On Saturday afternoon, I walked to the Stella Maris Chapel to visit the recently installed sculpture of “Madonna with Child,” the work of the distinguished artist, Alexander Tylevich.Upon arriving, I entered the chapel and was rewarded with the beauty of quiet and the indwelling of the Word that the image and space invites.
Upon entering the chapel through the tower door, you find the “Madonna with Child” to your left, where she greets you and you become her guest. She is facing towards the “apse” where a wooden cross is mounted on the upper part of the wall.
Looking through one of Edward Sövik’s windows on the lake side.
Edward Sövik, 1939 graduate of St. Olaf College and a student at Luther Theological Seminary in the early 1940s, has served the church as a liturgical architect and designer for over fifty years. He taught at St. Olaf College and has been affiliated with SMSQ Architects in Northfield. Among the 400 churches that bear the mark of Sövik’s wisdom and design, is my home parish, Vinje Lutheran Church.
Looking through one of Edward Sövik’s windows on the wooded side of Chapel Island
Here, art and nature, aquatic and terrestrial, enjoy a comingling through colour and translucence. Through the generosity of SJP alum Don Hall and the good fortune of his contact with Sövik, the Stella Maris Chapel has been transformed and renewed into a space that welcomes the foot pilgrim and assists the way of faith. In this space that is open to the movement of light and wind, prayer can freely enter and offer refreshment to lives worn down by daily burdens and struggles.
Shinleaf or Lily of the Valley (Pyrola) on north slope of Chapel Island.
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