The Washington PostJanuary 31, 2004 Saturday
Final EditionSECTION: Metro; B09
LENGTH: 895 words
HEADLINE: A Growing Devotion To Ethiopian Artifacts;
Crafts Gain Cross-Cultural Appeal as Liturgical Aids for Western WorshipBYLINE: Russ Barnes, Religion News Service
BODY:
Passing the market squares that are scattered throughout the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, a team of four -- three Americans and one Briton -- walked toward the outskirts of the city this month searching for one-room huts that had furnace smoke curling from their chimneys.
Such rough-hewn houses serve as home-plus-studio for artisans whose techniques are passed down through family apprenticeships from as long ago as the 4th century, the earliest days of the Christian church.
Inside the bungalows, artisans -- surrounded by trivets and bowls of coins -- practice their craft over low furnaces. They fashion crosses, painted icons and other religious items under specifications established by the Ethiopian Orthodox priesthood.
In recent years, however, the artifacts have become increasingly popular as liturgical aids in a growing number of North American and other Western churches.
One item the artisans produce is the Ethiopian cross: a filigreed artifact made solidly of nickel and brass and molded by means of a sculptural technique called "lost wax."
Dumfries-based Stephen Kellogg led the pastoral safari. He, along with other U.S. importers and retailers, is gearing up to offer the crosses and other Ethiopian devotional artwork to Western markets.
John Ball, one of Kellogg's associates and rector of Trinity Church, an Episcopal congregation in St. Mary's County, said the artists and their families are pleased and "a bit surprised by all the interest in their work."
Kellogg, who is retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, came across the artifacts, and the craftsmen who make them, two years ago during a trip to Ethiopia.
"Steve recognized two relevant trends right off," Ball said. "Steve understands the growing liturgical demand for these artifacts. He also recognizes that new technologies allow for sensitive ways to conduct international trade -- a gratifying new procedure we might call 'faith-based trade.' "
Even old methods of trading Ethiopian religious crafts have had a steady, if limited, following.
"Small groups of collectors have always acquired Ethiopian art," said Alvah Beander of Alexandria, an independent appraiser of African art. "Traditional collectors include Ethiopian pieces in their collections to round them out."
But today's demand for liturgical items -- that is, for use in worship rather than in art collections -- is changing the market.
It's not surprising that American churches are becoming the catalyst for that change. They seem to need what the Orthodox Ethiopian Church has to offer.
Many Protestant churches are interested in liturgical experimentation using Ethiopian items, said Donald Schell, co-rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco, because "as descendants of Puritans, we are on the lookout these days for handmade, lively artifacts to recover a place for the visual arts in the church's liturgical life."
Because Ethiopian crosses are nonrepresentational, Schell said, they bring along little of the cultural baggage that representational items often carry.
"The very non-Europeanness of Ethiopian artifacts makes them seem more themselves and less foreign, and therefore somehow available to Americans searching for deeper spiritual connection though the visual arts," he said.
The crosses are being put to use, for example, at Church of the Redeemer in Pendleton, Ore., "because they create an environment of mystery," said the Rev. Paula Whitmore, who describes herself as a liturgical artist.
"You can almost see through the crosses," said Whitmore, describing one liturgical effect. "God plays tag with humanity, the crosses seem to tell us. God hides, then peeks through and is seen."
Katherine Pinard sells the imported artifacts at Sacred Path Books and Art in Cleveland. She said she first bought about 30 items from Kellogg and thought she had "way over-bought." But she sold them all within a week.
In Pinard's experience, the pieces get their appeal from reasonable prices ($40 to $800 an item); the rarity of handmade religious items ("Nothing like these items are made in the United States," she said); and "a feeling of doing good -- a realization that you are buying something that is fair-traded."
It is the practice of fair-trade principles, as advocated by such groups as the Fair Trade Federation in the District, that helps traditional, overseas artists achieve a living wage. In fact, importers such as Kellogg -- allied with informal networks of interested churches and clerics -- may be creating a significant new international trade segment.
Bucking the dominant global trade model that forces artisan wages downward and imperils local cultural values, Kellogg has a vision for a trading method that minimizes middlemen -- including such international donor institutions as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the European Union, the World Bank and agencies of the United Nations.
Those organizations, Kellogg said, "have to work at the national government level with large overhead to accommodate their required administrative burden."
The Kellogg solution?
Shorten the distance between artist, buyer and seller by means of technology-assisted management. Then pass along the resulting savings to artist and end-purchaser, helping to increase the recompense for the artist's labor and the pervasiveness of the artwork.
LOAD-DATE: January 31, 2004
Return to Russ Barnes' webpage
To see a catalogue of Ethiopian artifacts, go to Trinity Church, St. Mary's City, Maryland.
