The initial project, which involved the installation of the reredos, involved Studio io Design and Granda. This second phase of the project, completed in December 2024, likewise involved Studio io -- who did the initial design work -- as well as Swiatek Studios, who took those designs, refined them further, and then ultimately saw them through to execution.
Studio io provided LAJ with the following key design considerations that influenced and shaped this phase of the project:
Four main considerations guided the design of the artwork and color scheme: 1) the church’s inherently Eucharistic namesake; 2) its midcentury adaptation of the American Colonial Revival style; 3) the need for unchanging pieces of context - like the windows and most of the original terrazzo flooring - to harmonize with any new work; and 4) an expressed client desire for the introduction of overall polychromatic warmth, richness, and texture variation without becoming ostentatious.
The project involved the addition of coloured stencilling and designs throughout the church, but most particularly on the ceiling and within the sanctuary, providing the church with a great deal more warmth and visual interest than it had previously. Given the church's namesake designation, Eucharistic themes are plentiful throughout the new decorative scheme.
But we are jumping ahead. First let us look at the 'before' -- and for our before photos, we are going to go right back to the church as it stood prior to the installation of the reredos, as this reflects the true 'before' for this particular project.
BEFORE:
As you can see, it was a fairly plain church at this point. The church was originally erected in 1952, and as such, it likely had a more ornate high altar at some point in its earlier decades, and possibly it might have even had some decorative painted works on at least some of the walls, but whatever it might have had, this is where the parish stood prior to these contemporary interventions. Here, then, are those interventions.
Studio io notes that painted canvas installations were added at the frieze level (i.e. vaguely where the walls join the ceiling), depicting draperies that contain seraphim and Eucharistic titles taken from the Litany of the Most Precious Blood -- and hence, they are symbolically painted on a crimson, blood red background. These designs have been intentionally given the look and feel of classical festoons in order to tie them back to the classical themes found within colonial era designs, while secondarily evoking the Veil of Veronica, tied to the Passion of Christ.
