Candle July 3 2011
Gifts Series 5
A candle for light
Story of the piece I knew Candle was after Salt (July 2010) and it started a few weeks later when I was visiting Joanna in California and in a spirit of friendship agreed she would come this summer, bringing her son Jack, so a holiday with a creation – and a long distance collaboration with the busiest artist I know! At the end of August Robert, Raphael’s father, died suddenly and autumn started in a tailspin. That is when the Candle writing ritual began. On waking I would walk to my room, my desk, light a candle and write about candles. It was a ritual to hold onto as more deaths occurred through the autumn. I jokingly said candle would be six months of going into darkness and six months trying to get into the light, and then embodied it. So Candle became a gift that took me into myself and I struggled to find what it could represent. Candles are the symbol of spiritual journeys in all faiths, and this is what they became for me. A lonely, personal path and a gift hard to share. In early autumn I asked Tamsin to be my collaborator, she was in her own story of darkness and the two of us felt a bond. Our first meeting we went looking for sites. Pett Level was already in my head, I can’t remember why, we came, looked at the sea, the church then walked inland. We knew we had found the place. Then it was months of negotiating with sheep farmers, village heritage groups, wary church wardens and laughing at all the candle cliches! Tamsin created all the elements for the piece, an amazing labour of giving gratefully received. In November I went to a darkness workshop, five days blindfolded – a candle burned throughout, the last thing
to see going into the dark and first emerging. Returning to light a car crashed into mine and my heart, my health took over and I ended the year too vulnerable. It has been a slow stumbling recovery. One wet, wild day I asked Sam to come with me to the site, taking a pile of candles to see what we could make. In the gloom we found a darkness. Hattie will offer us a way out of it. Following visits to the site the piece has evolved and with the arrival of Joanna the final burst of making. It is a wonder to be making something together , twenty years since our last work together. Raphael has made a candle book of my writing, honed down from many early morning ramblings. I hope you accept them as the ragbag collection of a personal candle diary. Making this gift has felt hard and too personal, I hope you can forgive that as its unexpected outcome. In fact it may be the least giving and be the most demanding! Clare
100 Doorways Ice candle ceremony from Japan represents Hope when someone is ill Peace in wartime Luck in facing challenge As part of prayer In memory of a loved one
Candle In memory of Robert Whittle, 1942-2010.
Texts from Clare Whistler, C P Cavafy, Annie Dillard, Susan Hiller, Amy Leach, Mary Oliver, Katherine Mansfield and from all faiths.
Candle collaborators and gift givers Tamsin Currey, Joanna Haigood, Sam Sharples, Hattie Stutchbury, Raphael Whittle.
With many thanks Philip Carr-Gomm, Anne Crosby, Andy Dunlop, Peter Cole, Olivia Fuchs, Jane Metcalfe, St Nicholas Church, Wycliffe Stutchbury.
The Gifts series Egg for life, 2005 Coal for heat, 2007 Yew for eternity, 2009 Salt for health and flavour, 2010 Candle for light, 2011 Bread for food Coin for wealth A silver ring for love throughout life
Clare Whistler www.clarewhistler.co.uk