Local artisan crafts cross for church

Jerry Bogen and Charlotte Milam. Photo by Tom Chace

After three years of planning, design and building, the new Community Hall at the Episcopal Church in Sisters in now ready for public and church use.

One of the most dramatic of many innovative ideas incorporated into the new building is the cross immediately inside the double entrance doors. It is suspended in air, extending a foot from the back wall and hanging three feet from the ceiling.

A number of direct spotlights create interesting shadows on the hand-made, papier-mâché wall covering behind the cross.

The cross is the creation of Charlotte Milam, Black Butte Ranch artist and longtime resident here.

"I wanted the symbolic feeling of entering a church," she said.

Yet she also wanted something that was a fine piece of art for those coming to use the Community Hall and not necessarily going into the church.

The handcrafted, wooden cross was made by local craftsman, Jerry Bogen, also of Black Butte Ranch and an amateur only in that he does not get paid for his work.

"I have done several hundred projects in and around our community and for friends," he said. "I probably spend 80 percent of my free time in my shop."

Bogen, prior to his retirement here, was at one time or another a professor, dean and vice-president at the University of Oregon. His tenure went through the "tumultuous years in the '60s and the more reasonable years in the late '70s and '80s," he said. "I loved all of it, the good and the bad times."

Milam headed up a committee of six from the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration who called themselves,"The Department of the Interior."

They worked in close harmony with Pat Molesworth, an interior designer and owner of Village Interiors in Sisters, in "creating a harmonious feel to the entire project."

"Our committee spent hours working through each area of the new building on color schemes, floor coverings, furniture, wall treatments and lighting," Milam said.

She talked about the gallery, or entry way where the cross is displayed, as an example:

"Our group saw the gallery being used as a welcoming place for greeting people, a place where people can sit and wait for a meeting or appointment. And a space of passage from one building (the church) to the other (the Community Hall)."

Benches are along one wall and library shelves are built in as are cupboards to hold supplies.

Small tables are placed to hold pamphlets and programs for those going to church. The gallery also leads directly to the church offices adjacent to the Community Hall, and serves as a pleasant waiting room.

Milam said that the "exceptional mountain views from the many large windows in the new building" influenced the selection of interior colors.

They chose a green "near the color of the trees and a tweedy, multicolored carpet that had some warm colors," she said. "We added red shades and creamy whites to give sparkle to the color scheme."

The Interior Committee consisted of Jan Baldwin, Judi Benson, Pat Croll, Linda Goebel, Raydene Heitzhausen and Milam. Dick Kellogg, a retired architect living in Camp Sherman, was the volunteer, in-house supervisor for the overall project.

"Each area of the new building received special, personalized attention," Milam said. One of the doors entering the kitchen has a "frosted glass window depicting a blooming mustard plant with seeds dropping to the ground."

The other door shows a mustard plant that has grown into a tree. A color-glazed tile triptych on the wall behind the sink shows a graceful, flowering mustard plant with a bird and a bee -- "symbolic of love and understanding for one another," Milam said.

"To get the special textured effect on the wall behind the cross at the entrance, we tore brown wrapping paper and applied the pieces to the wall like a papier-mâché sculpture. It took six of us the better part of a day to finish this wall," Milam said.

The building will be officially dedicated next Monday, June 30, followed by a reception and open house, to which the public is invited, at 6:30 p.m.