The wonder of you
Help me to create a public space for Wonder & a beautiful monument to eternal change
By Tom Lawton FRSA
Dear friends. I need your help. I am seeking a patron to support my vision to bring Wonder to a landmark UK location and honour these isles of Wonder with a public celebration of our creativity. For wonder begets wonder.
Wonder is a vision five years in the making. From philosophy, through meditation and movement comes the pinnacle of human expression, the unfolding creative spirit. Original & bold, consistent & calm.
Like Sir Christopher Wren after the great fire of London, I seek to bring awe and wonder to the captial of our wondrous island. So, the first chosen location is St Paul’s Cathedral.
Having been invited to apply to St Paul’s Visual Arts Programme I have received notice from a delighted chancellor, Dr Paula Gooder, that Wonder has unanimously been voted forward by the committee for planning. This meeting goes ahead in February 2024 and is a strong indicator for the success of the project, giving me time to find a patron or sponsor to support the installation.
The intention would be to display a giant Wonder with a 100cm tall spiral, which I have successfully cast in solid bronze with master foundry Kollinger in Germany. Together with UK fabricator Mark Darbyshire the plan is to mount it on a stone plinth.
Over the past two years we have proven the manufacturing technique and method to upscale the sculpture with faithful execution to the original design. Of the two we have made, one already has a home and is set to be mounted on a stainless steel mirrored turntable and plinth. The other is subject to final specification and build.
Presented without explanation, for ‘your thoughts shape your vision and you see what you choose to see’ Wonder inspires audiences from all ways of life. With no denominated faith Wonder is a unifying symbol of everything that we have in common — life, love and loss — kindled into a moving art form that expresses eternal love, which appears somehow to transcend reality.
“Wonder is perhaps the greatest ever expression of Heraclitus’s insight that ‘the only constant is change’ — it is a masterpiece in motion” — Dr Iain McGilchrist
Film
To celebrate the project and inspire audiences further, I intend to produce two films — the first is a serene cinematic and largely silent piece that showcases Giant Wonder on tour of sacred and special sites around the British Isles, before arriving at St Paul’s. The second would be a supporting documentary that offers insights around its conception as well as intepretations of Wonder by renouned visionaries for conscious change.
Both films would be acessible on site via QR code and would be promoted widely. We are also seeking to establish a media partner for the project.
Contributors
Dr Iain McGilchrist, Gordana Biernet, Rupert Sheldrake, Kate Raworth, Brian Eno, Jamie Oliver, Derren Brown, Ayishat Akanbi, Richard Coles, Stormsy, Louis Theroux, Coldplay and more.
Beyond all this, there is so much more to expand on but the first objective is to identify an extraordinary patron to join us on the next steps of this beautiful mission to bring Wonder to the world.
If the scope of the project resonates and you think you can help then I would love to hear from you.
With love
Tom
