This Lenten season, Mary Ellen Ashcroft of the Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church, in partnership with the Grand Marais Art Colony, has called upon 27 local artists to help create an artistic rendering of the Stations of the Cross.

Using fabric, driftwood, quilting, 3-D installations, oil, ceramic, mosaic, and fused glass, to name a just a few of the artistic mediums and methods being used, the Stations of the Cross project gives artists an opportunity to present their artistic concept of a particular Station of the Cross. With 27 artists involved, and 14 Stations of the Cross, Ashcroft ended up having artists double up on almost every station. She’s happy to see so much interest in the project.

“Some are people of faith and members of churches; some are not,” said Ashcroft of the artists involved. “People would phone me and either choose one of the stations or ask me to help direct them to one that would interest them.”

Often seen in Catholic and Episcopal churches and sometimes Lutheran churches, the Stations of the Cross are commonly pictures, shrines, or sculptures placed around a church sanctuary or pathway. The 14 stations recount 14 different events from Good Friday, either based in Biblical text or tradition beginning when Jesus is condemned by Pontius Pilate and ending with Jesus’ body being laid in the tomb, said Ashcroft. The stations are designed to invoke a spiritual pilgrimage as worshippers contemplate each station’s message.

“During the Middle Ages it became the thing to go on a spiritual pilgrimage,” said Ashcroft. “If you couldn’t do that, you’d go on a mini pilgrimage. So if you couldn’t go to Jerusalem or Spain, you did the Stations of the Cross.”

While historically there’s a strong link between religion and art, Ashcroft said she hopes this project will emphasize what religious people and artistic people have to offer each other locally.

“Here the art community and the religion community are strong, but there’s not always a merging of those two communities,” said Ashcroft. “I’ve had many artists tell me ‘This takes me out of a rut and gives me a new area to work in and from.’”

Ashcroft said she would like to see the project become an annual effort and the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with the Art Colony. But her biggest hope, she said, is that the exhibit will offer community members an opportunity to reexamine some deeply-rooted Biblical themes.

“I’m hoping we’ll have a sense of ‘ah-ha’ and seeing from a new perspective,” said Ashcroft.

The Stations of the Cross exhibit opening featuring music and a lecture on making icons will be held from 12:30-4 p.m. on March 21 at the Art Colony. The exhibit will be open daily from 10-4 through Easter Sunday, April 4. The exhibit will also be open following the interdenominational Good Friday service and evening hours have yet to be determined.