Liturgical Furniture
As with the turn toward Art Furniture, Liturgical Furniture, as a marketable art form, is a new direction for me even though I've worked with faith content and symbolism in my sculpture throughout my career. Following are progressive images of a lectern (to be completed, March 29, 2002) and baptismal (to be completed in 2003) for the First United Methodist Church of Marysville, Ohio.
February 10: "Vine Lectern", 2002; (Proposal Sketch), laminated and carved Birch and Soft Maple, approximately 45 inches tall, Copyright 2002, James Mellick
The "trunk" and "roots" are laminated and carved in Birch and the top and "leaves" are carved in Soft Maple. The dove is carved in Birch with a white stain. The lamp has been eliminated. As with my sculpture, I begin the design process with a small sketch which serves as the idea proposal. This sketch is developed into a full-scale working drawing where I work out an engineering plan. I leave little to chance in the preliminary design stage of the process. This is where I figure out the dimensions and patterns for the individual pieces of wood to be laminated. I often cut up the full-scale working drawing, using portions of the drawing as templates for individual parts of the construction.
"Vine Lectern" progress as of February 26. Top, trunk and base are laminated, carved and rough sanded. This is a preliminary alignment of the three parts created separately. The leaves and dove have yet to be created and fitted to the trunk.
"Vine Lectern" progress as of March 8. Trunk and "root" base are ready for joining. Leaves are shaped and temporarily fitted. Dove is ready for painting. The third leaf near base has been eliminated because it hid the lines of the trunk and made the work too busy. A smooth transition between the trunk and the top has yet to be made. Tape protects the sharp circumference edge at the bottom of the trunk until it is joined to the base.
Detail of dove on leaf, March 8, 2002
March 9: Last night I glued the lectern top to the trunk. Today I'm shaping the smooth transition between trunk top and underside of lectern table. The secret to woodworking is planning several steps ahead. This means not permanently joining parts together too soon. For the purpose of handling and least damage to the work in progress, it is best to shape and sand major parts of the work separately and then assemble the parts and sand the joints in a planned sequence. The most fragile parts of this sculpted furniture are the dove and leaves. These will be attached in the final stage prior to sealing the wood.
March 10: The fine sanded underside of the lectern top
March 10: The trunk of the lectern has been glued and pocket screwed to the "root" base. Screw holes will be filled with matching grain plugs and the "weld" will be blended by final sanding.
Living Vine Baptismal, 2006
"Vine Baptismal" (Proposal Sketch for 2003); laminated and carved Birch and Soft Maple, carved pink alabaster bowl; Copyright 2002, James Mellick
