We spent seven years looking up in awe at this beautifully striking mural. Measuring six feet by eight feet, Christ in Majesty by Ralph and Vera Baney was commissioned in 1970 by Stephanie Shurland, the then principal of Bishop Anstey High School, an all-girls school in Trinidad and Tobago to commemorate the school’s Golden Jubilee. Initially Shurland had asked Ralph to create a large wood carving for the school but he suggested a mosaic mural on which both he and his wife Vera could work. The initial sketch was created by Ralph on brown paper while Vera made the pieces of tesserae, fired and glazed them and arranged them in place secured with epoxy. The mural was made in two sections and mounted directly to the wall. The last pieces of tesserae were glued to cover the lag bolt heads and the seam cleverly obscuring the mounting and hardware.
Vera Baney was born in Trinidad in 1930. She attended Brighton College of Art in England as a part time student studying crafts and Alfred University New York. In 1971 she left Trinidad to study at University of Maryland from where she got the BA degree in Studio Art. Ralph was born in Trinidad in 1929. He attended Naparima College and Naparima Teachers College and received a Government Art Scholarship to study at Brighton College of Art (now Brighton University) in England. After nine years as Art Officer in the Ministry of Education and Culture he embarked on Graduate studies at the University of Maryland earning both MFA and PhD degrees.
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| Images | Unknown |
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