MURAL MARKS ST. FRANCIS' 125TH ANNIVERSARY

It will be a work of art, but also a historical representation. Sunlight, spotlights and reflections will make it an ever-changing show to watch from the meditation garden at St. Francis Medical Center.

This 7-foot-tall, 45-foot-long bas relief brick mural of St. Francis' history is now being sculpted and by June should grace the second-floor outside wall of the hospital overlooking the garden between St. Francis and the Healing Arts Center.

"We have a rich history that deserves some showcasing, especially as we celebrate our 125th anniversary" said Richard L. Essner Sr., St. Francis' director of environmental engineering.

Creating that showcase is Jay Tschetter of Brickstone Studios of Lincoln, Neb., who has been working the last two months on carving five panels of scenes from the hospital's history.

Essner and William H. Kiel, executive director of the St. Francis Medical Center Foundation, went to Nebraska last week to view the progress on the mural, which includes 27 figures.

"Carving on this has been very time consuming because human anatomy is especially challenging," Tschetter said by phone from his Lincoln studio. "A mural with animals and trees is much more forgiving as opposed to humans who have to look anatomically correct."

The first panel is a scene of the patron saint of the Franciscan Order and for whom the hospital is named, St. Francis of Assisi, seated in a natural setting surrounded by children and wildlife.

The other panels show scenes of caring from each of the four buildings that have housed St. Francis, with the buildings shown in the background.

Panel two shows the Catholic nuns who founded the original 12-bed hospital on Themis Street in 1875. The middle panel shows nuns caring for infants and a doctor tending to a family; in the background is the building at Sprigg and Williams that housed the hospital from 1878 to 1901.

In the background of the fourth panel is the St. Francis building at 801 Good Hope St., which served as a hospital from 1901 to 1975. The panel depicts some of the advances in medicine during this time, with doctors and nurses performing surgery and setting up an IV.

The final panel, which features the present hospital, illustrates major breakthroughs in health care and innovations at the hospital, including a computer and emergency helicopter. But the scene also refers back to the first panel by showing children playing around the statue of St. Francis in front of the present hospital.

"The original idea was to have a mural of St. Francis in the garden," said Kiel, who got the idea for the mural from seeing the brick murals Tschetter had done at Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

But when he presented the idea to the boards of the foundation and medical center, members wanted to expand on the idea.

"They said if we were going to do this, why not fill the whole wall and make it a historical project," Kiel said.

With the many other murals around town, it was thought this one would be something the whole area would appreciate.

"This will be a one-of-a-kind piece that we hope people will come by to see when they come into town," Kiel said.

The mural is being carved into a wall of bricks, each 8 inches deep, 12 inches long and 4 inches high, that has been constructed at Brickstone Studios.

The style is called bas relief, which Tschetter said is an art form that dates back thousands of years and involves carving out figures that are still attached to the wall.

Tschetter used hospital pictures and brochures to draw the figures and buildings on paper. The image was then transferred to the wall of bricks using an overhead projector. Then the carving started, with first the contours, then the details being carved out. Then staining will be done to add accents, Tschetter said. The mural is now about 80 percent complete.

Once the sculpting is completed, the wall will be taken down, with each brick being numbered. The bricks will then be dried and fired.

Then the 20 pallets of bricks will be brought to Cape Girardeau, where Foeste Masonry Inc., overseen by Tschetter, will put it back together using the numbering system.

"It will take about 1 1/2 weeks to install," Tschetter said. Then, after letting the mortar cure for a week, he will do the final clean up and staining.

Because of its three-dimensional appearance, the mural will be an ever-changing artwork, Kiel said.

"As the light changes, as the sun moves across the sky, as the sun is reflected off the walls and the garden, the figures will look different," Kiel said.

The mural will also serve as a reminder of what the hospital has meant in people's lives, Essner said.

"Those who work at this building or worked at the old building can look at the mural with pride," Essner said. "But it will also mean a lot to people whose lives have been touched by this hospital since so many people have been born, died or got well at St. Francis."

Mural information

St. Francis Medical Center Foundation is raising $125,000 to pay for the 45-foot-long, 7-foot-high brick wall sculpture that was commissioned In honor of the medical center's 125th anniversary.

Those who would like to help with memorials and contributions can call 331-5133. Those pledging gifts of $125 will receive a print of the first panel of the sculpture. The first 50 people to pledge $1,125 will receive a miniature mural of the first panel.