Hasta La Ideas

Designer Morag Myerscough has created an 11.5-metre-tall neon sculpture for a church in Doncaster, UK, which was informed by the “culture of embroidery and tapestry in religious buildings”.

The light installation, which was made from wood painted in bright neon hues, marked the first time Myerscough had mixed her own fluorescent hues.

“Often I incorporate fluorescent neon paint within my work so the piece transitions from day to night,” Myerscough told Dezeen. “As this was a light piece it was a perfect piece to paint the whole of it out of fluorescent neon water-based paint.”

“This was the first time I mixed my own fluorescent neon colours, which worked really well. The piece was then lit by black light onto the work so no lights were required on the structure.”

Myerscough was informed by Doncaster Minster’s needlepoint prayer kneelers for Love and Unity, which was made for Doncaster’s Festival of Light in November and assembled on-site.

“I was inspired by the culture of embroidery and tapestry in religious buildings, by [textile artists] Edith John and my mother, Betty Fraser Myerscough,” she explained.

“So I decided to reignite my love of sewing and started sewing this piece with no particular plan throughout the summer.”

It was this textile design that influenced the shape of the final sculpture, which had an angular abstract form.

“I started with a pattern and then sewed the word LOVE,” Myerscough said.

“Originally I sewed the piece horizontally and then I turned it round and realised that was a beacon of LOVE and UNITY and went from them. I then proceeded to build it in three dimensions.”

Love and Unity also featured an interactive aspect, with the community invited to write a collective poem, lines from which were then stitched onto the wooden structure and displayed inside the sculpture.

“The Doncaster Festival of Light is free for the Doncaster community and I wanted to make a work that the community felt part of and it was to belong to them,” Myerscough said.

“The best way of achieving this is for people to be involved in the process. We asked the community to respond to ‘Love & Unity’ in words and poems which were incorporated into the sewn element of the structure.”

The installation was also Myerscough’s first installation in a religious building.

“This is the first time I have built a piece in a religious building and it is the tallest piece I have built inside,” she said. “I have always loved and visited religious buildings as they always have a unique atmosphere.”

“Doncaster Minster is incredible architecturally and it did feel a privilege to make a piece for the building,” she continued.

Love and Unity also featured a custom soundscape made by Doncaster artist Doya Beardmore, which drew from sessions with students from the local Ridgewood School and archival recordings of Myerscough’s father, musician Henry Myerscough.

The sculpture was created for community arts programme Right Up Our Street, which will now reuse the materials after the installation closed.

Other recent designs by Myerscough include a “secret garden” for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and a kinetic installation for the Coachella festival 2024.

The photography is by Gareth Gardner.

Love and Unity was shown at Doncaster Minster as part of the Doncaster Festival of Light on 15 to 23 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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