#3 LITURGICAL ART

WHERE I WENT AND WHY
This week I  have been spending time at the Heritage at Lowman in White Rock, SC with my 97 year old Mother in Law, Dot.  After a stint in the hospital she is in the rehab unit there and hopes to go home to her cottage across the street soon.  She reminded me of the liturgical art in the Wellness Center and scattered all around the campus by Rev. Dr. Richard Carl Hoefler.  He also designed the stained glass windows in the Chapel there.

Dot Park, My Mother in Law

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO
The Heritage at Lowman is a ministry of the Lutheran Homes of South Carolina and is located at 2101 Dutch Fork Road, White Rock, SC (about 2 hours from Charlotte).  You can arrange a tour of the art work by calling 803 732 8800 or emailing outreach@lowmanhome.org  The main body of work is in the Wellness Center, though other works are scattered throughout the campus.

WHAT I SAW
As an exercise to strengthen his eyes, Dr. Hoefler began tapestry needlework to help him alternate between close and far vision.  A retired professor from The Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, he had authored several books on liturgical design and was the primary designer of Christ Chapel at the Lutheran Seminary in Columbia. He estimated that in the over 50 tapestries he designed and  donated to Lowman Home, there is 12 years of work and 3 million stitches.  

Dr. Hoefler working on a tapestry

An unfinished tapestry that Dr. Hoefler was working on when he died.

The tapestries are all based on Biblical stories with the exception of a portrait of Martin Luther.  A few are based on historical art, but most were designed my Dr. Hoefler.  He would sketch a design and then make a pen and ink "cartoon" that he had transferred to 12 point mesh.  His selection of colored yarn, he described as "painting with yarn."  His use of metallic yarns, and detailed stitching  produced a varied body of work.  Though I had seen some of the tapestries before, I was impressed with the variation in styles from classical to modern.  Several appear as if stained glass windows.

Martin Luther
I love the firey castle and roots of faith!

The firey descending dove lights the 12 candles
representing the disciples around Jesus' manger

Dr. Hoefler also designed the chapel, and put his personal touch on the stained glass windows.  The center cross is beautiful, but did not photograph well. (See the top photos)

WHAT I LIKED ... OR NOT...
While all of the tapestries are impressive two really "spoke" to me:  Peace Be Still depicts Christ calming the waters of the Sea of Galilee.  The movement of the water and the expressions of the disciples faces are amazing to me.

Structure of Salvation was in the hall in my Mother in Law's building.  I liked it because its almost cubist forms were so different from the other works.  Dr. Hoefler's explanation makes his design even more impressive:

"At the bottom of this design is a blue figure which represents human reason.  The figure in blue points to the stairway ascending to heaven.  Human reason concludes that this is the way to salvation.  According to human reason, the structure of salvation is the way of moral striving and growth.  Each day we must try to be a better person than we were yesterday. ...A beam of light from the heavens strikes across the design.  This is God's "No" to our human reason and moral efforts. ... We are saved by grace, not good works. ... In the center of the tapestry, Christ hangs on the cross and his blood flows forth to embrace helpless humanity.  This is the true structure of our salvation.  We do not climb up the ladder to God.  Rather, God comes down the ladder to us by the way of the cross. ... In the design of the tapestry, the cross becomes part of the beams that form the structure of the church because salvation comes to us by means of the church - not the church as a building."

WHAT I LEARNED...
This was my 3rd or 4th time viewing the tapestries.  This time I was able to carry around his description with the liturgical and Biblical background.  This made for a richer experience.

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE?...
Absolutely.  Though most of the art in my house is contemporary, the message of these tapestries are transcendent and the art amazing.

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE "BOUGHT" IT...

Well, not exactly... this piece is actually my own creation.  As you can see I am NOT even remotely as talented as Dr. Hoefler.  I worked on this piece one summer at our lake house when the children were small.  In true Southern Dame manner, David's grandmother tried in vain to figure out how we might be "kin".  Two cousins, one on each side did family trees and it became easy to cross reference them.  And sure enough about 4 generations back, our family trees do cross by marriage!  After completing this, I swore I'd never do backstitch again!!  


GO TO "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE WHERE ELSE I'VE BEEN!