Something wonderful and exciting is coming to St. Paul’s. Starting next month and lasting into February, we will host Icons in Transformation, a major art exhibit of approximately 150 pieces by Ludmila Pawlowska. Ludmila is an artist from Sweden with roots in Ukraine. Her art is inspired by traditional iconography and includes a wide variety of expressions that draw the viewer into a deeper awareness of their own spiritual centeredness. This exhibit will be shown throughout our buildings, including the welcome center, parish hall, guildhall, library, hallways, and nave. It will be a gift to the St. Paul’s congregation and the wider community, and it will require dozens of volunteers to make it happen.
I first heard about Icons in Transformation when the artist and her husband reached out and asked if we would be willing to host the exhibit. Although I was interested, the timing they needed did not fit with our church calendar, so I politely declined. A few months later, a colleague from Little Rock, the Rev. Mary Vano, called me to encourage me to reconsider. Her parish, St. Margaret’s, is currently hosting the exhibit, and she told me how important and life-giving it has been for her community. Based on her testimony and after some help negotiating some changes to the proposed schedule, I agreed that we would host.
Every piece of art in the exhibit is for sale, and proceeds benefit refugees in or from Ukraine. Our congregation will be given 30% of the proceeds from the sale of the art, and our vestry will decide how it wants to use or donate the funds that we receive. Also, if you want to help sponsor the exhibit—whether as an individual or through your business or employer—please let me know. We plan to include the names and logos of sponsors in the exhibit literature.
Here is what we need to pull this off.
The exhibit will arrive at St. Paul’s on the afternoon of December 7 on a tractor-trailer. That day, we will need a forklift and pallet jack to unload 58 crates containing the art. We will need a dozen volunteers to help unload the truck, including someone who knows how to operate a forklift. To sign up to help out with this or any volunteer opportunity, click here: https://tinyurl.com/stpaulsfay-icons.
We will need to store the crates in a storage container on the property until the exhibit has been installed. After that, we may be able to relocate the crates to a storage facility nearby, or we may need to leave the storage container at the church. If you have connections and could help with that, please indicate that on the volunteer sign up.
Ludmila and her husband Jan will oversee the installation of the exhibit from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. every day starting on December 11. They will remain with us until December 23. Although they could stay in a hotel or Airbnb, it would be nice if a parishioner or friend of St. Paul’s would donate space in their home or guest accommodations. They intend to walk to and from the church each day, so having a home nearby would be ideal. Also, while they are here, Ludmila and Jan will need occasional transportation around town to run errands. If you are willing to share your home with the artist or willing to help provide transportation while they are here, please sign up.
During the first few days of the installation, we will need four or five volunteers on site throughout the day to help the artist move and hang the art throughout the buildings. After the initial push, we need one or two on site throughout the day to help out. We have divided those days into shifts, and I hope you will sign up to help out.
The exhibit will be open to the public at set times during the week. Whenever the exhibit is open, we need volunteer docents to greet guests and orient them to the artwork. We anticipate needing approximately 30 docents. On Saturday, December 19, the artist will lead an in-depth exploration of the art both as a training for volunteer docents and for anyone else who wants to learn more about the art. Anyone is welcome to come to the training. If you would like to serve as a docent, please sign up. We will sort out the schedule for docents later on.
The public opening of the exhibit will be on the evening of December 21. I hope you will make plans to attend. This will be a festive occasion and will be our best chance to experience this exhibit together. We will ask St. Spat’s to help cater the event, and we expect it to be a big deal for the whole community.
Deinstallation will take place the week of February 14. Unlike the installation, that process only takes a few days. When we get closer to the time for deinstallation, we will ask for volunteers, including forklift driver.
Before I went to St. Margaret’s to see the exhibit, I imagined that it would be large and all-encompassing. Still, I underestimated its significance. We will have pieces of art—large and small, hanging and free-standing, textured and two-dimensional—in almost every part of the church that we regularly use. This will change how we experience worship, meals, classes, and meetings.
I encourage group leaders to think about ways that you can interact with the art while it is here. I anticipate that centering prayer will feel different when surrounded by icon-inspired art. I know that listening to a sermon will be different when the walls are adorned with colorful and evocative paintings. I am sure that Christmas Eve will feel a little strange to us when we gather alongside the artwork, but I also believe that the experience will be richer because of it.
Please, please sign up to help out in as many ways as you can. One of the greatest parts of this endeavor is how many of us it will require to make it happen. This will be a full-parish effort, and we will be the better for it. Make plans to come and see the exhibit several times while it is here. Encourage friends or out-of-town company to come and experience it. Mary Vano admitted that this is really hard work and that it will be a stretch for any congregation to pull it off, but she also acknowledged how sad her congregation will be to see it go. I look forward to sharing both of those with you in the months ahead.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
