Candles from Gloucester Cathedral

Away in the Cotswolds for a week, I have visited a few churches and Gloucester cathedral as research into how candles are used in religious buildings and the role of light in religion. In Gloucester Cathedral I found this sign explaining the role of the candle...

I love the idea of the candle as being a parable, a material metaphor for something else, which is a theme I often look at anyway in my work. Having been brought up in religious schools, this idea of light is very familiar to me, and perhaps has influenced my regard for it. The candle as a symbol is a really powerful and loaded token, which is a curious thing to explore in my art as it quickly conveys an idea.

I manged to get a few candles from the cathedral, which I think I will use for my measuring spoons and moon experiments.