Wood | Stone | Crosses | Figurative | Other
Crosses
I began making crosses because I had been struck by two things. Crosses are ubiquitous in our culture. They are on the fronts of churches and around people’s necks. Yet, their ability to signify anything specific has faded to the point of invisibility. Who really “sees” those crosses? The essayist and novelist Walker Percy wrote about a similar erosion in Christian words, saying “The old words, God, sin, grace, redemption now tend to be either exhausted, worn smooth a poker chips and signifying as little, or else are heard as the almost random noise of radio and TV preachers.” He believed the Christian writer must be cunning and devious, because he is working with a “vocabulary which must be either discarded or somehow miraculously rejuvenated.”
My early crosses were made with the idea that they might be appropriate for churches. As time went on, I determined it was better to just concentrate on the imagery than to imagine an audience. Most recent crosses have been made for individuals. There are multiple versions of the salt lick cross, and of the broken tablet cross. Though formally these crosses are related, each cross differs in its size, shape, and composition. You can see pictures of cows licking the salt blocks by going to the “Sculpture” tab and then clicking on “other substances.”
Second City Church
Lenten Cross
2016
76.75″x42.25″x9″ (maximum relief)
blown glass, paper ash, wood, paint and stain.
The cross was made during the Lenten season. Church members wrote lists of personal sins in response to a Lenten sermon series on the Seven Deadly Sins. They shredded their lists and brought them to a glass studio, where they personally placed the paper bits into the blown glass forms used to make the cross image. The hot glass reduced the shredded paper to ash, which was then sealed into the glass. The cross now hangs in the church in Harrisburg, PA.
Click HERE for a YouTube video about the Lenten Cross.
Click images to enlarge
Selma Cross
1984-1985
Galvanized steel, slate, alabaster
84″ h, 50.5″ w, beams 4″ x 4.25″
Cross With Thorns
2012
Ebonized cherry, marble, copper, thorn apple Private collection
In the Shadow
1990
Utramarine pigment on wood, steel
86.5″ h, crossbar 64″
Salt Crystal Cross
2009
Natural salt crystals, corten steel, lexan, foam insulation with wood substrate
43.75″ x 22.75″ x 2.75″
Private collection
Broken Tablet Cross
1988
Cherry, travertine marble, copper
51″ h. x 16.5″ w
Private collection
Law and Grace
1991
Basswood, slate, steel
61″ h, 23.5″ w
Collection of Messiah College
Tabula Rasa
1988
Gld leaf over cherry, slate
30″ h, 14″ w, 8″ d
Private collection
Blood Cross
1984-1985
Copper over pine, gold leaf, bleached oak, slate 66″ x 47.25″ x 1.5″
Collection of Messiah College
Death Cross
1985
Painted steel, clay
36″ x 36″ x 9″, max. relief 8″
Small Sacrifice
1997-99
Wood, lead, slate, found trap with bones
18″ x 10.5″ x 3.5″
Private Collection
Greek Salt Lick
201
Salt, tar, mild (low carbon) steel
29″ x 29″
Private Collection
Tarred Cross
1988
Tar over wood, argon filled tubing
74″ h, 48″ w
Theodore Prescott, Sculptor
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