Whitworth is the new home for two sculptures

 

By Caleb McGever

Finding a new home for Harold Balazs's concrete-cast, 24-foot-tall sculpture was a challenge, but Whitworth University has made a place for the piece with a hand from a local construction company. 

The sculpture, called the Messiah Reredos, was created by Harold Balazs in 1961 and decorated the wall behind the altar of Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church until February 2025, when they closed their church. They chose to gift the piece to Whitworth. 

Stacey Moo, director of the permanent art collections at Whitworth, wanted to accept the piece, but transporting it from the church to the university seemed like a difficult task because of its size.

She worked with Whitworth to move the sculpture safely, find a place to display it publicly, preserve Harold's legacy, use it to help people understand his liturgical art and expand their collection.

Stacey said that, after realizing that each of the sculpture's four pieces weighed more than 400 pounds, she would need to find a creative solution.

"So, we brought in some artists to have a look at it. Those people had worked with Harold Balazs or had moved some of his work in the past. We concluded that indeed, we would probably need a construction company to do that," she said.

Luckily, she was able to recruit the Bouten Construction Company, which does work across the Inland Northwest and was already working with Whitworth to build a new engineering building on the campus.

After their team visited the sculpture, they decided to move it pro bono.

"That was a huge gift. Their crew was wonderful. Jim Putnam led the crew. They built scaffolding, took it down and brought it here to Whitworth," said Stacey.

Whitworth found a place to install the Messiah Reredos in its dining hall inside the Hixon Union Building (HUB). There, it decorates a wall near the stairs leading to an events space called the Crow's Nest.

Students, staff and visitors can see and admire the sculpture from inside the dining hall or through a window from the outside.

Stacey said that the HUB was the best option for the Messiah Reredos because it is a public space. She also said that the public display was important so that "we can get really close to it and really see it and spend time with it."

She pointed out that the HUB was the only building on campus tall enough to fit the entire piece without breaking up its four parts, which hang together vertically. 

The sculpture is also significant because it is part of the legacy of liturgical art pieces created by Harold Balazs.

Harold's artistic impact is everywhere in Spokane. His public works include the Rotary Fountain at Riverfront Park, the floating Centennial sculpture in the Spokane River and the untitled 40-foot-tall tower in front of the First Interstate Center for the Arts.

"He was a force of nature, a special person who had a major effect in the culture of the Inland Empire," said Tom Kundig, founder of Olsen Kundig Architects and a friend of Harold.

Several institutions, including Whitworth, Gonzaga and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC), have played important roles in preserving Harold's art.

"I think the university's charge is to basically collect and preserve the culture of the surrounding area. Harold was clearly an important part of the Spokane culture," said Tom.

Stacey explained that Bouten Construction previously had helped transport art installations by Harold, and that they were also motivated by the opportunity to help preserve more.

"He is a beloved artist here in Spokane, and we all wanted to preserve his legacy," she said. "They wanted to come alongside us and help us but also helped because of Harold."

In addition to his public work, Harold also created other liturgical art pieces for churches and houses of worship around the Inland Northwest.

In Spokane, his work includes contributions to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane.

He also contributed work to Richland Lutheran Church, St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Colfax and Temple Beth El in Tacoma.

In terms of liturgical pieces, "for him it was about making art. I honestly don't know if there was a real reference to whether it was a Lutheran church or a Catholic church," said Tom.

"He was liberal in borrowing imagery from various places, which is kind of cool. He kept being inspired by different things," said Karen Mobley, a Spokane poet and artist who served as the arts director for the City of Spokane from 1997 to 2012 and who was also a friend of Harold.

Karen explained that the Messiah Reredos was an example of Harold's interest in creating patterns and displaying "symbols of a narrative."

The Messiah Reredos contains four panels, each with several different symbols. Stacey, in her remarks at the dedication ceremony for the sculpture at Whitworth, explained that the Christian symbols used tell the story of the life of Christ.

"Whitworth has the culture where something like the Messiah Reredos fits in, and it might not fit in some other place, because it's a Christian university," said Karen.

"They have the kind of people who seem both interested in material culture, but also the history of the community and the history of the Christian church in Eastern Washington," she continued.

In addition to the Messiah Reredos, Messiah Lutheran gifted Whitworth another cast concrete statue, also called the Messiah. This statue is about five feet tall.

Stacey added that Whitworth installed that piece this summer outdoors in the middle of the Eric Johnston rose garden.

She expressed joy and gratitude that other institutions like the MAC are preserving Harold's legacy and artwork. Along with the MAC, she said Whitworth can play a special role in preserving the pieces related to Christianity.

"I think it is fitting for a Christian university to have been able to save this particular, or I should say, these particular artworks by him," she said. "I think that, you know, we would have been happy to save any of his works, but these are particularly meaningful."

For information, call 777-3258 or email smoo@whitworth.edu.