West Central Abbey to Host Good Friday, Holy Saturday Exhibit
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By Liam Connors
A Stations of the Cross art exhibit will be held at West Central Abbey this Good Friday and Holy Saturday, featuring the works of 14 different artists from various connected West Central Abbey communities.
The exhibit was put together by West Central Abby’s two leaders, Rev. Katy Shedlock and Rev. Jonathan Myers. The two were looking to do something unique for the holiday and wanted to tap into their community’s creative potential and explore what Easter time can mean to their members in new ways.
Shedlock will have a station that contains a poem she authored about Simon of Cyrene. She has a background in slam poetry and theater and has performed the poem publicly numerous times but wanted to step out of her comfort zone and incorporate a visual element to her piece, she said.
“It was fun to do and I wanted to sort of lead by example because visual art is not something I’m too comfortable with, but I wanted to show that it’s ok to try something new,” she said.
The exhibits will feature poetry, visual art and a combination of the two according.
Both pastors have a background in art: Shedlock with the aforementioned theater experience and a poetry background, while Myers is a visual artist.
“We’ve done a traditional tenebrae service and a reimaging through dramatic performances, but we really had’nt done anything visually related yet,” Shedlock said.
Shedlock said that one of West Central Abbey’s goals is to allow regular and non regular church attendees to get into touch with their spiritual and creative side and have a safe place to express and reach their artistic and spiritual goals.
“One of the things that we are really committed to is the idea that our creativity is part of how we were made in the image of god,” Shedlock said. “God is our creator and we are creative beings;everybody has that spark of creativity within them.”
She said that the community West Central Abbey serves is artful and that their spiritual lives are deeply intertwined with their art and wants to foster a community that nurtures that type of expression.
Shedlock said that the exhibit will host art from church attendees and various people who participate within their spirituality and arts programs. Artists associated with their partners at The Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church and The Episcopal Diocese of Spokane will also have work featured.
“The pieces are from people who consider themselves artists and comfortable with that identity along with people who operate their art in a more private spiritual capacity,” she said.
One of the artists, Ashley Chak, only recently bloomed her passion for art. Shedlock said that during the pandemic Chak took her love for doodling and drawing to a new level and did a lot of work to improve her work.
Upon entry to the Chapel there will be a pre-station to orient people where to go and will provide artist write ups about their pieces that will serve as a guide for attendees.
The Good Friday stations of cross will be open from noon to 7 p.m. and will be followed by a liturgy panel discussion with five or six of the artists. Stations will be open for viewing on Holy Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
West Central Abbey meets in the Old Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 1832 West Dean Ave., in the West Central Neighborhood in Spokane. This is their first big public event since their December anniversary commemorating their three year anniversary.
This news story was made possible by contributions to FāVS from readers and members like you. Thank you.
