Painting with Light

Dominik Chmielewski, who was profiled in The Bell when he arrived as a curate at St Nicholas last year, was ordained in October. Most priests will have some appreciation of the vestments that they wear, but few will have been involved in their design and making. Dominic had originally trained and practised as a stained-glass designer, but when studying for the priesthood in Oxford he found that embroidery was a more easily accessible pastime, something that could be picked up between lectures. As a young boy in Poland he had been taught needlecraft by his grandmother, and his interest in traditional iconography could be served by tiny stitches of thread just as effectively as by pieces of coloured glass.

Having previously made a stole decorated with individual saints, St Nicholas included, Dominik found in Diana Hawkins someone with the skills to construct the ornate vestments needed for his priestly activities. The main cope, or chasuble, made from over eighteen metres of silk, wool and cotton, in some parts six layers thick, made an interesting contrast to Diana’s summer task sewing scrubs for Chichester Hospital. She and Dominik worked together, displaying his exquisite embroideries on the cope, the hood worn behind, and a new stole. Dominik refers to icons as ‘painting with light’, the artist aspiring to represent God shining in the darkness. It is possible to find the same effect in the beautiful vestments that he now wears at the altars of St Nicholas, Arundel, and St Leonards, South Stoke.