Reliquaries of Remembrance: Contemporary Altar Services

By Pamela Nagley Stevenson

I have been living a quiet life as a studio potter in the Slocan Valley for twenty-eight years, and have been teach- ing clay part-time at Kootenay School of the Arts for the last decade. Raised amidst the cultural crossroads of Honolulu, in my parent's world of the Philosophy Department at the University of Hawaii, I am profoundly influenced by world faiths and cultures. After dreaming one night of a shining fiery body of sacred vessels that stood together as an offering from many paths, this project began to man- ifest. In vision I saw a central form within each different altar service that func- tioned as a Reliquary, not to contain dead relics but instead to embody the living spirit of an ennobling virtue. Each grouping of forms referenced a different religious culture, and exemplified a divine human quality or virtue that I believe must be lived if we are to save our planet and our- selves. Through remembrance of lives and cultures given in creative service to these qualities the Reliquary Urns func- tion as sacred vessels. They are supported by a symbolic holy lamp, plate, cup and bowl for offerings. 1 choose seven qualities that most compellingly connected both visually and intuitively with specific cultural eras of artistic flowering and religious tolerance seen in my dream. Referencing chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad Gita, I focused upon the following traditions and decided to use the Sanskrit names of these universal cardinal virtues:

Sattva-samshuddi - purity of heart SUFI ISLAM

Dana - charity EARLY CHRISTIANITY Ahimsa - non-injury VEDIC HINDUISM Daya - compassion SOUTH EAST ASIAN BUDDHISM

Mardavam - gentleness-harmony ANCIENT CHINESE ANIMISM-TAOISM

‘Tejas - radiance of character MINOAN GODDESS CIVILIZATION

Kshama - forgiveness TIBETAN BUDDHISM

June 2004

The dream forms and their symbolic surface designs came into vivid focus to express an essence of each chosen culture in porcelain. A modest arts council grant enabled me to work with an wonderful apprentice, recent KSA Clay grad- uate Noam Ash, who assisted me both in studio with heavy work and with the three firings in my wood kiln KIBRIYA, (translated as "The Glory" from Rumi's Persian poetry). The event of a wood firing for me is a con- secrated act of will and devotion; it is also a form of Yajna - in Sanskrit a fire - rite offering and a practice of prayer. The wild torrent of flame leaps and roars, caressing the pots in ecstatic swirls of glory leaving a searing narrative of the twenty-two hour journey to white heat through con- stant attentive stoking. The completed vessels stand vibrantly alive, flame patterns flashed forever on the carved skin of the porcelain that glows as if still warm. My inten- tion is for this body of work to increase realization and practice of the powers of human virtues and to inspire hearts and minds to celebrate our creative and spiritual diversity and our potential for peace.

I am made of the substance of God,

I am a spark of the flame of spirit

I am an atom of the cosmic flame. Paramahansa Yogananda

Action is a meaning within a person,

and when that meaning is one with Love, The fire of Passion radiates all around,

and in every dimension, And miracles abound.

Rumi

Photos by Jeremy Addington

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter Il