Public Art - Seattle University

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=131 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="107" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="HSIDES" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="99"><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="J. Michael Walker"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="99"><div> <A HREF="tableofcontentsforjmichaelwalkerwebsite.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Table of Contents and Index"><U><B>Index</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="99"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="27" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="99" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 31 WIDTH="99"><div> <A HREF="drawings.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drawings by J Michael Walker"><U><B>Drawings</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 31 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Social Justice"><U><B>Social Justice</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="900" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2445 ><NOBR><div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="828" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 317 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4c509390.jpg" border=0 width="777" height="313" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 43 ><NOBR><div> Public Art - Seattle University</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 53 WIDTH="822"><div> Seven Social Sacraments</div> <div> (A Commission for Seattle University)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 14 WIDTH="822"><div> <IMG SRC="2cfbc020.png" border=0 width="444" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="822"><div> Oversize Color Pencil Drawing by J. Michael Walker</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="858" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 427 WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="427" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4c62ba60.jpg" border=0 width="555" height="422" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="427" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="9" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="244"><bR> <div> In 2003 I received a marvelous, challenging, and ultimately most fulfilling commission from Seattle University, to create a major piece for the lobby of the new Student Union building.</div> <bR> <div> The original impetus for this commission was a desire on the part of alumni to commemorate a cherished mentor, Father Joe McGuire, who had recently passed away from cancer.</div> <bR> <div> While the expectation was that an artist would create a sculpted bust of "Father Joe" (as he was known to one and all), or a painted portrait focused on the priest, I had a sixth sense about this opportunity from the very beginning.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="427" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 434 WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="434" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="4c917a20.jpg" border=0 width="535" height="418" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="434" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="9" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="244"><bR> <div> Although I never henjoyed the gift of meeting Father Joe, I suspected he would not wish to be the focus of the commissioned artwork; additionally, it occurred to me that, although the alumni had known him well, none of the current or future students would.</div> <bR> <div> I wanted, instead, to focus on communicating with the students - this was, after all, a piece for the Student Union.</div> <bR> <div> In conversations with the students I learned that they had a strong social consciousness and commitment: volunteering in food banks, soup kitchens, health clinics, and on goodwill projects around the globe.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="434" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 468 WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="468" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="4c717c20.jpg" border=0 width="535" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="468" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="9" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="244"><bR> <div> Therefore, the idea I came up with was to focus on the Church's seven sacraments - Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Consolation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and the Eucharist - but to, in essence, secularize them, by showing how they can be / are enacted in our everyday interactions with one another.</div> <bR> <div> Remarkably, in validation of the openness of Seattle University's religious community - and, I felt, through the invisible persuasion of Father Joe's spirit - I was given free reign to explore this unexpected approach.</div> <bR> <div> It is also to the credit of Mary Romer, then head of Campus Ministry, who shielded me from criticism and inquiries as I worked in Los Angeles, a thousand miles away, for six months on this wholly unexpected piece.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="468" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 425 WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="425" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="4ca21990.jpg" border=0 width="545" height="409" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="425" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="9" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="244"><bR> <div> From the beginning I also intuited that the face of the Christ figure, central to the Eucharist panel and its meaning, should be someone from the First Peoples of Seattle - the Coast Salish peoples of Washington State.</div> <bR> <div> I had the great good fortune and honor to meet and make friends with one of their elders, Ray Williams, who agreed to pose for me.</div> <bR> <div> I also enclosed the piece within a Coast Salish blanket design, thus showing the Native Peoples as protectors of this land and all upon it.</div> <bR> <div> The faces are of Seattle University students; Father Joe appears at bottom center, leading us in song (He was a famed Irish tenor).</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="425" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 150 WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="565"><div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="363" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 44 WIDTH="349"><div> The  Seven  Social  Sacraments  of  Seattle</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 57 ><NOBR><div> by J Michael Walker, 2003</div> <div> Color pencil on watercolor paper, 80" high x 110" wide</div> <div> Collection, Seattle University</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="9" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="244"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="244" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="3" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 24 WIDTH="886"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="886" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>