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Installing the Sculpture
Sitting the sculpture was
a potentially complicated decision, since the 2005
Addition at Duke Divinity School includes not only a new
chapel, new classrooms, office spaces, a book story, and
a refectory, but also the Duke Institute for Care at the
End of Life, and the Center for Reconciliation. However,
the Arts Committee wanted the sculpture placed outside,
which immediately narrowed the choices. They ultimately
decided to position the sculpture on a second-floor
outdoor terrace. The space is adjacent to the new
refectory and bookstore; it is visible from several
classrooms as well as from a glass-paned hallway running
the length of the terrace; students can use the terrace
to relax at lunch or between classes; and the school
also holds receptions there.
This placement would set
the sculpture at the center of many of the Divinity
School’s activities. However, there was still the
question of the exact spot on the terrace where the
sculpture should be placed. In making this decision, we
were working without the sculpture, which was still in
fabrication at the foundry. Therefore, we positioned
staff members – standing in for the sculpture – in
various spots on the terrace while others checked the
lines of sight from a number of angles. Once the spot
was determined, I was able to design the base and begin
to consider how the sculpture should be oriented on the
base.
This final decision was
in some ways the most complex of all. The sculpture,
with three figures interacting, presents many
interesting points of view. We needed to anticipate from
which places most people would view the sculpture and
then decide which views we would want them to see. I
tried to work this out in my studio, positioning the
small sketch on top of plans for the terrace and
surrounding buildings, but it was ultimately clear that
the final decision would have to wait for the actual
installation.
Fortunately, the foundry
in preparing the sculpture for transport from Baltimore
to Durham had bolted the bronze feet to a slab of 1 3/4”
plywood. For the installation, I brought along a metal
“lazy Susan” turntable on the off chance we could set it
under the plywood and that it would support the weight
(almost 300 pounds) of the sculpture. Amazingly, it
worked – we were able to turn the sculpture slowly and
assess each position.
Pictures taken at the
installation show this final consultation – members of
the Arts Committee; Divinity School staff, faculty, and
students; workers from the granite company; and the Duke
University architect are standing around watching as the
sculpture is turned. Afterwards, all that remained was
to drill the holes for bolting the sculpture to the base
and to do a final touchup on the wax. It is pleasing to
me to think that this commission ended, as it began, as
a collaborative effort.
Dedication
The
sculpture titled Reconciliation was dedicated in
August 2005 at the
Opening Convocation
of the 2005/06 academic year. Dean Jones preached the
opening sermon of the year, taking Luke 15 as his text
and speaking about the sculpture as well. This was the
first of a series of 14 sermons – one preached on the
text connected with each of the new works of art. My
view is that this preaching series was an inspired way
to sum up the work that went into the art commissions.
Moreover, the sermons served as a means to explain the
new art in the common “language” of the
Duke Divinity School
community.
View
The Parable
of the Prodigal Son told in bronze |
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Margaret Adams Parker,
known to her friends as Peggy, works as a sculptor and a
printmaker. She is also an adjunct instructor at
Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA, where
she teaches about the connections between religion and
the visual arts. She writes and lectures widely on religion and the visual arts.
Parker’s sculpture of Mary has been installed at
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, VA; in the
chapel at the Cathedral College at Washington’s National
Cathedral; at St. John’s, West Hartford, CT; at The
Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San
Francisco, CA; and at Iglesia Santa Maria in Arlington,
VA. The full-scale model for the sculpture is in the
library at VTS.
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She created twenty woodcuts to accompany a new
translation by Ellen F. Davis of the Book of Ruth:
Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth through Image and
Text (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville,
2003.) The Library of Congress purchased Women, a
set of 15 woodcuts. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees reproduced Parker’s 2-color
woodcut, African Exodus, as the frontispiece to
Refugee Children, Volume 23 (Number 2, 2004) of
Refugee Survey Quarterly, published by Oxford
University Press. She has also just completed a 10-year
project: a set of woodcuts of the Stations of the
Cross.
Margaret Adams Parker
Email:
pparker@vts.edu
Web site:
www.margaretadamsparker.com
Parish: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church - Arlington, VA |
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