ART VENUE

Feast for the Eyes
Nourish the Spirit

Exploring Art at the
Cathedral Church of Saint Paul

In 1971, on the spot where Macy’s stands today as part of the Burlington Square Mall, an arsonist burnt down St. Paul’s Episcopal church. The diocese swapped that land--destined for a different sort of worship--for its present day location. Standing on the corner of Cherry and Battery Streets, catty-corner from Battery Park, the cast concrete building stands solidly in contrast to the glassy-brick edifice of the million-dollar condo building that has sprung up just to the south. If location is everything, a pew at St. Paul’s could put you into foreclosure. The onlooker looks west over the lake sprawling to the right and left of the altar through windows spanning the thirty-plus foot distance from floor to ceiling. First Friday Art Walkers are invited to view the art displayed here this May.

One of five nationwide chapters of the Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA), St. Paul’s inaugurated its new membership with a call for entries this past April, with the works to stand through the end of May. St. Paul’s will display their exhibit on the west-facing balcony and on the walls vaulting alongside it as they wrap around to the stairway and northern face of the balcony. Open space and natural light abound. While the contributing artists are members of the Episcopalian Diocese, there will be no Inquisitorial faith-check at the door. Ernie Hathaway, member of the Cathedral Arts program which has brought concerts and myriad artistic outlets to congregants, thinks ECVA will be crucial in reaching out to the community. “It’s tough enough doing an art show, but when you throw the word ‘church’ in there” encouraging participation is difficult, says Ernie. ECVA’s goal is to create a bridge between the artistic and spiritual communities which live shoulder-to-shoulder in downtown Burlington.

Judith McManis, a pivotal part of bringing the visual arts program to the church, says that much of the art to be displayed feature topics of healing: spiritual, physical, familial--even political. A strong vein of protest art will be in evidence as well; the secular Left may hate the war in Iraq, but Christian churches are, after all, inspired by the original war protester. Just as there is tension nationwide over our military’s presence in present-day Babylon, so Judith says there is a tension between an institutional and an inclusional view of religion AND art. She saw no problem with the Chris Ofili’s elephant-dung Virgin Mary displayed in New York City years ago. Art that exposes the tension between what is accepted and what is controversial is as old as Bernini and Michelangelo; how could an artist depict the Archangel of God as a realistically-depicted naked man? From St. Peter’s Square to Cosimo Cavallaro’s chocolate cruxifiction, My Sweet Lord, is not perhaps as great a leap as some may think.

“We have an interesting tension that always exists” between what is and is not “worthy” of showing in a church, McManis says. St. Paul’s Cathedral Church, looking out over the lake and over its shoulder at downtown Burlington, is seeking to illuminate that tension with its art gallery-space. First Friday Art Walkers will have the opportunity to see and buy art in this spectacular space dedicated to peace, tolerance, and love. Hosts such as Ernie and Judith don’t necessarily want to alter your point of view--just expand it.

LEE FREEMAN

The Cathedral is located at the
corner of Pearl and Battery Streets.

 

Art Map Burlington is a publication of Kasini House, Inc. info@kasinihouse.com
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