Elisabeth Wright of Alamosa, Colo., recently completed a wood and ceramic mosaic commissioned by Topeka Lutheran Church and School, Topeka, Kan. Wright completed the work under the auspices of the Center for Liturgical Art at Concordia.
The mosaic was the focus of her ecclesiastical art class in her last semester under the supervision of the center's resident artist, Mark Anschutz. The 4 x 4.5 foot piece was made of handcrafted, individually glazed ceramic tiles. The tiles were broken and reassembled with wood to create an image of the Tree of Life from the Bible.
According to Wright, she learned quite a bit while designing the piece and working with others to complete it. "Other students and professors joined me on this project and the collaboration was vital to the completion of the artwork," she said. Wright graduated in May 2007 from Concordia with a B.A. in graphic design and a B.S.Ed. in elementary education.
The Center for Liturgical Art at Concordia encourages and assists the church in its ministry and worship through the visual arts by offering resources, consultations and a variety of ecclesiastical art for worship and ministry. Artists, including Concordia faculty and others from the area, design and execute the commissions. For select projects, like Wright's mosaic, a student participates as an apprentice to the center's master artisans.
