Flaten's Chancel Screen

Advent Chancel Screen

Arnold Flaten, 1970
Northfield MN
in collection of Central Lutheran Church
Minneapolis MN
stained laminated red oak, brass, gold accents
approx. 60" x 120", hinged

This is a sacred object for me, a touchstone, a holy relic. I had the chance to watch Arnold working on this large oak piece for an afternoon during my sophomore year at St. Olaf, and it was a turning point, a watershed moment... why, I want to do this.. Could I do this? I thought... Growing up with a grandfather who made skis in a shop filled with hickory and ash, just the smell of wood was nostalgic and exciting. The demands of Dorothy Divers at St. Olaf in graphic design also gave me some sense of balance and layout, and combine that with the love of wood--I guess that's where it began and why it continues.

Central Lutheran had this piece hanging outside their sanctuary wall, and every time I was there, I would close my eyes and run my fingers over the lettering, thinking of how it was done, by whom, and offer up a grateful prayer of thanks for that opportunity that affected my future skills and interests. I didn't take off my shoes, but I sure did feel like I was on holy ground.

Thank you, Arnold.

Thank you, Dorothy.

Comments

Shelley: To a Skylark

To a Skylark 2014 cherry,12"x84" collection of the artist, Anoka MN With deep gratitude to fellow choral singer and St. Olaf friend Eldri Wittkamper.. We just wanted to stop by and see the house where Eldri's relative lived, one of the Roe family who taught voice at St. Olaf. We knocked on the door, and it turns out the house was occupied by the mayor of Northfield, who invited us in. My jaw dropped when I saw it--the style was unmistakeable--it was a Flaten work surrounding the mantelpiece at the fireplace. The text is a selection from Percy Bysshe Shelley, "To a Skylark": Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. Since we couldn't guarantee access to the house in the future, it was a stroke of luck that Eldri had a rubbing of the work, an exact copy. From the rubbing, I was able to reproduce the carving exactly as Arnold did it. I g...

Servants, 2nd ed.

Lord, You Have Called Your Servants 2020 Oiled white birch, 32"x36"x2" St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Bloomington MN This is another edition of a well-known and well-loved prayer. I have finished seven or eight versions of this in walnut, in a horizontal layout; this is the first in 'paragraph' format, with corresponding icon miniatures on the side. The icons, from top down: sun/clouds of creation, the cross, shock of wheat, dotted eighth note of music, the star, the acorn seed, and the sprout of new growth.

Newborn Stars...

Newborn Stars 2013, 2014 walnut, 30"x60" collection Zion Lutheran Church, Hopkins MN I have gone through this process many times before--finding a text in a piece of choral music that is the source material for work in wood. As a choral singer, it takes some time to learn new music--notes, intervals, phrasing, tempo--and then at some unexpected time, a phrase or verse hits like the proverbial ton of bricks. Sometimes there are tears, often I just can't sing for a while when the profoundness of the text finally hits home. This text is one of those. It's a hymn text written by writer/theologian/musician Dr. Carl Daw, and the hymn is " As Newborn Stars Were Stirred to Song." It was the perfect metaphor, especially the last verse-- the symbolism of the redeeming Christ set into musical terminology that just struck me... and a perfect choice to change the text into wood. An example of 'interchange', a favorite technique that I can onl...

Chasing Arnold Flaten

Search This Blog