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Crucifix on Good Friday St. Peter's in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia by Sharon H. Garvey The inscription at the top of the cross is pyroengraved calligraphy on wood stained in acrylic color. The figure of Christ is a plaster cast done in Italy. The painting of the figure of Christ is by Sharon Garvey. For special devotions on Good Friday, this crucifix, usually in the baptistry at the back of the church, is placed at the altar. Digital image copyright Sharon H. Garvey

Crucifix on Good Friday, Detail of the inscription at the top of the cross St. Peter's in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia by Sharon H. Garvey The inscription at the top of the cross is pyroengraved calligraphy on wood, stained in acrylic color. The inscription is in Aramaic (Hebrew) written from right to left. followed by Greek, then Latin, both written from left to right. The translation in English of all three inscriptions is: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews Digital image copyright Sharon H. Garvey

St. Peter Catholic Church, View of one facade on the hillside Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Digital image copyright Sharon H. Garvey

St. Peter Catholic Church, View of the church on the hillside as seen from across the Shenandoah River Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Digital image copyright Sharon H. Garvey

American pyrographic artist Sharon H. Garvey resides in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The story of her painting of the plaster figure of Jesus Christ and her pyroengraved inscription at the top of the cross is told in the March–April 2004 Pyrograffiti.

Although well known for a large number of Easter eggs she has painted on eggshells over the years, Sharon was featured in one segment in an earlier Pyrograffiti highlighting Celtic design that showed four views of a wooden egg she did at Christmas one year.

The egg has a colorful Celtic design pyroengraved on the curved outside, and it opens like a locket to reveal a Madonna and Child pyroengraved on one side and a small Nativity scene on the other.

Sharon is also well known for an annual art exhibit of original carved jack-o-lanterns that ran each October for seven years back in the 1980's there in Harpers Ferry at the Stowell Galleries. A YouTube video of an interview with her at work and a display of her work is at the link here in this paragraph. It is an excerpt from a TV show called Studio 9 with Maureen Bunyan narrating. Jack-o-lantern carving is also a type of "pyro" art in that the finished work is carved in layers against the light of the candle. When lit, the different layers reveal a three-dimensional image.

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2003, 2004, 2009 Kathleen M. Garvey Menéndez, all rights reserved.
Last updated 25 November 2009.