Chapel Ceiling Painting:  St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Ardmore, Pennsylvania, USA
John asked me to paint this ceiling such that parishioners at St. Mary's would be inspired to gaze "upward,"
both literally and metaphorically, when they entered this little side chapel to pray.  The tiny "crosses" scattered across the
ceiling symbolize both the pain and the victory of the cross.  The numerous crosses vary in size to literally symbolize
individual differences among parishioners, children and adults alike.  This is why some crosses are painted larger than others.
The "star" that led the wise men to Jesus is painted as a "cloud" rather than as the traditional Christian five-pointed
"star."  The "cloud" as it appears in this photograph of the ceiling follows in the tradition of ancient Chinese paintings of stars,
rather than in the tradition of Western (or Occidental) paintings of stars.  This "Cloud of Unknowing" is a specific visual
reference to "Christ" as His Person is described in the writings of many Christan mystical writers, including
St. John of the Cross.  Christian mystics throughout the ages have made reference to Christ (or Jesus)
as the "Cloud of Unknowing."  The ceiling painting was completed before I became aware of Quaker George
Fox's words:  "I saw oceans of darkness, and above them I saw oceans of light" indicated here in painted sections.

©1997 Falconer/Gunasegaram

COMMISSIONED BY:  The Reverend John S. Horner, Rector,
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Ardmore, Pennsylvania, USA
36 Ardmore Avenue, Ardmore, PA 19003, USA
telephone: +1 610-649-1486 Fax: +1 610-649-4562
stmarysardmore@verizon.net.
 
Dimensions: Approximately 36 feet by 34 feet by 10 inches
The ceiling curves upwards 10 inches at all four corners.
A camera with a fish-eye lens was required to do justice to the way
it looked at completion on January 1, 1997.  Unfortunately the artist had no
access to a fish-eye lens camera.  The photographs above were taken of
each section of the ceiling with an ordinary 35 mm camera.  This ceiling has
since been painted over, but restoration to its original condition of January 1, 1997
  has been attempted/is being attempted by curator Ross Lance Mitchell
~at least that was the most recent conversation.