THE GLOBE
PO BOX 5079 (51102)
1825 JACKSON ST.
SIOUX CITY, IA (51105)
712.255.2550
800.352.9035
WWW.CATHOLICGLOBE.ORG

Labor of Love
Parish artist retouches Stations of the Cross

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

Among the many items renovated at Holy Family Church in Emmetsburg were the Stations of the Cross. Refinished by a parishioner, the project became a labor of love.

Karen Ruddy, Ph.D., a parishioner at Holy Family, called it a spiritual experience.

“You would look right into the face of the Lord. It was awesome,” she said. “I was doing a lot of praying because I knew I was going to have some difficulty matching colors and I didn’t want it to look blotchy. I think the Lord helped me out, I really do.”

When she volunteered to retouch the Stations of the Cross she admitted that it turned out to be a bigger project than what she originally expected it to be.

“I thought I would have nicks and scratches and things like that but the paint was very dry on a lot of figures – if you touched it, it would fall off,” she said. “Then you ended up sanding but thank goodness they were made out of plaster of Paris so you could sand them.”

Ruddy, who holds an undergraduate degree in art education as well as a master’s and doctorate in library and information science, pointed out that she found a plaque on one of the stations that they were made by the Chicago Statuary Co. Through research on the Internet, she believes they were most likely made in the year 1905.

“These stations were beautifully done,” she said of the original work. “They are very intricate. They even have eyelids and fingernails. I have wondered how they ever did that back in those days. I think they must have had to finish them hands on.”

Father Clem Currans, pastor, said the stations look very nice. He noted that someone also made a donation so they were able to add spotlights to the stations.

Ruddy estimated that she spent about 35 hours per week for seven weeks on touching up and painting the stations. All 14 of the stations that are roughly 3- to 4-feet tall by 2-and-one-half to 3-feet wide required some work.

She pointed out that fortunately, the stations had originally been done in some basic colors so she would keep mixing to match the colors as close as possible.

“I keep telling people that if you can’t tell where I’ve been, then I’ve done my job,” said Ruddy, who returned to Emmetsburg in 2004 with her husband Victor after she finished her career as director of a university library in Texas.

This former art teacher noted that she has painted, sculpted and done mosaics and pottery but had never repainted statues.

“Religious images have permeated my work throughout my life, beginning with the love of the Renaissance painting of ‘The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,’ in what is now Holy Family Parish Church,” Ruddy said. “I have loved this image my whole life and it has influenced my early work as well as my current artistic expressions in drawing, venetian smalti glass mosaics and paintings.”

She said she was happy to contribute her artistic skills to benefit the parish. She had heard that one worker from the renovation contractor had estimated that the stations would have cost about $10,000 to refinish.
Ruddy is pleased to have saved the church money.

“I just fell in love with them (the stations),” she said. “I wish I could do it all over again.”

Ruddy is interested in pursuing religious art projects whether it is the reworking of existing statues and paintings or the creation of new works.