Just off Fish Creek Road lies a hidden gem that the public can visit during the Eighth Annual Estes Park Artist Studio Tour August 17 and 18 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The tour is sponsored by the Estes Arts District.
This is one of those locations someone can drive by without noticing how special it is, and how its owner has created a tribute to religions inspired by his world travels.
Next to an inconspicuous log cabin sits a beautiful sacred garden. Shrines and religious statues crowd a small space, with stone walkways weaving between them. A large Tibetan prayer wheel casts a shadow over a layered mosaic of blue tiles. Several smaller prayer wheels surround a central shrine, which forms a pinnacle above the rest of the art.
In a corner, a latched gate made out of bottles captures the sunlight. Sculptures of the Virgin Mary, framed with intricate metalwork, converge with an array of other religious art, creating a uniquely spiritual respite that invites prayer, meditation, and contemplation.
Joe Arnold, a local artist and retired National Park Service engineer, began work on his Sacred Art Garden ten years ago. Arnold’s travels to Mexico, Europe and Asia, and his trips to Burning Man, a large-scale art and music festival, held in the desert of Nevada, motivated him to create the special space to represent some of the world’s many religions.
One of the most unique places he visited was Borobudur, a ninth century Buddhist temple in Java, Indonesia constructed of stacked stone platforms and surrounded by 72 Buddha statues.
“It has six or eight tiers that you can go up, via stairs, and circumambulate around this low pyramid. It’s all carvings which were intended as didactics to describe the life of the Buddha to the laypeople. The monks would walk people around it and say here’s this story or that story about the Buddha’s life, and what it means,” said Arnold.
Another location that informed Arnold’s perception of religion was Chartres Cathedral in France, one of the best-known examples of Gothic architecture. This twelfth century structure known for its stained-glass windows sits on the site where five cathedrals previously stood. The cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
Arnold says Chartres Cathedral has more in common with the Buddhist temple in Borobudur than may be readily apparent. Despite their dramatically different architectures, Arnold believes the two carry the same meaning because each strives to convey the same message. This concept has heavily influenced his garden where a multitude of different religions converge.
“When I went to Chartres, and when I went to Borobudur—two completely different cultures—I went wow, they’re saying the same thing. One has stained glass windows about the life of Christ. The other has bas relief sculptures about the life of the Buddha. In both cases the clergy would explain to the laypeople—oh, this is a picture of the Buddha becoming enlightened under the Bodhi Tree. And in Chartres, here’s a picture of Christ riding the donkey to his crucifixion,” said Arnold.
Other historical sites have deepened Arnold’s appreciation for religions and religious art.
While traveling through south India, Arnold found Gopurams, the 300-foot-high ornate monumental towers at the entrance of Hindu temples, especially fascinating.
In Mexico City, Arnold’s appreciation for world religions was furthered when he saw the tilma or cape of the Virgin of Guadalupe, venerated by Catholics as a miraculous relic of an apparition of the Virgin Mary that dates to 1531.
In Bali, ancient temples, unlike any he had previously seen before, kindled a desire to create his own work.
But it was not until Burning Man, that he found the motivation to begin creating his own work. Each year at the Nevada festival, art installations of all types crowd the Black Rock Desert, as 60,000 to 80,000 thousand people converge. The festival is named after the final ceremony when a large wooden effigy is burned.
When Arnold went to Burning Man in 2007, he said he was blown away with the art on display.
“What Burning Man did was convince me that I had some merit as an artist,” said Arnold.
In 2007 he built “The Leave it Behind Shrine,” a large prayer wheel-like art piece, with eight backsides painted on the outside panels. People were invited to write a message on small pieces of paper before slipping the note into the wheel and then giving the wheel a spin.
This initial Burning Man inspired art installation was followed by a host of others. Arnold attended Burning Man three more times, in 2009, 2011 and 2013. Each year he returned home to build a new large-scale art piece for the event. Each their own unique way, the art installations combined religion with art.
The influence of Burning Man and his travels eventually converged, culminating in Arnold’s sacred art garden which he built in 2013 to showcase his works which incorporates influences of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity along with Tibetan prayer wheels, shrines and Mani stones as commonly found at monasteries in Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal.
His prayer wheels have painted script, hand painted images, and burnished brass script while traditional wheels are filled with prayers and spun to symbolically to send prayers into the world.
The prayers typically include the Tibetan mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum,” on the drum to invoke unconditional qualities of compassion that loosely translated means “Hail! The jewel in the Lotus.”
Shrines with sacred objects, statues of saints, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and one of the Madonna and Child framed with intricate metalwork and woodwork sit next to statues of the Buddha. One shrine for a Thai spirit house is juxtaposed with a shrine for Arnold’s parents. Most of the statues Arnold purchased, while the shrines he built himself. Some have Zellige tiles around their base, souvenirs brought back from Morocco.
In a few spots around the oasis visitors find Mani stones commonly found along trails in Tibet and Nepal. Arnold’s stones have the mantra, “Om Mani Padme Hum” carved in them, just as they would in Nepal.
“I was interested in the art of religion because I think a lot of this is quite gorgeous, but also the notion of reaching to the heavens. Every religion is looking to express gratitude or supplication to a higher power. My belief is that all religions are striving for the same thing,” Arnold said.
The Eighth Annual Artist Studio Tour for Estes Park features 15 local artists who have opened their studios to the community to share their processes and show the materials and tools they use.
Names of the artists and their addresses are available by visiting the group’s website at estesparktour.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.