St. Paul’s shows off its pRYEde
November 7, 2024 at 12:11 a.m.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 761 King St. has been working towards delivering a message.
“We have been very interested in being more inclusive,” Pastor Jim O’Hanlon said during a phone call on Oct. 7. “It’s a way of fulfilling the call given to us to be a help to our neighbors.”
One way of visually representing that idea is the mural that sits beside the church’s entrance.
The artwork, titled “Love,” was unveiled to the congregation during a brief ceremony on Oct. 6. O’Hanlon said it’s the current resting spot of the 2023 iteration of an annual project.
“It’s the mural that was created for the Pride Festival at Rye Town Park,” he explained. “The idea with those murals is that they travel to various communities in the area before settling on a permanent home.”
The mural project was created by pRYEde, a nonprofit community group dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights, advocacy and education.
“The idea is to get students from all around the area to put something together,” pRYEde Co-Chair Amanda Timchak said. “Visibility is such an important part of making a space feel welcome for people and this is one way we can help with that here.”
Each piece of art has themes and visuals developed entirely by middle and high school students, with assistance from at least one local artist.
“Love” was created by students from Westchester, Rockland and Connecticut, with input from Donna Wundeler, a Rye-based artist who teaches in the Bronx.
After its time being displayed at Rye Town Park, it moved to Crawford Park before finding its way to St. Paul’s Church.
The piece centers on the power of love and how it can bring forth unity and strength. The skeleton featured on it represents the idea that at their very core, all humans are the same.
“I think it’s a very important message to send,” O’Hanlon said. “It’s about removing the idea that some people can be considered an ‘other.’ We want to bring people together.”
He added that while Christianity is often not associated with inclusivity, he believes it should be.
“Christianity has been very patriarchal and imperialistic, but that’s not true to its teachings,” O’Hanlon said. “Promoting love and unity is being true to the teachings.”
Originally two panels of wood in length, the art piece had an extension added so it could fit in the space used for the previous mural, which was longer.
The addition reads: Stop Hate, Spread Love.
“This mural is a physical embodiment of our goal, but specific to the LGBTQ+ community,” the pastor said. “Right now, that community is on the front lines of today’s civil rights movement.”
The previous mural was at the church for a year and O’Hanlon said that’s in the cards for “Love,” but he added that may not be the case.
“This is a relatively new project,” he said. “There’s only been three murals done so far, and I don’t think pRYEde has established where they go every year. But I’d like for us to be a part of that cycle.”
Timchak said pRYEde is still exploring possible venues for each mural to visit but has a general idea of where the group would like each artwork to end up.
“The first one ended up in Rye High School because we had a lot of kids from there work on it that year,” she said. “Since we had a lot of kids from Pelham work on ‘Love,’ it might go there once it leaves St. Paul’s Church. But it might have other stops before then, so keep an eye out for it.”
The next pRYEde mural is in development and will be unveiled at Rye Town Park on May 31, 2025.
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