Skip to main content

Prayer 9

Prayer 9:  the magnum opus..

2013, oiled walnut, 8'w x 16' tall in six sections
Main entrance, Zion Lutheran Church
Anoka MN



It started like this--sketches in the program of an
NLC concert, probably while I was supposed to be singing.  Sometimes when you get an idea, you've got to get it on paper before it disappears. Which I did.

During the first phase of the Sanctuary Renewal project at Zion Lutheran in Anoka, there was some discussion with the architects about a large panel to be installed at the main entrance.  Rather than simply a flat oak panel, I suggested that it might be a good place for 'architectural art', and this is what transpired.

During a brainstorming session with pastoral staff, we realized that the selection of text was critical--it had to be powerful, unusual, timeless--something that you couldn't simply pass by because you already knew it.  This was the consensus:  Prayer 9, from the Lutheran Book of Worship.  It has roots in ancient sources but also current forms (such as "..within each cell.."  Not something first century Christians would have mentioned.)



Here's the layout that I ended up using.  It's divided into four quatrains, four verses.. and I used three small symbols to divide the verses-- the stars/water, the wheat/bread of life, and the dancing children.  With great pleasure, I have more than once watched Zion children tracing the letters with their fingers and touching the dancing children, which are purposely placed right at their height as they enter or exit the church.

















 Engineering was rather difficult.  This shows the six walnut panels with custom joinery, and then the entire piece was lifted with a hydraulic lift and rested on a steel bar shelf.  It weighs 700-800 pounds..  It's easily the largest scale design I've completed, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.







Some detail of the lettering, each of which is about 4" high and accented with gold paint.  It's done in a font that I call 'modified Bremen,' taken from an original font and then changed for visibility and style.
Finished installation of Prayer 9.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

Cloud of Witnesses

Cloud of Witnesses 2012 white birch, brass accents 30" x 72" Anoka, MN Commissioned for the newly designed chapel at Zion Lutheran Church, it uses the text from the book of Hebrews focusing on 'such a great cloud of witnesses..'  The piece is designed also to be removed from the wall and used as a freestanding panel in the main sanctuary for funerals, weddings, baptisms.. The text is in a modified Herculaneum font in kind of a run-on style, flowing around the candle stands all the way to the bottom of the panel.  There are 12 candle stands in all, each with a brass bar at the back as a visual accent and for added reflectivity when the candles are lit. White birch carves cleanly, and has a fine capacity for darkening the cut edges when varnished.  Contrast the golden finish here with the blonde unfinished panel in the picture below.. This is the stand prior to the final finish, using the walnut base in free standing mode. Since the chapel at Zi...

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...