How can a work of art reflect 500 years of Mennonite community, persecution, migration, and settlement?
Metal artist, Jo-Anne Harder, has managed to express the Mennonite experience on 41 copper panels of a multilayered sculpture. This masterpiece was recently presented to Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo.
The large sculpture, entitled “Ties that Bind”, explores themes of place, memory, and identity. Filled with symbols and blurred images of landscape, religious and cultural life, family, work, and education, the piece examines a psychology of separation along with a gradual assimilation and engagement between Mennonites and the world. Harder said her sculpture tells
a story about a deep sense of loss due to the many migrations, yet this sadness is often overshadowed by an endless resilience and hope for new beginnings.
After spending three months in the Grebel library researching Mennonite history, as well as digging through her own family archives, Harder began preliminary plans of the piece.
I wanted to include all parts of the Mennonite story. That story includes the Russian Mennonites, Swiss Mennonites (Amish and Pennsylvania German), the early Anabaptists, as well as the global Mennonite community we have today,
Harder remarked. While gathering inspiration was easy enough, choosing from hundreds of images was the hard part. Harder said:
I needed images to represent historical experiences that formed what the Mennonites have become.
There are countless images incorporated into Harder’s sculpture. Many are open to interpretation, while some have more definite meaning. The sculpture really needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, but this description will give you a good introduction to the piece.
The sculpture is divided into seven rows, with four to seven plates in each row – similar to a patchwork quilt. The plates are arranged in no particular order, but each plate focuses on one main element in Mennonite history. Harder chose to work with individual panels to emphasize the Mennonite history of separation. With a “Y” shape breaking up the sculpture, the overall image is one of an envelope made of quilt pieces. The envelope is important because many stories are recorded only in letters. In fact, Harder even included an etched letter from her grandfather to his parents as a young boy in 1900.
To reflect early Anabaptist history, Harder included a picture of Menno Simons in the sculpture, as well as some pictures of persecution from the “Martyr’s Mirror”. The words “sola scriptura” inscribed on the sculpture mean “only scripture” referring to the early beliefs that faith is guided by scripture alone, and cannot be dictated by a priest. Chicken wire used throughout the piece represents imprisonment, and relates not only to the early martyrs, but also to Mennonites throughout history.
Some Swiss Mennonite images in the sculpture include a patchwork quilt plate and a panel of shaped notes – an early method of reading music. A pie in the corner is also reminiscent of the Pennsylvania German shoe-fly-pie. A woman in a head covering symbolizes the belief of a woman’s need to cover her hair before God.
The tight-knit Russian Mennonite communities are symbolized by a house plan of a traditional Russian house as well as a map of a “street village” – the standard settlement pattern. Ingredients for borscht can also be found in the sculpture. As part of the “Y” shape, a large empty strip runs through the sculpture, with two braces to bridge the gap. The space represents the crossing of rivers that have been important in Mennonite history. Specifically, the river Dneiper, the main river in the Ukraine, was a vital part of Russian living.
When the Russian Mennonites began their exodus out of Russia and into Germany, Canada, the USA, and Paraguay, they considered themselves free from oppression when their train passed through the Red Gate in Latvia. This image is clear in the sculpture, and the train tracks lead to a road in a big city, as well as the vast western prairies. This juxtaposition of lifestyles emphasises the historical uprootedness and settlement of the Mennonites. A copy of someone’s immigration documents is beside the Red Gate, showing the transition from one life to the next.
Mennonites as a collective have a rich choral tradition, and music pieces of different backgrounds are placed in the sculpture. As well, communion bread and wine, to represent belief in Jesus’ life and resurrection, are included in the art piece.
In the past 50 years, Mennonites have spread through the whole world. The plate in the bottom right corner of the sculpture shows Mennonites of all ethnicities coming together with religious freedom to praise God. There are circles placed throughout sculpture, representing the world, and different worlds colliding. One image has seeds scattered around the earth, showing the global spread of Mennonites.
Marlene Epp, History Professor at Conrad Grebel attempted to describe the words ‘past (im)perfect’ inscribed on the sculpture, suggesting that the past, while imperfect, is sometimes idealized to the point of perfection in people's memories.
Since the sculpture took a better part of a year to create, Harder understandably included a lot of herself in the sculpture. The most meaningful parts of the sculpture for her were based on visual memories of her childhood. As a child, Harder was drawn to layouts of buildings, which was why she included traditional floor plans of Mennonite houses. Also, she grew up on a fruit farm, so the image of the ladder reminds her of picking cherries, just as countless other Mennonites grew up with a similar agricultural background.
According to Harder, the name of the sculpture has a double-edged meaning.
Ties can bind you or constrain you, generally holding you back. Historically and spiritually, we are bound to each other. While it is a wonderful closeness, we are still bound by restrictions and our growth has been hampered. [Harder says the title also holds personal meaning.] The past is binding, and has a direct effect on the future. I am bound to my past, and it has most certainly influenced who I am today.
Henry Paetkau, Conrad Grebel President, said the sculpture
adds an element of a quality of meaning to our new atrium and is a great conversation piece.” [Harder noted that] it’s a real honour, a dream really, to have my work in this beautiful space.
As a whole, “Ties that Bind” is an amazing collection of Mennonite stories. Like a patchwork quilt, each piece compliments the one beside it, and forms the whole of the Mennonite experience. Conrad Grebel is blessed to have such an amazing piece of art in their care.
Harder, hailing from the Fergus/Elora area, works mainly with abstract, free standing, welded, and steel sculptures. She is
drawn to the inherent beauty and unique qualities of the metal itself [and in spite of its strength, she is] always surprised by its flexibility.
She loves the way scrap metal can take on a whole new life and significance when it is heated, etched, welded, or scored. Contemporary architecture, prehistoric shapes, music, the landscape and the people that surround her, endlessly influence Harder’s work and her life.
“Ties that Bind” is made of copper and brass on wood. Harder brought her sculpture to life using solder, etching tools, acids, hammers, inks, paint, and metal cutters.