“He fades back to pass…here comes the blitz! He’s scrambling, picks up a good block. He’s looking downfield….looking….looking….scrambling way out to the right, now. Finds his man. He let’s it go: It’s a high-flying ‘Hail Mary’ pass into double-coverage in the end zone! The receiver’s up. He’s got it! He’s got it! TOUCHDOWN, JESUS!!!!
As promised, here is “Touchdown Jesus” as depicted on the outside of the sanctuary of First Lutheran Church in Brookings, South Dakota. I’m not completely certain that he looks that much like a “Touchdown Jesus”, but that’s how the locals refer to him. I was especially enamored with the homey touch of Christmas lights strung across his forehead and which get shadowed just above his neck. In September. And no doubt year-round. But undoubtedly the fine believers who worship at First Lutheran Church aren’t rednecks. Absolutely not.To me, it kind of looks like Jesus is hanging for dear life on the tightrope of organized religion, but I’ll tactfully not go there.
PhotoShop Contest:
If you care to, you may click on Touchdown Jesus to download a relatively high-resolution file for your very own personal photoshoppy madness. Contact me if you need a higher-resolution file: the one I’m giving you is about 1/3 camera resolution.
What I thought would be fun is this:, I’m kind of wondering what happened to Touchdown Jesus’ feet. I mean, they were supposedly nailed to the cross, right? So how they turned up missing on the poor guy is a bit of a mystery. Comment below with a link to your photoshoppy solutions to this conundrum, and I’ll figure out some sort of nifty prize for the winner(s).
Photograph Copyright © 2007 Dawnne Gee.
Profile: i write things. sometimes not too poorly, even. i photograph things. i don't capture them, but i render how the appeared to me, or perhaps how i might have seen them if i'd been looking in a different way. i don't believe in finalities, and new beginnings are old hat with me. i am not what i appear to be, or even what i think i am. i am, in a nutshell, a nut. eat me, or feed me to an elephant.
10 Comments, Comment or Ping
Bing McGhandi
I’m going to blow you away with my Mosaic Knowledge now. It’s like my superpower.
The mosaic, “Christ the King,” was made in St. Louis by the Ravenna Mosaic Company after plans designed by Robert Harmon, a local (St. Louis) artist who worked with the Ravenna Company. Ravenna got the contract through the good offices of the Emil Frei art glass company, with whom the German mosaic firm Puhl-Wagner-Heinersdorf partnered to originally found the Ravenna Company, primarily to do work on the St. Louis Cathedral, planned to be the largest collection of mosaics in the world. Heinersdorf was a Jew who perished in the Holocaust. Wagner, who I believe had become an American, returned to Germany and became a bigwig in the Ministry of Propaganda. His boss reported to Goebbels. He was returned to the US after the war and seems to have gotten a plea bargain to testify against more important bastards. He died in exile in South Africa. I know nothing about Puhl.
The Ravenna Company was first contacted about the possible commission in Brookings on 6 May 1957. By 15 Oct, the mosaics were completed in the St. Louis studio. The mosaicists shipped the entire mosaic, which was glued in reverse onto pieces of paper. When the crates arrived in Brookings, they were reassembled on the site. The installation of the mosaics on 25 Oct 1957 was postponed because the weather was decided to be too cold and would effect the cement. They were installed on 15 May 1958.
FYI, he was designed by the same artist as did “Touchdown Jesus” at Notre Dame, my alma mater.
And it’s perfect how it is, if Jesus was a Merman.
Howe’s that for an unexpected amount of information?
HJ
Sep 24th, 2007
Bing McGhandi
You just happen to be in contact with the only person in the world who would be able to tell you that.
How strange is that?
HJ
Sep 24th, 2007
commander other
i am ashamed, Bing. i should have known Jesus was a merman. i’ve always thought there was something fishy about him.
Sep 24th, 2007
FranIAm
Jesus F-ing Christ. On a football.
Amen!
Sep 24th, 2007
Bing Mcghandi
It’s a great picture! Do you know who took it? I would very much like to ask for a copy to be donated to my university’s library.
Sep 24th, 2007
commander other
um….you’re kidding, right? about the first question?
Sep 25th, 2007
Bing McGhandi
Nope the recent picture we have is from around the 1950s.
HJ
Sep 25th, 2007
commander other
lol…okee…i thought my credit on the photo was pretty obvious, lol. had a link and everything, even mentioning the difference in captured and presented resolutions. silly Bing. don’t pretend you have better things to do than read my fine print!
hit me via email at commander[dot]other[at]otherwhirled[dot]com and tell me what you need me to do.
Sep 25th, 2007
Bing McGhandi
Wilco…
Sep 27th, 2007
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