Stations in the Street
“I think the stations are for everyone, because they are a meditation on being human, so I wanted people to see them without the hurdle of having to enter a religious space.”
Practice
from scottericksonart.com
Purchase the posters.
Download and print them at a local print shop.
Install the posters in your place.
Share the story of Jesus in a creative way.
The practice began with a question. “What can we do to share the Easter story with people in our neighborhood?” Mark Grapengater had recently moved to the Hampden Heights neighborhood, but in the Spring of 2020, navigating the early days of the pandemic, a neighborhood gathering on Easter Sunday was unlikely. Mark considered the art installation, Stations in the Street, “I think this is something we can do.” He recalled the first neighborhood sidewalk installation with a holy nostalgia. “We printed out 36 x 48 architectural size prints from FedEx, made a flower paste, and called neighbors, Christians and non-Christians, and said, ‘I have some art pieces about Jesus. Can I put them on the sidewalk in front of your house?’” Their response was surprising to Mark: “Absolutely.”
Stations in the Street was created by Scott Erickson. “These stations are a cross-section of elements, ideas, and objects from Jesus’ journey to the cross.” Scott writes on his website. Stations of the Cross began as pilgrims retraced Jesus’ steps to his crucifixion in Jerusalem. The Stations of the Cross were recreated in local contexts and have become a part of Christian tradition over the centuries. Erickson created Stations in the Street as a contemporary interpretation of the historic tradition. His art, in various expressions of a cross, invites reflection and contemplation. “I think the stations are for everyone, no matter your religious affiliation, because they are a meditation on being human, so I wanted people to see them without the hurdle of having to enter a religious space,” wrote Erickson.
“People came from all over the city to see them and walk them,” Mark recalls about the first year of the practice. “People are less intimidated by it. Art speaks something particular to people in the place where they are.” Mark installed Stations in the Street by putting two of the large posters on the driveway in front of his house, one at a next door neighbor’s, then another across the street. The Stations continued on sidewalks behind their home and eventually circled around. He placed maps and prayer guides in the kind of boxes realtors use to guide people through the practice. “If you were just going to walk it, it would maybe be 15 minutes,” Mark said, “If you're going to walk, and read, and reflect—it could be an hour.”
He returns to the tangible practice of the Stations of the Street in his neighborhood each year during Holy Week. “Some of my neighbors have reached out to me before I reach out to them, both Christian and non-Christian, asking, ‘Are you going to do the posters again this year?’” Every year, except for one with an exceptionally wet Holy Week, he recreates the art installation in his neighborhood. The practice embodies the incarnation. The posters collect dirt, wear, and often tear. By Easter Sunday, the story of Jesus has been shared with hundreds of neighbors walking their everyday routes to parks, school, and work. Some aware, and many unaware, of who they are walking beside in the Stations of the Street.
Thank you to Mark Grapengater for his contribution to this article and his ongoing expressions of hospitality through The Table Project to his neighbors and neighborhood.
