St. Joseph and Christ in the Workshop
In 2021, Father Chris Heanue, then rector of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, approach me about doing a statue of the church’s patron. The beautiful church had been recently restored and elevated to a co cathedral, and it was full of paintings and sculpture. Mysteriously, it lacked any statue of St. Joseph himself. The only exception was a small marble carving high up on top of the baldacchino. This served more as an architectural image than a devotion work of art. So we began a discussion that ultimately resulted in this work of art you see here.
Father Heanue, along with committee members Tom Rozinski and Adriana Romanzo, bounced ideas back and forth with me about what image of St. Joseph would be best. Ultimately, we landed on depicting Joseph with Christ as a youth, in the workshop. What resulted is a portrayal of St. Joseph in his studio teaching Jesus his trade of carpentry. The emphasis here is to highlight St. Joseph’s earthly fatherhood of Jesus, and to present us with the ideal role model of fatherhood today.
