Mary Helen MacKillop, mostly known as St Mary of the Cross Mackillop, is the first Australian saint, famous for her contribution to education and Catholicism. On the anniversary of her canonisation, her statue was unveiled at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Bendigo.
The artist behind the 3-metre high bronze and glass memorial is Jenny Steiner. The Greek sculptor managed to depict, in the most original way, St Mary’s work with children across the Sandhurst Diocese. Neos Kosmos contacted Mrs Steiner, who has successfully entwined classical elements with contemporary aesthetics, mixing different mediums to portray the diversity of the saint’s story and personality.
With a background originally in interior design and numerous public art projects in her portfolio over her 20 year career, Jenny Steiner has learnt to work with all media as she needs it to fulfil the requirements of her art. For example, Mary of the Cross Mackillop is made in bronze and glass.
“The glass is there because we’re not looking at Mary Mackillop as the actual nun, we’re looking at her spirit. She has left us in body, but we’re still with her in spirit; that’s why the glass is there, because it is transparent,” says Steiner.
The statue stands on cement while a bronze habit is draped over her.
“The bronze represents the habit and the colour of the habit the sisters of Saint Joseph had. The bronze habit itself is in four pieces, like it’s been torn, symbolising a schism, as she was excommunicated from the church, but on the back, there’s an image of children from the first school that was established by Mary Mackillop, dating back to 1924,” the artist explains.
The body is made of slumped glass, and the wings bring light. The wings are glass panels, laminated and toughened. But in the centre there is a bronze cross. The cross is in the place of the heart, becoming the focal point of the artwork.
“The cross was something she held very close to her heart, that’s why she is named St Mary of the Cross. The saint apparently looked to Jesus on the cross for strength, therefore the cross is the focal point of the structure, representing faith. It is in fact holding her up.”
Looking back on her work, Jenny Steiner feels she is able to recreate melancholy very well, as it is an aspect of emotion always present in her art. Mary of the Cross, though, conveys a different nature of feelings.
“Her expression is rather peaceful, inspiring. When you look into the face you can see a very calm look, there’s a peaceful aura about her.”
Mrs Steiner is the kind of artist who enjoys constant challenge and experimentation with an array of materials that don’t seem to work together. In terms of future projects and dreams, she’d love to go to Greece again as part of an artist in residence program, or anywhere else in the world, free to create spontaneously, driven solely by raw inspiration.
“This would be a complete indulgence for me because I always have to work answering to a required end, a time-frame, budgets. If I’m going to be selfish about it … to be able to do art generally, inspired by random surroundings and unexpected things, is what I’d like to do,” the sculptor tells Neos Kosmos.
At the moment, she is working on another commission project, an interpretation of Jesus’ parable of the well for the FCJ college in Benalla.
“It will be a two-metre diameter sculpture of a well. Jesus and the woman from the parable, water featured in blue stone, glass, metal and marine clay.”
The statue will be ready by the end of this year.
