A short while ago Free Wings Art Studio was commissioned to make the 14 Stations of the Cross for Mlungisi Community Catholic Church, to show the journey that Jesus took from when he was condemned until his crucifixion. Given prints to copy from, they worked all day and many nights to meet the deadline and in the short space of 25 days, the stations were completed. The intricate process began with a simple slab, which the students built up with extra clay leaving the more complex sculpting of the people to Hester and Coenie. Slowly but surely, the buildings, people and scenes began to take shape and unfold the story station by station.

Just before they were ready for firing, Sister Catherine from Cathcart and Sister Iona from Cape Town came to give their final inspection, making sure that no mistakes had been made. Fine details such as the imprint into the material which washed Jesus’ face had to be shown, difficult poses and elaborate clothing a perfect replica of the prints. Now on a tight deadline, Bev Bauer and her trainees as well as Dot Dutton of Amatola Haven, one of Coenies students, came to help out for the final days. The last step was to wash the sculptures with iron oxide and they were then ready to fire. Due to the differing thickness of the clay, each station was cut into several pieces for drying purposes to prevent warping and cracking. Following 12 hours of firing and a further 15 hours of cooling down in the kiln, the pieces had to be reassembled as though a jigsaw puzzle and attached to the wooden plaques.

After a special service at the church, the walls are now adorned with the Fourteen Stations of the Cross for every one to see, admire, and appreciate the many hours of work that went into their making. Well done to all those who took part in this wonderful project.