A labour of love for a Perth sculptor has seen the faces of people in his life incorporated in new Stations of the Cross to be installed in St Mary’s Cathedral.
By Robert Hiini
These are not Gerry Darwin’s first Stations of the Cross but the sculptures that will be installed in St Mary’s Cathedral for its December 8 opening are surely among his finest.
While thousands of the Faithful have seen his sculptures of John Paul II (1986) and Mother Teresa (1998) in St Mary’s over the past two decades, his newest creations will be mounted on glass panels and displayed under large stained glass windows in the north and south transepts.
The project, he says, is the 81 year old Lancashire native’s swansong and utilises elements that he has made his own throughout his 60-year career.
Mr Darwin was commissioned for the work by the Cathedral Committee just over a year ago and is currently adding the final touches to the traditional 14 Stations cast in reinforced resin after being moulded from clay originals.
The artist has used renovating polish to darken the crevices of each sculpture, bringing expression to the faces of the station’s well-known characters.
He decided that, rather than trying to imagine what they would have looked like, he would use the faces of his family members and friends from the parish of Armadale, where he has been a parishioner since arriving in Australia with his family in 1979.
Armadale Parish Priest Fr Kazimierz Stuglik has been cast as the face of Pilate while a younger version of the artist’s wife, Bridget, has been reproduced as the face of Mary, in the station “Mary meets his mother.”
Acolyte, Bernie has been cast as a centurion and fellow daily Mass goers, Cam and Henk as soldiers with the architect of the refurbished St Mary’s, Peter Quinn, and glass designer Peter Bowles featuring in Mr Darwin’s depiction of Christ being taken down from the tomb, along with the artist himself and his grandson Josh.His fellow parishioners Helen, an Englishwoman and Nancy, from Malaysia, are depicted as the women of Jerusalem.
Christ’s various expressions of concern, shame, terror, sadness and agony are captured with dramatic effect.
Gerry Darwin has never been short of commissions from churches, Catholic and Protestant, throughout Australia.
In the early 1980s, shortly after arriving in Australia, he was commissioned by Armadale’s then Parish Priest, Fr Beyer, to sculpt Our Lady after the previous statue was destroyed in a fire.
One of the priest’s friends, the then-editor of Madonna magazine liked it so much that he put it on the front cover. He has been in demand ever since.
In December 2006, he was commissioned by the Knights of the Southern Cross to make a bust of Blessed Mary MacKillop to give to the Sisters of Joseph in December of the following year, who would in turn, present it to Pope Benedict XVI upon his visit to Sydney for World Youth Day.
His sculpture and six others commissioned for the Josephites, Sydney Cardinal George Pell and Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey, were cast by his friend and fellow Roleystone resident, Andrew Kay.
He was there for the Pope’s 15 minute visit to Mary MacKillop’s tomb where his Artist’s Proof (the original sculpture) was presented.
“I thought to myself, “this is a very gentle person.” He seems to be almost shy. He’s certainly not like the hard, rigid Cardinal Ratzinger that I used to imagine,” Mr Darwin said.
He discovered his calling to be an artist early in his adult life. From the age of 14 to 21 he underwent formation in a Mill Hill Fathers’ Seminary, eventually discerning that God was not calling him to be a priest.
After graduating from St Mary’s Teacher Training College in London and several years teaching in several English colleges, he taught art at a training college in Kenya and at a later stage of his life for three years in Swaziland.
He took up sculpture full time after arriving in Australia.
He says moving to Perth was the best thing he could have done for his five children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. With religious works in over 30 Catholic churches and chapels throughout Western Australia and many more further afield, it would seem the move was mutually beneficial.
