"Behold the wood of the cross"

"Behold the wood of the cross"

My crosses and crucifixes (thus far--and except for the one formed of four leaf shapes) were carved with a wood grain texture. Since the time when real people were tortuously executed on real wooden crosses, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ  created the major turning point in cosmic history, the symbol of the cross has become encrusted with political, national, and destructive religious agendas. When I see certain stylized, not very wooden looking cross shapes, I can't help associating them with unholy historical movements that were opposed to the actual meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

I don't have a problem with someone wearing a cross style that may have been associated with historical movements, but as an artist, I bring my own sensitivities to my work, so I veer away from certain stylizations. Sometimes I sketch design ideas that end up looking too much like a cross used by some king or other, so I don't go any farther with them.

In all my cross designs, whether wood-like or not, I hope to communicate the love of God expressed in the humility of Jesus and what an old translation of the Bible calls "tender mercies."

The cross pictured is carved out of three kinds of jeweler's wax. It will be available in a couple months. It still needs to go through the reproduction process to be cast in silver.

 

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