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Santa Cruz Sentinel -- March 11, 2006
Eliza Linley's silk painting with photo montage depicts her
interpretation of one of the Stations of the Cross in the
sanctuary at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Capitola.
The images Linley has chosen, news photographs most Americans
are familiar with, are scenes of Jesus' crucifixion as they
can be seen in today's world.STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR TODAY
BY CODY KRAATZ
SENTINEL CORRESPONDENTThe smell of century-old wood and incense and the sound of echoing footsteps are all that remain in the moments after the door clicks closed.
Dim light sifts through the stained glass windows at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Capitola - until liturgical artist the Rev. Eliza Linley flips on the overhead light. It is Lent, and her Stations of the Cross hang between the stained-glass windows.
At first glance, it's noticeable that there are no crosses or Christ images in these biblical scenes of Jesus' crucifixion. But they present images as chilling as the air in the cool church interior.
It becomes clear that the images Linley has chosen, news photographs most Americans are familiar with, are scenes of Jesus' crucifixion as they can be seen in today's world.
"You don't have to be religious to recognize suffering and feel compassion," Linley says. St. John's believes "the church is best served by ministering to people around us, which means that we understand the gospel in a social context."
"If the church can't speak to the world outside, it's not doing its job," Linley insists.
Lent is the 40-day period in the calendar of most Christian churches leading up to Easter Sunday. Linley explains that it is traditionally a time to reflect on mistakes and self-improvement.
"But you can't see clearly if you feel guilty," explains Linley, who was ordained in 1990. For her, Lent is a time to recognize and change behaviors, but also a time for self-forgiveness. "We have to have compassion for ourselves. It's about letting up on ourselves, and then looking at the world with compassion."
Tall and thin with short curled hair, Linley speaks as smoothly and evenly as she paints. Standing beside her silk paintings, Linley is poised.
But earlier, sipping a latte in a Santa Cruz coffee shop, she says she worries that her words will not come out the way she means them. So Linley, who splits her time between St. John's and teaching at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, speaks carefully and deliberately.
"St. John's is an inclusive community," she says to introduce their system of beliefs. "We have to respect the point of view of others, because the world is made up of people like us and not like us."
The 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church, which Linley describes as the "middle way" between Protestantism and Catholicism, struggles with many contemporary questions of social justice, including sexuality.
Having split from the Church of England after the American Revolution, Episcopalian similarities to the Catholic Church are evident in identical sacraments and the consecration of the Eucharist. These similarities remain from the Church of England's own roots in Roman Catholicism.
But the Episcopal Church allows priests to marry, ordains women as priests and bishops and there are a number of points of "theological difference," Linley says cautiously.
In 2003, at the general convention, church leaders "confirmed a gay man in a committed relationship" as bishop of New Hampshire, Linley says.
"A lot of Anglican churches in the Southern Hemisphere said they would not be in communion with a church that did that," she says.
Then she shifts to softer topics.
Social Justice On Silk
Photo by Shmuel Thaler/ Sentinal
Eliza Linley uses modern cultural iconography, such as this photograph
from Tiananmen Square, in this silk painting/photo montage canvas
of the Stations of the Cross.Linley's work in painted silk, displayed in churches around the country, goes beyond banners for churches. She also makes wearable art, including vestments for priests and the more traditional form of silk painting she began with - scarves.
"Silk is a very lyrical medium, used to make scarves usually, and very beautiful, soft creations," Linley says. "I wanted to pair a lyrical medium with these news photos. Many of us have them imprinted on our brains, and I put the two together to push each other toward the edge."
She says she wants the viewer to have a different perspective on these photographic images, which are most often presented through the mainstream media. In a different context and a different medium, she hopes viewers will see these images with "soft eyes" and compassion.
Generally, there are 14 Stations of the Cross, images that represent incidents and scenes in the Crucifixion, which is also called the Passion. Linley has only finished eight Stations, the ones that are in the Bible, she said. Some churches display all 14 Stations all the time, while others, like St. John's, display them only during Lent.
The images appear carved in wood or stone, as paintings and in many other forms. The purpose of the Stations is for worshippers to follow in Jesus' footsteps and to meditate on each of the scenes, often with the help of accompanying prayers or guidance by a sermon.
In the first Station, contemporary concerns about the death penalty and the equality of American justice mesh with Jesus' death sentence. Linley's caption asks "Did Jesus receive equal justice? Of those we condemn to death, how many do?"
The young man who stood in front of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square represents Jesus taking up his cross. "This young man took up the Cross for 1.3 billion people," reads the caption.
Linley used photos of a hooded, tortured prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq not only to represent Jesus stripped of his garments, but also to indicate a fall from grace and emphasize the dangers of corruption in positions of power.
To commemorate the loss of innocence, "our own national crucifixion," Linley mounted a photo of the shooting of students at Kent State in 1973 against a background resembling the American flag.
Really a patchwork of techniques, Linley, who earned an art degree at Smith College in Massachusetts, begins with silk stretched on a frame. She uses wax batik and a liquid called "Resist" if she wants to keep colors separate, because otherwise the dye blends with neighboring colors.
Once all the paint is on the silk, she steams the fabric. Finally, she paints words and mounts the photos. The secret to the photos is a bubble jet printer, she says as a smile spreads across her lips.
She prints out the photos, laminates them and mounts them with a fusible web that melts under an iron. "I don't know anyone else who uses silk painting in this way," Linley says. She now teaches the process to future ministers in workshops at the Graduate Theological Union.
Visual Preaching
Through what she describes as "visual preaching," Linley campaigns to bring more visual arts into the seminary. "It's a powerful theological tool of communication," she explains, adding that for many students, "it's also sort of dessert after the heavy theology."
Dedicated as St. John's home in 1898, the building where Linley's Stations of the Cross now hang may soon be turned to other purposes. The church is up for sale, says Linley. "We have too many people. We don't fit."
No other church that could afford to buy it would fit either, so it may be converted to a home. St. John's is at 216 Oakland Ave. in Capitola.
You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/March/11/style/stories/01style.htmCopyright © Santa Cruz Sentinel.
