The One Called Jesus Exhibit

The students at Legal School had the opportunity to tour "The One Called Jesus" exhibit this week.  The exhibit, curated by Sister Thérèse Turcotte of Ontario, features 50 intricate clay sculptures depicting the life and death of Jesus Christ by Maurice Gaudreault – a milk farmer in Ontario who produced some 1,148 clay sculptures in 18 years.  The exhibit has been on the road since 2002.

Gaudreault crafted some 1,000 works of various sizes in 15 years depicting scenes from early Canada, many of which are now in private collections. In 1996, he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia and was told he had a year to live. Shaken, he told his friends he wanted to pay homage to God for a good life and spent two years creating the Jesus collection – his last work.

The sculptures are now behind glass in a large trailer modified to serve as a classroom. Half depict the early life of Christ, and half portray the Passion of Christ (the events leading up to his death).

The sculptures are made from the reddish-brown clay of southern Ontario and painted in muted, earthy colours that you would have seen in Christ’s time, Turcotte said. The clothes, trees, and structures also match that time period.

Gaudreault worked 10 to 12 hours a day with only simple hand tools to create these works, some were so big that they couldn’t fit in the kiln and had to be baked in pieces.

The One Called Jesus