Repainted mural portrays ascension of Jesus at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Apollo

Church leaders on Sunday rededicated a newly repainted mural depicting Jesus Christ’s ascension at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Apollo.

Jeph Gurecka, an artist whose work has been shown internationally, painted the mural above the church’s alter. It portrays Jesus ascending amid clouds.

His work enhanced a painting that had been at the site since a 1946 sanctuary redecoration, church officials said. Gurecka said he reimagined the Jesus figure in the painting and added clouds, which weren’t there before.

“I was trying to evoke overall a very airy, light perspective,” he said. “It’s tumultuous because it’s such a grand example of Christ ascending.”

Gurecka said he wants people looking at the artwork “to feel like you’re being pulled up with Christ.”

“He took what was there and really made something great,” Pastor Philip Ramstad said ahead of Sunday’s service, which was presided over by Bishop Kurt Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod.

More than 90 people attended Sunday’s service.

Elinor Moody, who has been part of the congregation for about 20 years, said the mural reminded her of similar artwork she had enjoyed at a Lutheran church she attended during her childhood.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I love art. It’s very lovely, very pretty.”

The artist said he watched and photographed clouds for inspiration and spent a couple of weeks preparing the wall he was to decorate before painting the mural over a three-week span.

“It’s a lot to take in when it’s the primary religious iconography of the chapel,” he said. “It’s daunting.”

Gurecka, who was born in Pittsburgh and recently moved back to the area after living since 1993 in New York, graduated from the Pratt Institute of Art and Design in New York City. He’s been awarded various fellowships and residencies and had a photo expose of his work shot for Esquire magazine.

He recently has been involved in restoring religious iconography and crafting original pieces for various churches in the area, including St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church in Vandergrift and St. Mary of Czestochowa in New Kensington.

Growing up Catholic, Gurecka said, he was inspired by religious artwork at a young age.

“The iconography always stood out to me,” he said. “It was an important part of my early art education.”

Dorothy Doty, president of the church’s congregational council, chaired a fundraising committee to raise the $12,500 the church needed to fund the artwork.

The church last year completed a $54,700 project that repaired plaster and upgraded paint throughout the church, church officials said.