GETTING AWAY

Church Art
By Sam Lowe

When the discussion turns to hidden art treasures, it’s usually about ancient works gathering dust in musty storage rooms at museums or marble sculptures secreted away in unfamiliar places where nobody ever goes. But there are others, and many of them are almost in plain sight and easily accessible to those who go looking for such things.

They include statues, paintings and architecture, all lumped together under the heading of church art. They are found in mighty cathedrals and humble mission churches, waiting there to be viewed by the faithful, photographed by the tourist and studied by the professional.

The splendor of such holy places as San Xavier del Bac near Tucson and St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix are well-documented, but there are also treasures on the back roads and byways of Arizona, often in little mission churches that serve as galleries to house the works of lesser-known artists. One of them is the church at St. Peter’s Mission School near Bapchule on the Gila River Indian Reservation south of Phoenix.

The small structure is simple and white on the exterior, but the interior displays paintings by Jimmy Stevens, an Apache who moved to the reservation after he married a woman from there. After settling at Bapchule, he received permission to paint murals inside six mission churches. St. Peter’s is his finest work.

Stevens placed two large murals in the sanctuary. One depicts Jesus Christ telling St. Peter to “feed my flock.” In the other, St. Peter struggles in a raging sea while Christ holds out a symbolic hand of salvation. They each measure about four feet by six feet and the detail is excellent, considering that Stevens had no formal training as an artist. Visitors are welcomed into the church but are asked to check in at the mission office before entering.

In Solomon, a small community east of Safford on U.S. 70, the windows in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church are exceptional examples of stained glass craftsmanship. The church was erected in 1878, then rebuilt in 1911 after a fire. The windows, leaded gothic stained-glass representations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and several saints, were designed and created at the Trappist monastery in Conyers, Georgia.

About three miles north and east of Solomon, just off U.S. 70, the Mission San Jose features a splendid collection of religious art, including some 18th century Spanish Colonial works from the Santa Fe School by Vivianne Duran Prelo, a noted New Mexico artist. A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was made in Rome; a statue of St. Isadore, patron saint of farmers, was made in Portugal; and the figure of an infant Jesus was made in Spain. But the most interesting work is the crucifix that hangs above the small altar. It is a relief masterfully carved into two wooden planks by artisans at Holy Trinity Monastery at St. David near Benson.

The works of Yavapai Apache artist David Sine adorn the walls of St. Catherine’s Mission Church at Topawa, on the Tohono O’odham Reservation south of Sells. The most striking are his versions of the Stations of the Cross, which could easily be construed as masterpieces of native art.

Framed in saguaro ribs, they are colorful panels that trace the final hours of Christ. Using only basic colors and tools, Sine captured anguish, sorrow and despair in each of the faces he depicted, and each of the faces is a haunting image that stays with the viewer long after leaving the church.

Art lovers who like something on a larger scale will find it at Hereford, a small community east of Sierra Vista. There, on a hillside, a 30-foot statue of the Blessed Virgin looks down over the surrounding landscape at Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine. Although quite large, the statue is dwarfed by the 75-foot Celtic cross that stands directly adjacent. The shrine, built by Gerry and Pat Chouinard, is also the site of a small chapel adorned with a mural that shows an open-armed Christ welcoming visitors.
St. Andrew the Apostle in nearby Sierra Vista is not only an example of architectural splendor, it is also a veritable treasure trove of things artistic. The modern-day mission style church, which opened in 2007, serves military personnel at Fort Huachuca.

Because the servicemen and women come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, the church features niches dedicated to religious icons from a variety of nations. There is, for example, a statue of St. Mary Faustina Kowalska in the Polish section, and one of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first canonized Filipino saint, in the Philippines niche.

Koreans pay tribute before a statue of Andrew Kim, a martyred priest; those with French backgrounds honor a figure representing St. Vincent de Paul. Large stained glass windows around the church’s interior commemorate scenes from the life of Christ. In the adjoining chapel a smaller stained glass creation honors members of the military who have received the Purple Heart, while a statue of an angel pays homage to the Army Signal Corps. And some of the vestments worn by the priests are magnificent hand woven tapestries that date back more than 200 years. The church is at 800 Taylor Dr. NW.

In Tucson, the small chapel at the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun in Tucson offers visitors a quiet place where they can reflect about life while viewing original art by the late Ted DeGrazia. His stylized renderings of Native Americans are still very popular and big sellers in the gallery, and some adorn the chapel walls. Most of them depict children and women performing ordinary tasks. DeGrazia built the chapel in 1980 and dedicated it to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s at 6300 N. Swan Rd. in northeast Tucson.

Southeastern Arizona is also home to St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery, and a visit there is like a journey into several different worlds. In an oasis east of Florence, the monks who live there built two churches and five chapels, each of them in a different architectural design. One chapel resembles a Swiss chalet, another looks like it came from north Africa. Their latest venture has a Greek design and sits on a hilltop.

The walls of each church and chapel are covered with religious icons, most of them representations of the Virgin Mary, saints and other holy people. Beautiful silver and crystal chandeliers hang in profusion from the ceilings, and huge silver candelabra stand like guardians on the floors.

The grounds are open to visitors but there is a dress code that requires long-sleeved shirts on everyone, long pants on men and long skirts on women, and no sandals or open-toed shoes. A limited supply of proper attire for improperly clad visitors is available at no cost in the bookstore.

To reach the monastery, take Paisano Road east off Route 79 about 12 miles south of Florence. Stay on the paved road that leads directly to the monastery.

Both Native American and Roman Catholic art have been integrated into the design of Our Lady of Fatima Church at Chinle on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The building is a simple octagon built to resemble a Navajo hogan. In keeping with Navajo ceremonial patterns, the baptismal font is in the center of the church, directly below a sky hole in the ceiling.

The glass panels in the front doors has been etched with yeis, Navajo spiritual figures who act as protectors. Statues of Navajo holy people line the perimeter of the church, standing right next to the Catholic Stations of the Cross.

Perhaps the most spectacular example of Arizona church art is in the Snowflake Arizona Temple, the state’s second Mormon temple, located outside of Snowflake. From an architectural standpoint, the building itself is a classic work of art, described by some critics as “an elegant granite wedding cake high on a sandstone hill.” Non-members are not allowed to enter the temple proper, but they can go into the lobby and look at the stained glass masterpiece that serves as a back wall.

The brilliantly colored mural was once the dominant feature in a Catholic convent in Boston. After the convent was torn down, the mural wound up in a Boston auction house, then was purchased by a Salt Lake City antique store owner, who donated it to the temple. The estimated value is around $100,000. The three panels show Christ instructing children.

There are no admission fees to any of the churches, either large or small, but visitors should be aware that these are places of worship and should be treated with proper respect. Also, it’s not necessary to pray while viewing the works but, considering the shape the world is in, it probably wouldn’t hurt.

Photos by Sam Lowe