uk

RESOURCE FOR MEDITATION

When supper was ended he took the cup of wine.
Again he praised you, gave it to them and said:
Drink this, all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Common Worship Eucharistic Prayer E

The Blood of Christ is central to Christian theology and worship. By sharing in one cup, a congregation is forgiven and fortified, then sent on its way in peace to love and serve The Lord.

Blood courses through the veins of the body at a varying rate. The stresses of life press down like great stones. Breathing deeply allows the blood to circulate more freely and richly.

• Looking up at soaring medieval columns, breathe deeply and let go of the dead weight that drags you down.

• Call to mind the blood that has been shed on stones in places of worship around the world.

• Give thanks for the people and the places who give you life.

  Written by Julia Porter Pryce for Art and Christianity