Staff Photo by Laura-Chase McGehee/Chattanooga Times Free Press/ Nov 8, 2010 - Oolteway artist Suzy Baggett depicts the Station of the Nativity though the 14 chalk drawings seen behind her. She has donated the drawings to her church in Ooltewah.Like her subjects of Mary and Joseph and their eventful trip to Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, Suzy Baggett of Ooltewah said she wasn't sure what to expect from a task she felt led to do.
Asked by the Rev. Lou Parsons, her rector at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, to complete a series of renderings of the Stations of the Nativity, she approached the job with trepidation.
"I did walk to the easel with fear and trembling most of the time," she said. "I asked myself two questions, 'Whom am I doing this for?' and 'Who will it serve?'"
The result, according to Parsons, is a display beyond her dream.
"It still moves me to tears," she said. "Her interpretation is stunning. She got the concept [of] light coming out of darkness. The way she uses light in each of the stations and the focal point of that light are breathtaking. It so captures the understanding of the Incarnation, [when] God became one of us."
The Stations of the Nativity are akin to the Stations of the Cross, familiar to many Catholic and Episcopal church members -- in that they are a series of renderings of events in the life of Christ.
While many churches have Stations of the Cross, used within Lenten meditations, Parsons said she is not aware of any other churches in the area who have a set of Stations of the Nativity.
Baggett said she was unfamiliar with the Stations of the Nativity, but a book on the subject by Raymond Chapman in the church library offered her Scripture readings for each of the 14 stations.
A pastel artist since she retired as a teacher at St. Nicholas School seven years ago, she drew on her life drawings class at the North River Civic Center and real-life models T.W. and Laurel Francescon and others for the images on charcoal La Carte paper.
Baggett completed the renderings in late November, having worked on them one at time through the summer and fall.
GET INVOLVEDMembers of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, 7555 Ooltewah-Georgetown Road, will walk the Stations of the Nativity, pausing at each for observation, meditation and prayer, on Wednesdays, Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, at 6 p.m. Visitors are welcome. Individuals also may view the renderings weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"At the end of the day, I'm amazed at the life that came [to] the paper," she said. "I think I painted better than I'm able. Advent is so much a time of waiting for the light in the darkness. It seems to speak in the paintings. My hope in a very frenzied time is that they can help us be calm and reflect and remember how loved we are."
The renderings, set in simple, 16-inch by 20-inch, silver, wooden frames, are hung spaced apart in the church's nave, where individuals or groups can reflect on them and read the attendant meditations written by Baggett's husband, Curtis.
Parsons said she knew when she first saw Baggett's art that she was the one to do the renderings, which had been suggested to her by the church's worship committee when she became rector there.
"She did it as an act of love," she said. "Her art is such a huge gift for us."
Contact Clint Cooper at ccooper@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6497.