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New Life from Old Roots

Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1988 [88142]

NEW YORK (DPS, June 23) -- "It takes time if you want something different, something special, something uniquely suited to the individual or the church," said artist-craftsman Chris Den Blaker. "If a congregation or committee doesn't want to order from religious goods catalogues but wants something designed and made just for them, it has to take time. And sometimes you have to help the client identify what they want, what would most nearly express who they are or what their church stands for. I can usually help with that process. But it takes time. It takes talking. It involves drawing sketches -- then changing things and drawing more sketches. And the process can become expensive. But it is really worth it."

Chris Den Blaker, an Episcopal layman working from his own studio in New York City, is a throwback, a maverick in many ways. Although he is multi-talented -- sculptor, painter, jewelry designer, photographer -- his great interest, his true vocation, is an ancient one. He designs and, as a craftsman, makes religious, liturgical objects, often in precious metals, sometimes set with precious or semi-precious stones.

Still a young man, Den Blaker's work is already to be found in a great many places around the United States and the world. And although he is probably best known, still, among liturgically minded Episcopalians, his work has reached other communions.

In 1982, he was commissioned to create a chalice for the ecumenical church in China. The piece linked the shape of China's past and its future, reflecting, in contemporary terms, a shape evocative of those found in ancient Chinese drinking vessels.

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, N.Y., commissioned, for Easter 1988, a processional cross and torches. Working with a design committee and having as contact an assistant pastor of the church, Den Blaker was able to create the design and make a unique and powerful three-dimensional cross and torches, embodying and interpreting something of the strength and solidity of Lutheran theological and liturgical traditions. The pieces for Holy Trinity are brass with elements plated in gold and nickel. The Holy Trinity pieces could only be the product of a close interaction between artist-craftsman and church. In another sense, they are symbolic of the ecumenical dialogue, especially in liturgical matters, that has been going on with increasingly fruitful results between Lutherans and Episcopalians.

A variety of Den Blaker's designs have been made and executed for churches in the Anglican Communion. Historic All Hallows, Barking (All Hallows-by-the-Tower), in London has a strikingly sculptural processional cross by Den Blaker, too. And some of the objects he makes are more personal. The newly consecrated Bishop Coadjutor of Long Island, Orris G. Walker, Jr., will have an episcopal ring and pectoral designed by Den Blaker, and a crozier as well. When Frederick H. Borsch, former dean of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), was consecrated Bishop of Los Angeles on June 18, he was presented with ring and pectoral executed by Den Blaker, given by CDSP alumni and alumnae. The primate's ring presented to Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning on taking office in 1985 was created by Den Blaker.

In this modern age, when many things are indeed ordered from catalogues, how do people find out about someone like Chris Den Blaker? Sometimes it really is word-of-mouth. In other instances, a visitor will admire a beautiful chalice or cross in a church and be interested enough to ask, "Who made that?" Den Blaker attributes some of his commissions to the consideration for him and for his work of an old friend, the Rev. Canon Edward N. West of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Canon West, for many years a prominent figure in the field of ecclesiastical art, has often recommended Den Blaker to individuals and churches in search of original and yet historically grounded designs. After talking to someone for awhile, learning who they are and what matters to them, I usually know what they want me to make for them -- even if they haven't put it into words yet themselves," said Den Blaker. And that seems to sum up the way in which an artist like Den Blaker functions, even in this modern age when there are shortcuts to everything. It involves one person sharing their deepest religious feelings and aspirations with another person. And if the other person is truly an artist, then the chemistry is set in motion that can allow the creation of beauty and new life to the glory of God.