the many altars of st mark’s
real and imagined		  
  We wanted a way to share how we got are getting through the pandemic. Some of us created altars we used while watching the live stream. Some of us went to a particular place or looked out at a particular view. Some of us have created shrines. Some of us use a particular activity to bring ourselves in alignment with whatever we worship. These are a few of the ways we survive.

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August 28 2020
Worship in West Virginia - Nora Howell
Penny Farley offered this version of Nora's home altar from a visit
Choir August 28, 2020
Chapel Altar ready for Thursday Eucharist
Carol Thornhill's St Cecilia Patron Saint of Music
Moon Over Washington, DC - Alicia Ruble
Sunset Over Washington, DC - Alicia Rruble
August 28 2022
Elin Whitney-Smith & Chris Berendes home altar with stones for children's confession, bread, wine and one of our many St Adeas. In the winter we have a fire. The napkin is from our wedding, the plate was my grandmother's
Lil Taylor - My dining room table with my I pad and Arnold's old, well used, taped up prayer book - ready for Church, Morning Prayer, or Bible Class
Anne Albright - Connections. I spend hours watching the pigment melt and move through the water on my paper when I paint wet into wet. The results are magical and maybe even mysterious. "Connections" is part of a series of paintings I call “Meditations”. The bridges and connectors the pigment provided gave me the painting's name and made me think about how we each connect with someone or something on a daily basis.
David van Scoyoc’s shrine for Nancy
van Scoyoc shrine
Penny Farley's painting of the view from the porch of a childhood home. A place to go to in her imagination for sustenance.
Bobbi Smith
Vmix altar - bringing St Mark's to homes everywhere - Chris Berendes
Louise Walsh - My Altar with my late sister-in law’s stuffed cats her friends and I gave her in the hospital, and BCP. Missing is the IPad where I often listen to Tara Brach
Michele Morgan's spiritual place
Martina Sestakova - I Have My Way of Praying - Exploring nature is part of my life and artistic practice. This painting celebrates the opportunities for women to step out of the everyday hustle and bustle, embrace a quieting moment in the woods. Based on the Mary Oliver Poem
How I go into the Woods by Mary Oliver
Looking out to the Pacific is Ann Craig's way of getting a sense of spiritual peace.
Hester Ohbi - Sunrise over Lake Mokoma, Pennsylvania - place of my soul My ancestors came to this place in the early 1800s and many of their descendants have been coming ever since. My brothers and I grew up playing in the woods and swimming in this lake. I is a place where my soul loves to rest.
Cross in Chapel
Poem by Fairfield Butt III
Josie Jordan - Wall with spiritual art
Josie Jordan - detail of wall
Morning Prayer has met since the beginning of COVID - EWS
St Adea Altar
Tracy Council's palette for iconography. She wrote, "My art-making space is the closest thing I have to an altar in the world."
High Altar, St Mark's Capitol Hill
Linell Grundman - Shrine to my sister Denise
Contemplation - EWS, Feb 2022
Rye, Sussex, UK - Mary Cooper's background for Morning Prayer - watercolor done by William Henry Borrow
Heather Powers - Chair, poster, computer, where one worships.
The sun, moon and stars, the earth and its waters and every living thing she created them - Elin Whitney-Smith
Hester Ohbi's description of each piece. My small paintings /collages reflect my summers in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Nandi, the sacred cow, reminds me of comfort and patience. The angel and the Buddha are my companions. The African man is wise and he tells me stories. The Indian vessel sprouting a tree of life brings delight
Joel Martinez - home altar
Joel Martinez - home altar detail
NWBC - Notorious Wednesday Bible Class - We never missed a meeting we went from live to Zoom - this is from September 2022
Luke Giannini writes — here is where I sit a lot and meditate, read, and pray. I go out there night and day—whenever the spirit moves or my spirit needs moving. Somewhat shockingly there are rarely any people on our roof. I haven’t figured it out. I find the vast overlook calming.
Day time view from Luke Giannini's roof where he goes for spiritual sustenance.