WELCOME TO HAYWOOD STREET:

UPDATES:

On behalf of everyone here at Haywood Street, Happy Easter! Please join us for a Sunrise Service in the Haywood gardens at 6:45am on Sunday morning! Afterwards, there will be an Easter breakfast feast from 8:30-10.

The last day to drop off donations at the clothing closet is on Tuesday the 19th. Stop by anytime between 10am-12pm!

COMPANION CORNER:

  • Art Room Companions Needed! – The I Am Home Art Project is in need of weekly companions. Click here to learn more about the project and how you can get involved!

  • To provide a meal for our friends and staff in Respite, sign up on the Meal Train. With current COVID rates as low as they are, companions are now invited to eat dinner in Respite with residents. Additionally, Respite is continuously seeking companions to be in Respite and spend time with our friends. If you are interested, please let me know!

  • Next Companion Orientation this Monday May 2nd at 5:00pm in the sanctuary – invite your friends to become companions at Haywood Street! Register here: https://fb.me/e/1B5vIrdlG

A Reflection from Rob Rikoon:

Steel Sculpture titled “Crucification”

As a long time egg tempera painter, moving to recycled steel sculpture has been a joy. I would not have been able to create this piece without the help of several people. The figure and cross, which hopefully will rise around Easter time, will be able to be seen from the church itself, Patton Avenue, and to travelers entering Asheville on I – 240 East. The sheer weight of the materials, the physical labor and the requisite dirt, danger, and determination involved in working with steel makes sculpture a collaborative art form. It is a welcome change from the solitude of easel painting that I know so well.

The “Crucifixion” theme is one of minister Brian Combs’s favorites, as anyone who has been in his office will note. In my piece, the figure takes on a universal characteristic which is neither male nor female. The expression that the viewer sees on the “face” depends on one’s frame of mind, like looking at the reflection of one’s own appearance in a still body of water. The head is turned upward as a sign of hope, relief, and transcendence. The body is made of recycled pipes and tubes gleaned through dumpster diving at various industrial fabrication sites.

Over time, raw steel gives way to oxidation and  rust, which will eventually result in layers of character like the faces and bodies of those who gather at Haywood Street Church for meals, clothing, and personal services. One universal characteristic of human life is physical suffering, hopefully accompanied by spiritual transcendence as this is what is meant to be portrayed in the modernistic steel “Crucifixion.”

 We want to express an immense thank you to Rob for putting such care and thought into his beautiful new piece and wanting to display it in the Haywood Street Gardens. We hope you’ll come and enjoy a meditative visit of this new piece of art in the garden.