Chasing Arnold Flaten

Psalm 23 70x20", white birch. Dec 2019 Zion Lutheran Church, Anoka MN commissioned by D. Legrid in memory of husband, David Done as a matching piece to another birch prayer panel, also in the Zion chapel (the Hebrews 'great cloud of witnesses ' text).  The chapel also includes the columbarium, and it was important to use a text that fit the space and the function.  It's a text of great comfort to many, those who have lost loved ones, but also those who pray and meditate in that quiet space. Thirteen shelves are used for votive candles, usually in the color of the season of the church year.

The Peace Post Minnesota walnut, 6x6x60", November 2019  This work was acquired by Linda Holmen in support of the National Lutheran Choir, and is in the Holmen collection in St. Cloud, MN. Given a dry old walnut 6x6, I pondered for quite a while what to do with it.. it didn't make sense to mill it into boards.. then I remembered a few other 3D works that might apply in this case-- an 'ujamaa' (an ebony carving of the village or family, from Tanzania) and the central obelisk in Oslo, Norway in the Vigeland sculpture park.. Rather than figures, mine uses repeated text of 'love-joy-peace' with the open cathedral arch in the center for a votive candle.  There's also a slot for another candle at the top, not shown in this pic.  this is also reminiscent of the entry beams of the Art Barn at St. Olaf.  Arnold left several corners of those beams unfinished, waiting for someone else to contribute.