Work | Bede and Beijing Festival | Pamela So
BEDE AND BEIJING FESTIVAL
Commissioned by
The National Glass Museum, Sunderland
Glass Altar Cloth, St. Peters Church, Sunderland, 2008
As part of the Bede and Beijing Festival in Sunderland, Pamela So has been commissioned by the National Glass Centre to make connections between China and Northern England in St Peters church, Sunderland , the ancient site of worship being prepared for nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Born in Britain and of Chinese descent, Pamela So has researched extensively into pattern and ornament on Chinese porcelain and textiles . The connections between the Far East and Britain around the time of Bede, are seen in terms of the transmission of pattern, in particular the vine scroll motif which was adopted throughout the Western world and eastwards to India, in its many different forms and variations. The Chinese began to adopt Buddhism at the time of Bede and with it, many of the conventions of Indian Buddhist art. ‘Vine scrolls of Mediterranean origin made their first appearance in China in the fifth century, in a Buddhist setting...... although every epoch interprets it differently, the continuity of the (vine scroll) theme is palpable, from classical antiquity to the early Middle Ages, and on through every phase of Western art.’
Using the altar table as the site for the work, Pamela So is creating a mirror ‘cloth’ with a pattern which assimilates Eastern and Western traditions. In giving the work the appearance of linen, the ‘altar cloth’ refers to the early flax growing and textile industry of the northern European countries where linen was highly valued and carried religious connotations of ‘cleanliness being next to godliness’.
