Hello, bloggers.
Thank you for your comments about the church we painted near Weimar. To tell you a little bit more about the experience... One of the first things we did was to cover the walls with plywood. Then we applied gesso, then a base coat of a very light white or yellow/gold paint. We attached about 30 of my paintings, which I had done over a period of 20 years, that told the story of Christ coming to Earth through the different chapters, and how he ultimately returned to his heavenly father.The building itself is a Lutheran church built in 1693. The ceiling is wood that is aged to a fabulous patina and distress. Being a historic structure, there were restrictions on what we could do. The main altarpiece, of course, could not be changed. The wood and windows surrounding the inside of the church on the back wall (which was the original wooden facade of the ancient place) was not touched. Our strategy was to do a synthesis of the old and the new, which I saw as a manifestation of how things were looked at in 1693 and how things are perceived in 2008.
As we know from history, back in 1693, the walls and the imagery of sacred places were used as teaching tools, because most of the population could not read or write. Today, we are a much different society. We receive our education, we have a culture of interpretation and discussion, agreements and disagreements are made in very different ways from how they were in the past, using the Internet, cyberspace, blogs, etcetera. So that the artwork I envisioned for the chapel was not to be a mimic of what happened in 1693, but a manifestation of what happens in our society today: building on the past, looking toward the future.
One part of the process that we all enjoyed very much happened in a section at the top of the church that everyone helping with the painting was able to go up to. I called it the graffiti corner. So all these people who for generations had lived in this area, came together to make their own presentation of who and what they were on the walls. As you stood looking at this balcony behind it, you saw a wall probably 18 feet long by 8 feet high, which will be viewed by future generations as a microcosm of how we think collectively. This was one of four different places where the visitors, families, and friends could put their own contributions on the wall.In the front of the church, the story is told by the different paintings I had collected and held together with color and forms, some pictorial, some abstract. So it truly is a communal endeavor. We all signed an interior room that you walk into by going up some stairs. It’s a room used by the clergy to keep their robes and books, but now it’s also a documentation of all who were there. When I left, there were probably 100 names written on the wall, and I’m hoping 300 or 400 more people from the village will contribute their names, too. With everyone contributing, it was a collective statement that things change, but they always remain the same in one way or another.
It was a very accepting project, because the church is Lutheran, and Martin Luther was one of the great proponents of not just grumbling about what you think is wrong, but also going out and doing something about it. I think he would have been very proud of what the congregation and I did together. It really rejeuvenates me to work with people who have such openness, vision, and fervor for continuing their faith and philosophy of embracing and changing, always moving towards the goals of peace, understanding, tolerance, hope, and love. It couldn’t have been a more caring and accepting place. Rose and I will always hold it dear to our hearts, and will, I hope, return many times for celebrations with our new family in Eastern Germany.
Matt