Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 8, 1993 TAG: 9307080321
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Under the skillful hands of Julie Loomis McDowell, a Roanoke graphic designer for 40 years and member of the parish for far longer, a new artistic depiction of "Our Lady" now dominates the front wall of the church. It was dedicated in May, when the mother of Jesus often is honored.
The work was designed, McDowell said, to blend with the contemporary architecture of the parish building, which first was used in 1976. Almost life-size, it was fabricated in aluminum and painted by Neal Kinsey of Kinsey Crane and Sign Co. It is one of the most ambitious of hundreds of designs McDowell, 61, has executed in her years as a Roanoke Valley artist.
The work was made possible by a bequest and other gifts from members of the parish. It adorns the bell tower facing the parking lot.
Showing the many drawings that produced her figure of a Mary with a serene - "not saccharine" - expression, McDowell said she was reminded of her own small grandson as she saw a smiling Jesus extending his arms in love to the world.
The sculpture, she noted, is painted to complement the light buff brick and dark brown metal trim of the big church, which is familiar to drivers on the busy highway.
The artist offers an explanation of the stylized work: A flame above Mary representing the Holy Spirit becomes a dove when looked at sideways. A circle around the heads of the pair is not meant to be a halo but a symbol of God's universality, McDowell said.
As Mary, clad in a flowing robe, presents the Child to the world, the viewer can see that Jesus' arms and body resemble a cross, the universal reminder of Christianity.
Finally, at the Virgin's feet, the name "Maria," is so designed that it suggests the valley's mountains.
McDowell noted that Nazareth's modern design contrasts deliberately with more traditional churches. When first occupied, she remembers, it was meant to come alive with worshiping people who would find its simple - almost secular - appearance a symbol of a living faith.
Over the years that thousands of Roanoke Valley people, non-Catholic as well as the members, have used the worship area and its later fellowship and education addition, the need for some appropriate decoration was felt, McDowell said.
And as a member since she moved to Roanoke from California with her family in World War II days, McDowell often has filled that need.
Ten years ago, she and another Nazareth artist, Donna Layne, began an informal partnership that has resulted in a portfolio of their work in stained glass. McDowell, whose knowledge of religious symbols through the ages is vast, uses her circles, crosses and rays of light to produce the design. Layne executes the picture in vibrant colors.
Their first effort resulted in windows for a small chapel at Nazareth Church. Earlier this year, St. Andrew's Church, as different architecturally from Nazareth as is imaginable, commissioned McDowell to design windows for a new entrance hall providing access for the handicapped.
The artist produced a design in which the cross of St. Andrew predominates; it blends into the God circle with flame of the Holy Spirit and is topped by a three-dimensional dove.
A Charlottesville Catholic church also displays her work as does Calvary Baptist of Roanoke, where McDowell's friends Jack and Adelaide Creasy worshiped for many years.
Throughout the Roanoke Valley, from the Civic Center to St. Francis House for the needy, McDowell's logos form a monument to the art graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University who remembers when major advertising agencies wouldn't hire a woman even if her work showed talent.
She is married to a fellow advertising art professional, Charles McDowell, whom she met at college. The couple for the past two years have run their own business, Julie McDowell Design, from their Laburnum Avenue home. Formerly a television ad artist, Julie McDowell worked at home while their sons, Jamie and Edmond, were young.
In 1969, both McDowells joined Creasy's advertising agency and remained there for 22 years until it closed after its founder retired.
by CNB