St Wilfred’s Garden Altar

St Wilfred’s is a Sarasota Episcopalian church surrounded by  charming wooded grounds. Mother Joyce, the parish priest there, had a vision of a garden worship area where her congregation might gather among the trees and shrubs. Her committee reached out to Splashmosaic to design  a mosaic themed altar and aisle.

International Stone was selected to fabricate a limestone altar with carved insets to receive glass mosaic pieces, while McCall Contracting was chosen to lay the concrete with 1/2 inch inserts for an ornate mosaic aisle and a 3 foot by 3 foot mosaic cross that we called the mat.

My goal was to honor the traditions of the Episcopalian church and at the same time create a space that felt natural and uplifting.

The work features 14 floral inserts corresponding to the 14 Stations of The Cross of a typical Episcopalian church.

The altar feature mosaic is a triptych in stained glass recalling the three crosses on Calvary set against a pure white limestone.

To the front of the Altar is a stained glass and brick paver piece we called the mat, from which the priest can deliver a sermon or dispense the holy communion. The entire pad was given a brownish stain.

All in all, everyone agreed the mosaic was a considerable improvement over the bare concrete pad. It was a very great honor for me to be chosen for this project and to see the local bishop invoke a special blessing on it.

St Wilfreds is at 3773 Wilkinson Rd, Sarasota 34233