This spring and summer the Center for Liturgical Art at Concordia took on a project of more than a dozen pieces for Christ Lutheran Church in Zionsville, Ind. Theme-wise, it all started with the cross.
"My approach was to first design the central cross inasmuch as the message of the cross is the focal doctrine of the Christian church," said William Wolfram, professor emeritus of art. "The cross became the source of shapes, colors and textures for the other liturgical art forms, down to the details of the flower stands."
Wolfram designed the altar, ambo, baptismal base, flower stands and multiple crosses. He was joined on the project by fellow Concordia faculty members, area artists and students.
Thomas Mackie, a pastor and furniture fabricator from Shelton, Neb., built the pieces that Wolfram designed out of maple. Jon Conklin, a metalwork artist from Kansas City, Kan., fabricated the bowl of the baptismal from bronze.
Wolfram also designed and fabricated a series of inlayed mosaics for the center panel of the altar. Made of opaque, colored glass from Italy, the mosaics reflect the seasons of the church year through their shapes and colors.
Two large stained glass windows, 10 feet across each, were the product of Mark Anschutz, artist in residence of the center. With their placement on either side of the main cross at the front the sanctuary, Anschutz focused the design of the right window on images representing God from the Old Testament and the left window represents the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
"Combined with the cross in the center, you have a visual progression of the trinity," said Anschutz. "The rainbow in the right window reminds us of God's preservation of Noah after the flood and the stars remind us of God's blessing to Abraham. The flames of the left window are a bold visual of the Holy Spirit."
Amy Smith, a ceramic artist in Lincoln, worked with the center as the designer and sculptor of the communion ware for the church.
Brock Shaw, outreach and education coordinator for the center, traveled to Indiana in early August to deliver the pieces and install the windows.
"It is fun to see a project go from drawings to the final install," said Shaw. "Looking at the windows on the ground in the workshop does not do them justice once you see how beautiful they are in their designed environment, with light flowing through them."