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.)

over this come reveal

In a valley dark or a desert dry, when the Word comes forth and the Lord draws nigh. In a common place filled with common sounds, it is in his presence I find holy ground.

In the shade of a tree and the sound of birds, he recalls to my heart all his precious words. As he feeds 
creation so he strengthens me. He increases joy to my frailty.

 
As he holds me close with a warm embrace, with his presence near tears come to my face. And the shame I feel is replaced with AWE. What a comfort sweet, he's my all-in-all.

The ground breaks soon on the 540 lot. A new thing will begin next month. I sang love songs over property. His hand opening hearts, stirring tears afresh, new love. Come near. Spring up afresh. Maker breaker break me. Draw me. Pour out your magnificence on Jesus the Christ, your son, my king.
 
Infinite mercy
moves into my life, His awesome relationship and holy sacrifice. Ever the faithful One, you draw me close to Thee. You're God's greatest provision. Jesus, I receive.
Well you made this move towards me, before I came to be. Where I fall short day by day.You show me that you love me. Nothing I can do can lift me up to where you are. And yet you stand beside me. Jesus, I'm yours. In undeserved communion, Jesus, I'm yours.

Well the rock began to shout from every hill. The sky bowed down to listen and the wind was still. Sparrows from the roof they dropped to the ground. A crowd of villagers gathered around. 

A donkey and a man are what the people saw. Nature knew his presence and stood in awe. One by one the children called on his name. The wild ox and goats did the same. Baaaaaaaa! Ittizy, it is he. He's the master of redemption it is he. Ittizzy, it is he. He's the fire of fire, Spirit higher than me.


Greater than gold and sweeter than honey, your words are the source of the JOY that I know. I thank you my God, Creator, and Teacher for all of the goodness to me that you show.

   My eye stares down. down into the green among the blades. an eighth of an inch across, this blue blossom. and then another and two more the same size.

May you have the following you deserve, Jesus. We lift you up, your name as gold. Your words run fast, and you are ever bold. Jehovah, your Son, my King. Eternal life to me, your very life to me, is what he brings.
Jesus you know, Me through and through. No other is, as grand as you. Your Father sends his very best. Savior so fine, Jesus the Christ you give me rest.
The Spirit gave, and leads me still. To know you better, and to do your will. Jehovah dear, Spirit alive and true. The Son, my Lord. I love you more. Oh Jesus, you.

songs by karl marxhausen: All In All. Following. Infinite Mercy.Darling-Beloved.You Come. My Father. Ittizzy ( It Is He ). What He Brings. All rights reserved.

dirt turns over soon at 540 North Columbia. site Center for the Liturgical Arts. Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska.

prepared site

One Saturday I met a man who had known my father. He and my dad became friends and colleagues while teaching at Concordia University in Seward. But before they ever met --- Harvey Lange was impressed by the mural Reinhold Marxhausen painted on the east wall of the Brommer Dining Hall. (Drawing sketch, next. Estate photo, an excerpt from The Witness, January 1953. Golden Embers 1953 yearbook photo, page 62)

Marxy, as he was known on campus, had depicted "God's majestic hand," Lange told the Alumni Gathering on Homecoming weekend. The Aid Association for Lutherans printed the color image of the mural for its 1953 calendar. Double click to enlarge images.

Both Harvey and his wife Carol were very struck by that painting. As of yet they had not met Marxhausen. Lange wrote to Marxy and paid him 100 dollars to do a Christmas painting.

The work measured 36 by 24 inches. It consisted of a blazing flame in the shape of the Holy Spirit, a shaft of light which pierced through a night sky of blue. The earth below was black. Marxy told Lange the swirling figures within the light were based on figures Van Gogh had done. In the foreground one could make out the little town of Bethlehem. Marxy called the piece "a radiant hallelujah chorus."

Marxy told Harvey Lange that the painting was not on canvas but on hard masonite. He painted it with auto lacquer. Which made the work child proof. Nothing would mess up the painted surface.

From the same photos --- that the Concordia repository now has on Reinhold Marxhausen --- I recognize the white garage behind my father, the sidewalk that had been recently poured, the same one Dad had us boys draw in. There were cars in the background, across the street in the gravel parking lot, that years later would become the Campus Center. Our address was 199 College Avenue. The yard where my brother Paul and I played. My dad painted the hallelujah chorus around 1960. Later, when our family moved over to Columbia and Lincoln, that white house and the white garage would become the first Art Annex for the college in 1965. Still later, the same building was torn down to make way for the Dorcas dorm.

In 1964 Harvey and Carol Lange moved to Seward, Nebraska. They lived at 2nd and Moffitt. Harvey taught Religion classes at Concordia.

During the early 60's Dad built a studio behind our house on Columbia, in order to assemble the mosaic murals for the Nebraska State Capitol.

 
In 1977 Marxy gave Lange a welded sculpture he had made called "Victory." It depicted a germinating seed pushing through clods of earth. A motif Marxhausen used to represent Christ's resurrection from the dead. Marxy had created the piece when he was at Mills College in 1962. He only asked that the work be always available for any exhibit that came up.

When his illness had taken hold of Marxy, his wife Dorris told Harvey not to expect much conversation from him. Determined, Lange brought up the subject with Marxy. What he got instead was a conversation about the need for visual arts within the church. Congregations have a minister of music. They should consider having a minister of art.

Lange conferred with collegue Chuck Dull. Dull had started the Director of Christian Education (DCE) program at Concordia University. At one time this ministry did not exist. Then the program became established at Concordia and it continues to this day to send out qualified workers to serve congregations.

