Peace

This is the 100th anniversary of the end of the “Great War”, known to us as World War I, and every where we go there are paper poppies and crosses of commemoration. In the towns the little crosses have the names of local men who lost their lives in the war. In London at Westminster Abbey, the tomb of the unknown soldier in the floor of the Abbey is the only one that no one ever walks on, (and that means even the Queen) and it is surrounded by paper poppies.

Everywhere else, the graves are walked upon, including those of Sir Isaac Newton and, more recently, Stephen Hawking, whose ashes are interred next to his. Professor Hawking’s grave stone has a representative of a black hole on it!

But I digress – we went into Chester Cathedral in the town of Chester today, and the cathedral itself was closed, as it was being readied for the installation of the new Dean of the Cathedral. But we were invited to walk around the cloister, where there was an art show whose theme was peace. The work that caught my eye is by a woman named Nikki Parmenter. It is entitled “Peace is always Beautiful,” and it is a tour de force of the quilter’s art. Some of the figures are actually three dimensional, and stand out from the work.

The lamb in the middle stands out from the background, and, I suspect, represents the Lamb of God, because his head is surrounded by a halo embellished with gold medallions.

A banner with the word “Pax” is above him and drapes over his body. Behind him you will see that the artist has created crocheted stars that give the effect of a stained glass window

Around the central figure are many others – the ark, for example, is shown almost as a dragon boat,

A phoenix appears,

And there is a wonderful angel,

The sunflower has dew on it, made up of individual pearls,

And surmounting it all and supported by doves, is the word “PAX” that looks as though it came from a medieval Book of Hours,

Clearly, the work is a plea that such a war may never again occur and that we shall have peace.

Mary

Posted from York, England 9/8/18