Artist Labors Five Years On Carvings for Church

Reprinted from the Seattle Times on December 16, 1960 Section B4, page 13.

Fredericka Richard, Artist (1922-1973)

Fredericka Richard's hands have given expression to her thankfulness to God and her desire to give "something warmer" than money to her church.

Miss Richard, 9843 Rainier Av., a sculptor, recently completed a five-year hand-carving project as her contribution to the building drive of St. Paul's Catholic Church, 5600 Ryan St.

Miss Richard carved a crucifix and the Stations of the Cross which hang in the church.

"I felt it was a way of returning the gift of natural talent that God has given me," Miss Richard said. "I also feel that anything we do -religious or not- is a matter of divine inspiration. Some people are aware of that. Some are not."

Inspiration Related

Miss Richard had a sudden inspiration to offer her talent in 1954 when the then young parish, under the pastorate of the Rev. Joseph Vogel, was planning to build a church.

"I remember I approached Father Vogel when he was directing traffic after Mass at Emerson School, where the parish was meeting," Miss Richard said.

"I asked him if I could do the carvings for the church. Without paying much attention, he responded, "Yes, yes."

It was sometime later when it dawned on him to ask, "Can she carve?"

Miss Richard, who said she has been carving ever since she was able to hold a knife in her hand, convinced the priest with drawings and samples.

Miss Richard did the crucifix from a 200-pound block of wood in about 300 hours. It measures 9 by 5 feet. The corpus is 51 inches long.

Spare-Time Task

She cannot estimate how many hours it took for the stations. The work was done in her spare time in her home studio.

Miss Richard said like other artists, she worried about how her work would be received. "I had an idea when children from St. Paul's School dropped into the church while I was hanging the stations," Miss Richard said. "They stood and smiled. Parishioners also stopped to thank me. So I had personal satisfaction, too.