Many of our readers are not only interested in finalized works of liturgical art, they are also interested in the process and craftsmanship that goes into their creation. Some of this is mere curiosity of course -- a perfectly laudable motive in this instance -- and for others it is out of a desire to learn the tools of the trade, particularly where they might be budding liturgical artists themselves. To that end, I thought it might be a nice change of pace to occasionally do a "behind the scenes" post where our focus is either on showing a work in progress from conception to completion, or to simply give some behind the scenes looks that show some of our liturgical artists and studios in action.
What spawned this idea in part was that I was recently browsing through some of the work of Mussner G. Vincenzo Ars Sacra and I saw some photos there which really show this sort of progression in action. The carving in question is straightforward enough, a hand shown in blessing, but what you will see is how it moves from the most rudimentary of forms into something extraordinarily refined:
Here are some other looks as the studio in action, some contemporary and some historical:
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| Applying gold leaf decoration to a nearly completed statue |
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| Their workshop in 1971 |
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| The date is unknown to me, but it looks to be in the earlier 20th century |
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| Their workshop, present day |
Of course, it can be so terribly easy to forget that it all starts here in the humblest of beginnings for the woodcarver:
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| Some tools of their trade |
Please support liturgical artists such as these who utilize traditional methods and materials in the production of high quality liturgical art.
