Path to Christ depicted in new mural for St. Francis of Assisi Parish

Intermountain Catholic

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Artist Jim McGee stands on the panels of the mural he is creating for Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church; the panels are shown on the floor of Juan Diego Catholic High School's Great Hall. Courtesy photo/Jim McGee

DRAPER — Last fall, Father David Bittmenn, pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orem, and members of the parish building committee faced the question of how to decorate the new church that is being raised.

"We realized there are a lot of big walls in this building and we didn't want to leave them blank," Fr. Bittmenn said, adding that the building committee had the idea of a journey as helping to determine the artistic elements of the church.

"We wanted to reflect something about what church is," Fr. Bittmenn explained. "Church is a journey, and a path is a symbol of a journey."

Committee members decided a mural would be appropriate for the new church. After a search for artists both locally and on the East Coast, Jim McGee was chosen. McGee has taught art at Juan Diego Catholic High School for six years; he has a degree in illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, worked as a professional illustrator and attended the University of Utah as a graduate student in painting.

"Jim had all the right qualifications," Fr. Bittmenn said, adding that the committee members liked McGee's realistic rendering of a path, whereas many of the other artists submitted proposals that were abstract art.

McGee's mural depicts a diverse group of people on a mountainous path toward a sunrise. The mural will be mounted on the wall behind the church's crucifix, Fr. Bittmenn said.

"The people are doing different things on the path because we're doing different things on a journey. The journey goes through the cross just as our path goes through the cross. There's more light on the mural after you go through the cross, reflecting the fact that people are supposed to go on their journey through the cross to the light," he said.

Now at the stage of fine-tuning the detail on the work, which is 27 feet wide and 24 feet tall, McGee said he was apprehensive when he first took the assignment because of the project's scale: The mural is much larger than he had ever attempted.

"All of the paintings I had done [before] fit nicely on an easel, so this was a terrifying experience at times," he said.

Although he dreaded having to stand on scaffolding to complete the mural, he learned that most modern murals are done in panels on a material called parachute cloth. Once the mural is complete, the panels adhere seamlessly to the wall.

McGee has incorporated numerous Catholic symbols in the mural, including bread, a chalice, a snake and a basket of fish. The path, while realistically drawn, also is symbolic of Christians' journey toward Christ.

"It's not a calm path," he said. "It's got some twists and some turns and some uneven surfaces."

For the people in the mural, he used as models some of his Juan Diego colleagues and students. The painted figures are diverse, from a child holding a bread basket to an older woman carrying a lamp.

Hali Jansen, JDCHS Class of '10, was McGee's assistant on the project over the summer, helping him transfer the sketch to the parachute cloth.

"This is a huge undertaking, and I think that my relationship with God has made it even more of a deep, meaningful experience," McGee said. "I'm a cradle Catholic. I understand how meaningful this is to so many different people; how they're going to be looking at this for so many hours. I want it to be accessible to everyone, from the little kid who is maybe a little bored? Everyone can look at one of those figures and relate to them. I want them to relate to it, to put themselves on that path, to identify with one of the people."

The new Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church is expected to open in January. Fr. Bittmenn said the building committee is considering commissioning other murals to finish the church.