On entering the familiar church observers will direct their bemused and fascinated gaze upwards to register the sparkle and glitter of the thousands of thimbles suspended in the nave of the hall church. The tiny objects seem to have swarmed out to take their place among a dense structure of vertical lines. It is virtually impossible to focus on the detail without losing one's gaze, at once attracted and confused, in the luminescent cloud. It is the dazzling density and sheer volume of the night sky that inspired Gabriele Wilpers to design this starry dome. Each thimble becomes a pinprick of light, forming part of an iridescent play of colours that holds its own over and above the muted colours of the pillars and cross-beams. 

A filigree net above the pillars' capitals supports this glittering silver cosmos that hangs from thin threads of varying colour. Almost as if suspended in air, the delicate web appears to have found a safe haven under the heavy cross-beams of the central nave. The strong lines and order of the Gothic church shelter the fragile structure that seems to keep itself afloat with magical lightness, as unassailable as a cloud. Static and fleeting elements enter into a dramatic yet harmonious dialogue of contrasting elements; the trivial - these simple, tiny everyday objects - enlivening the sacral, monumental scale of the architecture.

That an apparently meaningless, today almost forgotten item of daily life is once again enjoying such an expressive renaissance at the hands of the artist has much to do with its character, which has been preserved unchanged during the centuries. There are all manner of thimbles among those that were collected by women in the diocese and elsewhere, including some of cultural and historic value. The individual elements that so impressively form part of a massed entity frequently have highly personalised and artful designs, ranging from monograms to framed images, which in turn indicate their significance in their owners' daily lives.
 

Each individual thimble - the protector of sensitive fingertips - hence becomes a symbol of that which women have experienced and achieved. They become centuries-old witnesses to female stories and histories, trigger many associations in connection with women's lives and, taken out of their original context, artfully perform their story-telling role. The sparkling firmament speaks of the hard work of women, of suffering and poverty, but also of joy, and inside the church represents a symbolic space for the histories of uncounted women in the diocese.
Frank Joachim Schmitz

On the Artist:
After training as a photographer, between 1973 and 1978 Gabriele Wilpers studied free painting at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany. Since then she has lived and worked in Essen as a freelance visual artist. In recent years she has taken first prize in several competitions for art in the public domain.

One of her focal areas besides painting and photography is spatial concept art. She uses a variety of artistic methods – installation objects, film, architectural glass – to reflect and describe human existence. Her interventions in an existing space, which can be both sacred and profane in nature, question the context in which modern man lives today.
 
See also Glass is more!>
Pfarrkirche St. Valentin, Limbach/Odenwald, Germany>

 
See also in Glass is more!>
Church of the Transfiguration, Orleans, Massachusetts/USA>
 
www.wilpers.com