A Christian artist discussed her work, The Sarum Cross, at Catalyst Live 2014.
Artist Sophie Hacker used materials discarded by Salisbury Cathedral to form an amazingly intricate piece of art that fascinated and inspired the Catalyst Live audience in Reading.
“Art informs my faith and faith informs my art,” said Hacker, a former atheist who came to Christ through this form of creative expression.
Discussing the source materials used for the work she brought to Catalyst Live, Hacker said: “For me, the creative process is not a fixed point, it is constantly moving.” This is best exemplified in the wood of The Sarum Cross, claimed and reclaimed at several points in religious history.
The Sarum Cross was created from a cedar of Lebanon. For 400 years this type of tree grew at Salisbury Cathedral until it became too unsafe and was cut down. The wood was chopped into pieces and became the support for the massive stones that were cut and used to repair the cathedral. With each chop, a dent was left of these pieces of cedar. Once they were too damaged to be useful, they were thrown away. “Those gouges are hugely symbolic of the human story,” said Hacker. “We are shaped by the marks life puts on us.”
As an objet trouve (found object) artist of 15 years, Hacker said these discarded planks were ideal for her work.
“I bring colour to this situation and the colour became a way of transforming the cuts,” said Hacker. All but one of the colours used in The Sarum Cross can be found in Orthodox art: deep blue for spirituality, red for humanity and green for creation. White is used to symbolise purity, purple symbolising authority and, of course, gold to represent God. Turquoise is Hacker’s addition. “When scientists were discovering the universe, they realised that our universe in its fledgling state was turquoise,” she said.
In the centre of Hacker’s cross is a gilded heart. Colours radiate outward from there, starting with humanity and ending with divinity. “The outer reaches of the universe and the divining realm are touching our world and flooding into the created world we live in right into the heart, the way Jesus holds us in the heart of God,” said Hacker.
Sophie Hacker’s talk will be available to watch, listen and download on 7 November at bmscatalystlive.com