In one of his last official duties as Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop Peter today (18 May) dedicated a piece of textile art, commissioned for the Bishop’s Palace chapel to mark the 800th anniversary celebrations of the Bishop’s Palace. The art will form part of a new Waterside Prayer Walk at the Palace.
Revd Rosey Lunn, Palace Pastor says, "The aim of the art was to bring into the Chapel a representation of the outside surroundings, featuring the beautiful gardens which attract so many visitors to the Palace, and in particular the water, which is such an important element in the gardens, and is so rich in meaning and symbolism. This beautiful piece took many, many hours of painstaking work, mainly with natural textiles and fibres, to complete, as well as the careful thought which went into designing it, and we are enormously grateful to Mary Popham for creating this piece for the Chapel."
The artist, Mary Popham, chose a verse from Isaiah (Isiah 58, v11) as the inspiration for the work: ‘You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of whose waters never fail’. The design which evolved is a composite picture of the gardens, showing the Pilgrim figure who stands in the background as visitors enter the garden, the walls of the great banqueting hall, the famous magnolia tree, and the deep well-pool whose waters constantly bubble up with bubbles of life from underground springs.
During the short service, Jane Hancock gave a reading from Isaiah, 41, 17 – 20; 58, 11, after which Bishop Peter performed the dedication.