Lange foresaw a foundation for Concordia Teachers College. A liturgical art faculty. He had seen the what Arlen Meyer had done over the years for the St. John Church in Seward - visually celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Marxy had created sculptures for the church narthex, which corresponded with the pastor's sermon. Lange could see a program established to foster liturgical art. Lange said it was paramount to get input from churches and then design a means for carrying it out.

Lange asked Arlen Meyer to bring this idea before the Art Department. To hire a part-time person. The reply was that their hands were already full. After much consideration the Board of Regents approved it.

It turns out that Harvey Lange, the man I have now met, has greatly helped to fund the Center for the Liturgical Arts for the past twelve years. The Center began in 2003 under Ken Schmidt. It continued under Mike Strand and now Mark Anschutz.  Who knew? I had not. But I know now.

Harvey Lange acknowledges the hand of the Lord.

Yes yes yes yes. That is to say, some One is leading. The hand of the Lord is leading. I believe Marxy was led to Seward. And he followed. The Lord led him toward each project. The Brommer mural, the State Capitol murals, stardust on the David Letterman show --- Marxy, being both a teacher and a learner himself. The creating process as a believer and as an artist is about listening, honoring, being led, and giving thanks to that Hand of God - For He IS ABLE.

Soon ground will be broken on what once was the Marxhausen property. It was gifted to the university by the family. A new facility for the Center. Impossible things have become possible. It is the activity of our engaged Lord.

Harvey Lange is correct. What is going on it truly miraculous!!!!!

Three minutes. In 2013 the house where my brother and I grew up was still standing at 540 North Columbia in Seward, Nebraska. My mother Dorris still lived at the Arbors in Lincoln. My father was laid to rest in 2011. His grand daughter, my niece, Anne Marxhausen resided at the house and took care of the property. This was how the yard and studio looked back then. Anne had her own projects going on in the studio. You can see the landscaping and greenery my mother had planted. Aspens tall and seedlings from the Poconos in Jersey.

Three minutes. In 2016 the Marxhausen property was given to Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. The former house was taken down and the lot prepared as the future site of the Center for Liturgical Arts. Plans have been drawn up to include the existing Reinhold Marxhausen studio, and to build additional studios on the same lot.  

Actual drawings of the planned center (photos by Paul Marxhausen)

X-ray view, side elevations, note the echo of the existing studio, 

 floor plan

site plan, smaller square is existing studio.

The front door will be what Marxy did for the 540 North Columbia house, gorgeous in satin polyurethane.

administrative desk in the basement of Jesse Hall.

Worship song. Karl Marxhausen (1989) Four minutes.

"Celebration is more heart than head, more faith than sight, more confession than consumption as we live under God's promise in Christ. We are the Lord's. Here is the Celebration."  Harvey Lange     (1971 Tower yearbook, page 86)Lange

Right photo, "Harvey Lange was making an intense point to my brother Karl.  It was great to talk with Harvey and Carol and understand the depth of their commitment to the CLA project."    Paul Marxhausen


Karl Marxhausen interview with Harvey Lange, Saturday, October 8th, 2016. Phone conversation, October 20th, 2016.

blogger Josh Duncan

Josh Duncan is a junior at Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. 

His blog is called  "Reinhold Marxhausen -- A place where his work can live."   http://www.marxhausen.blogspot.com I caught up with Mr. Duncan at his home in Hickman, Nebraska and conducted this short interview. For the interview in its entirety, click on the 3 minute video below.

Josh: "Well, Reinhold just does art that is fascinating, I like that he is fascinated with light, and I like how he makes connections between his art and his Christian faith. And the idea of accidents, being something that God blesses as well. All that, especially the connection with his faith appeals to me, I think that it is really important for Christian artists to understand that about him."

Karl: "How did you first hear about him?"

Josh: "It was through Professor Anshutz's class. I had heard his name, because it was the Marxhausen Gallery. But all I knew about the Marxhausen Gallery was that it was named after some guy called "Marxhausen." Then, as I saw  his artwork, and especially read and talk about his artwork, then I realized, you know, why he got that gallery named after him... Everybody I talked to, science teachers, guys who went into banking, they all remember Marxhausen, and they all talked about how he changed the way they looked at the world. Everybody, not just art students, were influenced or inspired by him."

Karl: "Who is Anshutz?"

Josh: "Anshutz is the professor of Concordia. He teaches the CLA classes.

The CLA does work for churches across the country."

Karl: "What is the CLA?"

Josh: "The Center for Liturgical Art. (Professor) Anshutz was a student of Marxhausen's. He called him "one of his art dads." He has been encouraging his students to learn more about Marxhausen. The things he taught his art students twenty years ago are true today."

Karl: "What are some of the other names of students who have worked on this project?"

Josh: "Amber Kones is a big one. She founded it originally. Abbey Lange is a graduate who has been working with Anshutz this year. She has put an exhibition together of Marxhausen's work."

Karl: "What year are you at Concordia University?"

Josh: " I am a Junior this year. One more year of studying for me...

I believe that artists ought try to educate others. A lot of artists I think are more interested in just their art career or selling their work. Marxhausen is a guy who helps other people see what he is seeing. He had a lot of events called "Do You See What I See?" I think artists need to be good advocates of why art is important. And Marxhausen was that."

Karl: "Thank you very much."

You can read his posts here. For more about the CLA, click here. 

The men in black, Karl and Josh.