Menno Work By Bartel

by David Hiebert

Marvin Bartel, associate professor of art, has recently completed six pieces of pottery using a silkscreen image of Menno Simons. The project utilized a $500 Funk Lecture Grant, given by the Conrad Grebel Lecture Committee.

The pieces incorporate an enlarged image taken from an engraving of Menno Simons by Christoffel van Sichem, published in the seventeenth century.

The pieces range from the large, 29″-high slab construction called “A Box for Branches with Menno Simons Image” to thee medium-sized, 14″-high, 9.5″-diameter “Covered Jar with Menno Simons Image.”

Silk Screen Not New

The idea of using a silk screen on pottery is not really new. Commercial wares have placed decals on the surface of finished pieces, such as mugs and dinner plates, and refired them to fuse the glaze. Bartel preferred to work with colored slip decoration on the moist greenware, “while still strongly involved with a piece.”

Permits Modifications

The advantage of this method is that it permits modifications of the clay form which relate to the decoration. A specific piece that reflects this advantage is the “Covered Jar.” While transferring the image from paper toweling to the jar (direct silk screening is not possible on a round surface), a low relief was created which reinforces the facial features.

Bartel To Lecture

As a recipient of the Funk Lecture Grant for artists, Bartel, in addition to producing this artwork, will lecture about the relationship between the arts and the church. The first of these lectures was given last Wednesday in convocation.

Carl Kreider, executive secretary of the Conrad Grebel Lecture Committee, said that EMC, Bluffton, and Hesston have also been contacted, but no definite dates have yet been set for Bartel lectures.

Art To Be Sold

The artwork produced under the grant becomes the property of the committee, and will be sold to institutions or individuals. Profits go back to the committee to make other grants possible.

In the spring of 1970, Paul Friesen of Hesston College lectured on sculpture here at GC. He was the other recipient of the Funk Lecture Grant for artists.

Usually, recipients publish their reports in book form. Don Jacobs, another grant recipient, will be at Goshen March 5-7; he will lecture on “The Church in Africa.”

Photos by David Hiebert