wait for it

Preparation. 

Friday Saturday and Sunday rain was sent to soften the ground.

"One thing that’s obvious as I’ve browsed through the thousands of Marxhausen photographs my family has archived in recent years: every place that Reinhold and Dorris Marxhausen ever lived quickly came to bear the indelible stamp of their personalities and creativity.   No place was that truer than here at 540 where, over a half-century they made an old frame house and two bare lots into a place bursting with ideas and life, a home for family and a refuge for friends.  When their energy and engagement with this place faded away, our family labored long and hard to maintain and preserve the echos and memories of the life of this place.   That’s why finally surrendering that stewardship felt so powerfully like death for us."   Paul Marxhausen

1962 Designs, Reinhold Marxhausen at Mills College, Oakland

But that grief always recalls for me John 12 – “unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it remains alone … but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”  

This imagery of renewed life and growth was one of Reinhold’s favorite themes and it was embodied in every living thing Dorris ever nurtured, and we see the reality of it here, today, as we break ground for the new Center of Liturgical Arts.  When I read the invitation to attend today another verse began to resonate in my brain:  “Behold, I do a new thing – now it will spring forth.  Do you not see it?” 

1961 prototype and 3 foot full sculpture, 

Reinhold Marxhausen at Mills College, Oakland

  

Ground breaking gathering, Monday, May 1.

"I do see it, I and my family, and we will watch eagerly to see what emerges."     Paul Marxhausen, son of Reinhold and Dorris. Address at CLA ground breaking, May 1st, 2017, Lincoln and North Columbia corner, Seward, Nebraska. Click to hear remarks:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbB5WnF9RVHQWo1QnRqbkhDRDA/view

Photos of event taken by John Nollendorf, a friend of Reinhold Marxhausen. Double click to enlarge images.

Interior of Marxhausen studio. Outline on floor marked where Reinhold assembled mosaic wood and colored glass for two murals in Nebraska State Capitol.

Paul Marxhausen, son Reinhold and Dorris, works for the University of Nebraska, as Supervisor of the Engineering Electronics Shop. 

"My warmest thoughts are with you from California to Seward, Nebraska especially on this day. 

What an extraordinary event to celebrate a groundbreaking for a new chapter in the rich lives all of you have experienced at 540 North Columbia Ave.  I cherish the memories of my many visits there with you, Dorris & Marx.    I join you in looking forward to the delight of knowing that artists will continue in the Marxhausen legacy of expressing God's eternal gift of art affirming the Good News of life in Christ." Mary Gunderlach.

(Family photos are property of Marxhausen Estate.)