On Oct. 2, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston will celebrate the anniversary of its reopening with an event unveiling new art work and giving thanks for all of the people who gave of their time and resources to make the renovation possible. The event will include the unveiling of dedicatory plaques with the names of many of the people who have given generously to support the cathedral renovation.
Works by two artists will be installed in the cathedral, where they will remain for several months, according to the Very Rev. Jep Streit, Dean.
Local artist Julie Uhler painted 16 portraits of members of the cathedral’s Sunday morning congregation, including Bishop Barbara C. Harris and several members of the MANNA homeless ministry community. Uhler began worshiping at the cathedral last winter, said Streit, and has spent the last six months working on these portraits.
The cathedral will also be unveiling prints of paintings by the abstract expressionist Freidel Dzubas. Dzubas died in 1994, and his friend, sculptor Murray Dewart, worked with the Dzubas estate to arrange permission to create large giclee prints of four of the paintings. Dewart served on the design committee for the cathedral pediment.
“The spiritual element is that Dzubas wished that his paintings might hang in places of worship--he intended a spiritual element to them, and so while he was alive he loaned three paintings to St. Paul’s, Brookline, which hung in their chapel for about a year,” said Streit. “As we looked at them and experienced them, we liked their beauty, their color and their energy, imagining they would make the cathedral interior even more inviting and lovely, and more contemplative, and that these works might draw people inside to experience them and to pray with them.”
The Oct. 2 event will include a reflection from Bishop Alan M. Gates and the chance to speak with him and Streit informally. Guests are invited to take time and space for prayer and reflection, walk the labyrinth, join Streit for an informal tour of the space and partake in refreshments. The event begins at 4 p.m. All are welcome.