Saint comes into focus through St. Edward the Confessor art project

Above: St. Edward the Confessor art teacher Lee Bercegeay stands next to his students’ collaborative work of art. (Photo by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald; go to Facebook to view additional photos)

When people enter St. Edward the Confessor’s school office, their eyes are instantly drawn to a wall-size image of the Metairie parish’s patron saint, who served as England’s king from 1042-66.

At first glance, the 5½-foot-high, 4-foot-wide rendering of St. Edward appears to be a seamless work of art. But closer inspection unlocks a surprise: the piece is actually a mosaic-style composite of 40 individual, rectangular artworks completed last May by the 20 members of the school’s Art Club of fifth through seventh graders.

The group project was the brainchild of St. Edward’s art teacher Lee Bercegeay, who usually bases the twice-a-month club on an “independent study” model in which members can pursue their individual artistic interests using whatever is available in the art room.

“I wanted the Art Club to do something as a group for the first time, and St. Edward was an easy first choice,” said Bercegeay, adding that club members also work together to make background scenery used in St. Edward’s annual spring musical.

Saintly ‘jigsaw puzzle’

To prepare for the ambitious undertaking, Bercegeay pored over online images of St. Edward, ultimately choosing a stained-glass rendering of the saint wearing his crown, robes and pearly halo. After having a full-scale photo copy made of the image, Bercegeay divided it up – grid style – into 40, 9-by-8 inch rectangles and cut them out. Each Art Club member was randomly given two of the rectangular sections to recreate on blank pieces of cardstock cut to the same dimensions. They were allowed to use the medium of their choice, the most popular ones turning out to be pencil, crayon, paint, markers and pastels.

“They had all school year to complete their sections, working completely independently of one another,” Bercegeay explained. “We had no idea how it would turn out.”

After all 40 pieces were turned in, Bercegeay arranged them in correct order and glued them to a piece of plywood for the final effect: a cohesive, banner-like work of art.

“As I placed them in their proper positions, it became clear that the faith I had in this particularly talented group of artists was well founded,” said Bercegeay, an alumnus of De La Salle High School currently in his sixth year of teaching art at St. Edward.

Team effort

The project also drew amazement from the young artists, many of whom were only able to see the finished product upon their return to school last August. Seventh grader Alina Varkey – a sixth grader at the time of the project – used alcohol-based markers to complete her assigned portions of St. Edward: part of his sash and the palm of St. Edward’s left hand.

“At first I thought it would be really hard – because a lot of the designs were intricate and difficult to replicate when I looked at the picture as a whole – but it was easier to focus on just our little sections,” Alina said.

“You can’t really judge one particular piece because it all comes together as one,” she said, noting that her biggest thrill was seeing the “school pride” of her principal, Dr. Thomas Becker, when he “kept showing it off (to visitors) because of our hard work.”

“I also feel like I’ve grown in my understanding of St. Edward the Confessor,” Alina said. “I came from a public school in Texas and didn’t know much about the saints.”

Despite his tremendous wealth and power, St. Edward was a model of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The monarch used his reign to promote peace and remove unjust tax burdens on his people. And, while King Edward had every excuse to hand off the care of the poor and sick to his officials, he often carried out this work personally.

Principal Becker said he thinks of words written by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians when he looks at the artwork every day at school: “There is one body, but it has many parts.”

“The talents, perspectives and joy of each student, although expressed separately, came together to form the composite image of St. Edward the Confessor,” Becker observed. “Each panel is unique, but together they signify the gift of faith that the artists share, as modeled by their patron saint!”

The stained-glass panel on which the artwork is based was not credited online. If you know of the panel’s location, please send the information to [email protected] so we can share it in a future issue!

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