June 10, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

There's something about Mary

by Marge Speidel

Strains of a 20-voice choir provide ethereal accompaniment to a collection of paintings depicting "The Mysteries of the Rosary." Baroque music played on period instruments evokes images of Mary, mother of Jesus. This meeting of music, art and theology would be right at home in a Catholic church, but this Sunday Evening, the convergence is taking place at First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto.

"Where it gets interesting for Protestants is that Protestants and Catholics have much to offer each other," said Pastor Sandra Dager, whose trans-denominational training at Yale Divinity School has given her a new perspective.

Dating from medieval times, the Mysteries refer to the 15 events in the lives of Christ and Mary on which Catholics traditionally meditate when they recite the Rosary. Protestants have long differed from their Catholic brethren on the so-called deification of Mary, but Dager considers the program consistent with her ecumenical approach: embracing the whole Christian church.

"There's been much interest in the person of Mary, including a cover article in Newsweek. This is a chance to examine the question: who is Mary and how can we learn from the sung and painted art by allowing ourselves to be a hospitable place for exploring?" she said.

"It's not doctrinal, or staking out a theological platform for the Lutheran church, but providing a place to think. The heart of it to me is an interactive music and theological exploration."

Pastor Dager credits Palo Alto artist Marguerite Fletcher's work for the basic idea of the concert. "She brought to our attention this whole cycle of mysteries by her series of oil paintings used in our Lenten services," she said. Fletcher's paintings range from a depiction of Mary learning from the angel Gabriel that she is to be the mother of the Christ, to portrayals of the crucifixion and resurrection.

"It's been theologically fascinating to bring in features aside from the spoken word," she said.

"After the Lenten discussions, Gwen Adams, director of music, suggested a program featuring antiphons (sung hymns or prayers) referring to Mary. We decided on an evening of a capella music from the early Renaissance combined with instrumental music from the Baroque period. Vocal composers include Dufay, Des Pres, and di Lasso," said Choir director Jacques Desjardins.

German composer Franz Biber wrote 15 violin sonatas on the Rosary, he said. The church has selected four that deal with Marian topics -- the annunciation, the visitation, the assumption, and the beatification.

Desjardins, new to the church this year, also directs the University of California Santa Cruz concert choir and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Guest violinist Cynthia Miller Freivogel will play the sonatas from parts of the stage nearest the paintings placed about the sanctuary, to call the audience's attention to them. Gwen Adams will accompany her on the Bond continuo organ and Joanna Blendulf plays cello. A talk before the concert will explore Biber's use of many unusual violin tunings for his sonatas.

Artist Marguerite Fletcher is a longtime member of the Lutheran church whose interest in religion led her to earn a master's degree in theology from St. Patrick's seminary, Menlo Park. (Her well-known Palo Alto scene, "Waverley Street," is part of the art collection at the seminary.)

"In the early 1990s I was part of a Lutheran synod committee of visual arts for the Western states region. On the committee was a Greek woman who made small icons. With her woodworking ability she made the walnut panels that provided the surfaces for these Rosary paintings," Fletcher said in an interview at her studio.

"At the time I was meeting regularly with Mary Lee McNeal, a Palo Alto poet. She introduced me to the whole idea of the mysteries. We began to meet on themes of art and religious practice. Her medium was poetry, mine was drawing and painting."

From two people, the group expanded to as many as eight. Pondering the mysteries of the rosary led the group to call themselves The Rosary Project. "We used the basic idea of pondering, or deep reflection, as our structure, asking what is the simplest and most direct thing we could do to enhance our understanding of a given subject that intrigued us," Fletcher continued.

She pointed out scriptural references in the Bible relating that Mary "thought about these things and pondered them in her heart." In the panels, she has worked within the tradition of icons for use in meditation. "The role of the image is to present the story as clearly as possible so people can have their own journey toward interpretation."

Each of the panels has precedents in the history of art. Fletcher was inspired by an illumination from The Book of Kells resembling a labyrinth for the mystery of Mary and Joseph losing the boy Jesus only to find him teaching in the temple.

Fletcher's artist daughter, Llewelynn, has fashioned wood panels to surround each of the paintings. "It's my first big woodworking project," she said as she helped mount the wood panels around the paintings. Made of poplar, they follow the outline of each painting.

She has been part of her mother's spiritual journey, taking part in workshops devoted to the relationship of art and spiritual practices and Rosary Project meetings. "We have stressed silent periods and meditative periods. I think art and religion are related this way," she said. "In our group we have come up with words such as silence, solitude, senses, surrender. My mother and I share a feeling of what resonates with us via colors or works of art."


What: "Mysteries of the Rosary: Music and Art in Concert"


Where: First Lutheran Church, 600 Homer Ave. Palo Alto


When: Sunday at 7 p.m. Sanctuary opens at 6:30 p.m. for art viewing.


Cost: Suggested donation $10 general/$8 students and seniors


Info: For more information, call the church at 650.322.4669, or visit their Web site at: http://www.flcpa.org.

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