The Rev. Gail Wheatley took a leap of faith when she asked the parishioners at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Port Angeles last summer to submit artwork portraying the 14 Stations of the Cross.
The idea was to display the stations — scenes along Jesus’ walk to his Crucifixion — around the sanctuary of the church during Lent as a devotional.
The response and the results took her by surprise.
Fourteen members of the congregation came forward, each one creating a work of devotion that was both personal and inspirational.
“They took my breath away,” she said of the art. “I had virtually no idea what to expect. I said, ‘Holy Spirit, I’m laying it on you.'”
The artists had only two parameters: each piece had to be 14 by 19 inches, and made to be framed simply.
Artists were given a station number and told what scene it corresponded to. What they did with it was wide open.
The 14 Stations of the Cross portray Jesus’ final days, from being condemned to death, to carrying his cross, being crucified, then laid in a tomb.
The practice of “walking” the stations began as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem by early Christians, who walked “The Way of the Cross.”
The purpose is to guide people in meditating upon the sufferings of Jesus and his death, leading up to Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of Christ — and which will be celebrated this year on April 4.
The works at St. Andrew’s were unveiled, one at a time, during services on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 16.
‘All awestruck’
“As each one was unveiled, a hush came over the congregation,” said artist Susanne McCoy of Port Angeles, who created the artwork for the third station.
“No one could speak. We were all awestruck.
“The collective effect heightened the sense of sacred space.”
• The first station, “Jesus condemned to death,” is a watercolor in pastels painted by Port Angeles artist Dorothea Morgan.
It shows Jesus from the back, facing a desolate field of crosses.
“I wanted it to emphasize that this was a time when Jesus was alone,” Morgan said.
“He faced an aloneness, like all of us have to face, but he did it for our redemption.”
• The second station, “Jesus takes up his cross,” was created by Martin Dillon of Forks, who attends St. Swithin’s Episcopal Church in Forks.
The rugged work is the face of Jesus done in laser-cut steel against a portion of cross fashioned in weathered wood.
• The third station, “Jesus falls the first time,” is a simple pen and ink by Susanna Brock.
The image is full of suffering, with vultures, a skull and menacing dragon.
• The fourth station, “Jesus meets his afflicted mother,” is a painting by Tricia Barrett of Port Angeles.
It is reminiscent of Renaissance iconography, painted in rich oils with Jesus and Mary crowned by gold foil halos.
• The fifth station, “The cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene,” is by Krista Winn of Port Angeles.
It is a curved steel plate with simple enameled images of Jesus, Simon and the cross.
• The sixth station, “A woman wipes the face of Jesus,” is a mixed media piece by Laura Callender, former Peninsula Daily News features editor.
She created the artwork in China, where she now teaches. It was carried in pieces back to the U.S. by a priest from Seattle.
• The seventh station, “Jesus falls a second time,” is a colorful piece created by Michele Wolff of Port Angeles.
• The eighth station, “Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,” was created by a group of women knitters at the church.
It features a black knit background with simple white knit figures representing the cross, Jesus and three women.
Knitter Betty Marshall of Port Angeles said the sacredness of the subject was felt by all the knitters.
“It really does inform how you place the yarn,” she said.
• The ninth station, “Jesus falls the third time,” by Pat Milliren of Port Angeles, is the most abstract of the 14, with an embroidered spiral on wool, dotted with crosses, leaving interpretation open to the viewer.
• The 10th station, “Jesus is stripped of his garments,” by Denise Erickson, is a stark image of a cross rendered in varnished strips of red silk, with the words from Matthew 27:27-31 in white script around the edges.
• The 11th station, “Jesus is nailed to the cross,” was created by Gretchen Van Blair of Port Angeles.
Because of the subject matter, it’s one of the most intense of the pieces, with a chaotic and colorful background framing a stark wooden cross, and Jesus as a wrapped wire figure nailed to the cross.
Van Blair worked on the piece at night, and found it to be a very personal experience, one she almost didn’t do.
“I felt a spiritual impulse to say yes,” she said.
She waited until almost all the stations were spoken for, she said; no one seemed to want to take on the most moving of them all.
“It was a privilege to be offered this opportunity. I didn’t want to miss the bus,” she said.
She couldn’t bring herself to do the actual nailing, and enlisted her husband, Brennan, a carpenter, to complete the piece.
• The 12th station, “Jesus dies on the cross,” created by Mary Reynolds of Port Angeles, is in a circular, mandala form, with Jesus on the cross in the center and the last words of Jesus, from the four Gospels, written around the edge.
• The 13th station, “The body of Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother,” was rendered by Susanne McCoy of Port Angeles.
The most famous image of this moment is Michelangelo’s “Peita,” done in marble.
A fiber artist, McCoy said she knew she could never match that image, so she found a photo of the work from another angle, and stitched it on embossed, painted silk.
Rows of buttons frame the work, a tribute McCoy said to Christ’s presence in her daily life.
• The final image, “Jesus is laid in the tomb,” done by Jim O’Rourke of Port Angeles, is a classic icon, with the images in gold halos.
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Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.
