People don’t see religious miracles every day, but in everyday life, small miracles happen all the time.
When Anders Johnson—a Santa Barbara man of no religious persuasion—was inspired to build a tribute to the Virgin of Guadalupe in the city of Guadalupe, it may not have been a Vatican-classified miracle, but it was a blessing nonetheless.
Johnson, a stonemason and sculptor by trade, said he sees it as something he was meant to do, a gesture of peace and inspiration for others to give of themselves as well.
“With impetus, with a push, people can do marvelous things,” he said. “The miracle is in the act of giving. The miracle for me is I get to do this.”
Johnson just finished building an alcove, which houses a limestone statue of the Virgin, on a Guadalupe lot he bought from a neighbor about a year ago. He purchased the property sight unseen hoping to one day put a building on it, but with no real definite plans.
“Then I got here and thought, “Wow, what a cool place,” he said.
Still not sure what to do with it, Johnson was open to ideas. Then a series of events inspired him: His sister lost her house in the recent Tea Fire in Santa Barbara. All that remained was a tile mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
“She’s always been fascinated with the Virgin of Guadalupe. She’s not particularly religious, she just loves the image, she reveres anything Guadalupe,” Johnson said.
After that, he said, he began to see signs everywhere, including on the lot he owned on Guadalupe Street in the city of Guadalupe, where the mayor is named Guadalupe Alvarez. Johnson decided that he couldn’t dismiss the coincidence.
He decided to make an alcove to house a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
“If the mayor was named Buddha and I had a lot on a street named Buddha in a town named Buddha, I’d probably have been making a statue of Buddha,” he said.
Guadalupe’s Mayor Alvarez said that from an aesthetic point of view, the project may be just the thing to stimulate artistic minds in the area.
“We don’t have much art around Guadalupe, other than some of the beautiful headstones at the cemetery,” the mayor said. “So I hope it will encourage other people to create some type of art in other areas of Guadalupe.”
From a religious perspective, Alvarez, a Catholic, said he believes others of the Catholic faith will be drawn to the city’s downtown to see the Virgin—and then will visit some of the city’s other features, like its museums and shops.
“The way I see it, it will create another reason to make our downtown more vibrant and stimulating,” he said.
Alvarez theorized that the community, a strong majority of which adheres to the Catholic faith, will also appreciate the gift.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is an icon that represents the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The story explains that she appeared from Dec. 9 to 12 in 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City, thus the image is a significant one to Catholics of Mexican ancestry.
Johnson’s alcove and statue sit steps away from the Royal Theatre downtown.
“It’s gonna be gorgeous,” Johnson said, beaming with pride in the days before the project’s completion.
Many of Johnson’s friends jumped on board when he explained his idea. Architect friend Jeff Shelton of Santa Barbara worked up some sketches. Another friend spent about $300 for some of the tile that lines the alcove. Yet another friend donated her time and skill to create a tile mural that says “And you, you who are my messenger, in you I place my absolute trust,” written in English, Spanish, and Nahuatl, the language the Virgin spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego.
The statue itself is 300 pounds of painted limestone trimmed with goldleaf.
“It’s amazing how people have responded even though it’s not religious for us,” Johnson said. “It’s a spirit of generosity.”
The Virgin will look a little more native, Johnson said, indicating that she’ll reflect a look more consistent with where she appeared and less like the Europeanization she’s been given in more recent centuries.
Overall, the project came together rather quickly. Johnson got the idea a little more than a month ago. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the project a little more than three weeks ago, and the alcove took two weeks to complete.
“The commission said, ‘You’re going to do what? What does that profit you?’” Johnson said. “The profit is getting to do this. It’s a way of sharing a concept. It’s a very gracious thing.”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone has never met a mayor named Buddha. E-mail her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 18-25, 2008.
