Centennial Heritage Wall display completed
It depicts the first 100 years of what is now known as Cross Keys Village – The Brethren Home Community, and it does so in striking decorative tiles. It is now available for public viewing.
“It” is the Centennial Heritage Wall display, located near the West Entrance to the Health Care Center at Cross Keys. The wall section is nearly 30 feet long and includes seven major panels – each one a square measuring three-and-one-half feet across diagonally and made up of between 50 and 100 different tile pieces. Three of the pieces show buildings (the original Huntsdale Home, the converted Cross Keys Hotel and Nicarry Meetinghouse representing today’s facilities. Three show contemporary campus scenes, and the seventh is a depiction of feet-washing, a distinctive element of the Church of the Brethren faith tradition.
Words like “love,” “patience,” “strength” and “empathy” surround the scenes.
Below the large panels is a timeline of 35 significant milestones in the first century of what was founded as “The Brethren’s Home” in 1908.
The display was created by Karen Singer Tileworks of Philadelphia. Singer and Ben Myerov designed and executed the tiles in consultation with numerous Cross Keys team members, residents and volunteers.
A booklet is being produced to explain the display and its creation. On Saturday, Aug. 9, during the 48th Annual Chicken Barbecue, Car Show & Auction at Cross Keys, the Centennial Wall will be available for public viewing, and guides will be available at various times during the day.
The wall was a gift in memory of the Rev. Dr. Wayne A. and Frances O. Nicarry made by their children, Ronald L. and Barbara L. Nicarry and Wayne F. and Hattie M. Nicarry.
The West Entrance opens at 7:30 a.m. daily and closes at 8:00 p.m. (times subject to change during other seasons). It is best reached by entering campus on Village Drive from U.S. 30 (next to the self-storage facility and the electronic billboard).
Click here for photos of the Centennial Heritage Wall display being installed.
The following is a story about the creation of the wall. It originally appeared in Crossing Points, a publication of Cross Keys Village – The Brethren Home Community.
Centennial Heritage Wall display completed
By Donna H. Barthle
The Centennial Heritage Display wall commemorates a century of Christian caring by all who have worked at or otherwise supported “The Brethren Home,” both in Huntsdale and since 1952 at Cross Keys.
It is a major part of the organization’s Centennial celebration.
It began as a mere idea, but one that caught fire. Early in 2004, the Centennial Steering Committee began identifying focal points for a permanent display using the timeline developed for the 90th anniversary celebration (earlier discussions had been taking place for two years). The idea also caught the imagination of the Nicarry family who funded the project in memory of Wayne A. Nicarry and Frances O. Nicarry.
The first step for artist Karen Singer was getting to know the culture and history of the organization and choosing images to represent the focal points. She then prepared a watercolor drawing and sought input from the Steering Committee.
Once the project had taken shape, Singer and her staff enlarged drawings of each image onto heavy plastic sheets. They placed the sheets over large slabs of clay and traced the images onto the clay. They next textured or sculpted parts of each image for 3 dimensional relief. Each clay panel was then cut into smaller pieces along existing lines in the image. She then numbered the back of each piece and made a map so each panel could later be reassembled.
The pieces were bisque fired in the kiln to further remove moisture and produce a hard surface. Each firing takes several days, and the temperature is slowly raised and lowered so as not to damage the pieces.
Once the tiles cooled, Singer and her staff scrubbed the surface of each piece to remove fingerprint oil or dust, chose colors and began painting on one, two or three coats of glaze depending on the depth of color wanted. The pieces were then fired a second time in the kiln. After reassembling the panels, checking the colors and the overall ‘look and feel,’ singer adjusted the colors and fired the tiles again.
Once the pieces cooled, Singer and her staff reassembled and attached each panel to special backer boards and grouted the cut lines. In the last and final step, they worked with Cross Keys’ Roger Turner and other Maintenance team members to mount the panels for permanent display.
This element of the Centennial Wall shows the tiles that depict the bell tower, pond, fountain and Main Building as they are today.
Tiles come out of the kiln at Karen Singer Tileworks in Philadelphia.
A Little about the artist
Karen Singer, born in Wisconsin, earned her master’s in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to study at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and apprenticed at Moravian Pottery and Tileworks in Doylestown.
As an artist, Singer enjoys working on a large canvas and is fascinated by relief – “a magical place where flat surfaces become three-dimensional.” She found that tile, as a medium, offered her the opportunity to do large custom art, but in small pieces that she could control at every stage.
Her more than 70 works can be seen from Pennsylvania to California.
Karen Singer at work in her studio
