The Upper Room: Lenten Art Installation
The Diocese would like to highlight artists and their work around the Diocese. Will you please share with us information about artists in your churches in ministries via email?
During Lent, All Souls in Richmond, VA has installed a stunning piece of art behind the alter to encourage prayerful meditation. Enjoy photos and a description by the artist below.
During Lent, All Souls in Richmond, VA has installed a stunning piece of art behind the altar to encourage prayerful meditation. Enjoy photos and a description by the artist below.
My hope is that this piece serves as an object of meditation on the mystery, power, and weight of Jesus’ death as well as our own mortality, while maintaining a glimpse of the even more powerful and mysterious thing we put all our hope in – his resurrection.
The 3-tombstone-shaped panels are reflective of the deaths of Jesus & the two criminals, but also each of our own eventual deaths. The most frequently repeated motif in the piece besides the tombstone is the empty tomb – a shape with a circle cut out. Other symbols include the rooster (Matt. 26:74-25), stairs (Luke 22:12), a crown of thorns (John 19:5), a donkey (Matt. 22:12), palm branches (Matt. 21:8), a snake (Satan entering Judas), a chalice, a table, (Luke 22:14-20), feet (John 13:6), nails, dice, drops of blood (Matt. 27:35), and three moons (Matt. 12:40).
It should also be said that this piece was largely inspired by the work of Louise Nevelson – a pioneer of abstraction and assemblage.
-Cameron Wilson Ritcher
