Inspiration comes in many ways. For Wiltshire-based artist Bruce Munro it came when driving home from Waddesdon Manor late last year idly listening to the radio. Switching to Radio 3 he heard “a wonderful piece of music” he had never heard before. “I day-dreamed all the way home,” he said. “As soon as I got in I phoned them saying, I know exactly what I am going to do.” The music was Cantus Arcticus by Finnish composer Einohujani Rautavaara (b.1928). Munro’s visit to the Renaissance- style chateau near Aylesbury was for the commission of a new light installation for the Coach House as part of the Manor’s 2013 contemporary art programme.

Munro first worked with Waddesdon last Christmas season when he created two spectacular site-specific installations for the grounds: Blue Moon on a Platter and Angel of Light. He has exhibited Field of Light at the Holburne Museum, Bath, the Eden Project, the V&A, and in the USA, and he will create a series of installations for the gardens at Waddesdon next winter. Picking up on the crystalline calls of Arctic birds in Rautavaara’s haunting Cantus Arcticus, Op. 61, described by the composer as a ‘concerto for birds and orchestra’ (1972), Munro, an artist long fascinated by the emotional impact of light, particularly in relation to landscapes, now had an arctic spectrum to work with.

For his Cantus Arcticus, Munro creates an illusion of sparkling icy strangeness using curtains of light that shimmer and shift between greens, blues, and pinks, the colours of the Northern Lights. Undulating lines of light from fibre-optic cables, reflected by mirrored walls, are choreographed to respond to the dynamics of the music. Munro talks of wanting to create that “sense of wonder you feel,” and he does, though ideally it seems to me this is best seen, best experienced with few or no others around. I did have it to myself briefly, and imagined the eerie isolation of the tundra landscape: dreamy soundscape and gentle threads of light combining to conjure up icebergs singing, birds migrating, wheeling and keening in the icy arctic air.

Across at the Manor, threads of a different kind are the subject of a very unusual exhibition that explores a surprising area of Rothschild collecting. Sacred Stitches: Ecclesiastical Textiles in the Rothschild Collection shows rare fragments of ecclesiastical textiles that have been made into unique interior furnishings. “Surprising though it may seem for a Jewish family, three members of the family collected medieval and later embroideries and textiles made for use in the cathedrals, churches and monasteries of Europe,” said curator Rachel Boak. They prized the textiles for their technical and artistic brilliance, and their exoticism and opulence helped create the sense of Renaissance luxury characteristic of Rothschild interiors. There are 30 exhibits, many of which have not been displayed for two decades. The earliest is a set of embroidered panels depicting saints, segments of a French altar frontal dating to c1400, sewn in coloured silks and silver gilt.

Intricately embroidered robes, cassocks and altar frontals came on to the market from Europe for re-use as upholstery material once their religious significance was redundant following periods such as the Reformation and French Revolution. With cushions, hangings, screens and chair coverings to see, it’s a must if you are interested in embroidery.

Threads were also the source of inspiration for Philippa Lawrence’s Darning the Land: Sewn. The geometric patterns of the threads in 17th- and 18th- century lace and textiles from Waddesdon’s collections inspired Lawrence to create carpet bedding on the parterre from May, and wildflower displays in the garden from June. Already racing across the front lawn is a new permanent sculpture: Xavier Veilhan’s red horses and carriage Le Carrosse, a version of which was shown at Château de Versailles.

Inside the Manor, the 16th-century Maiolica display continues; and from May, Spanish artist Joan Sallas, a leading authority on historic table napkin folding, will take visitors back to a time when a table fountain flanked by heraldic beasts made from folded linen was de rigueur for a sumptuous dinner party.

l The light and music for Cantus Arcticus run on a repeating loop. Each performance lasts around 15 minutes.

 

Until October 27
nVisit www.waddesdon.org.uk