Local studio refurbishes statues for President Biden’s home church

by Ruth Isenberg

Three life-size statues of St. Joseph and the baby Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus have been restored to their places at the church of St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Delaware. They were newly restored and made ready for the dedication on Sunday, February 26, thanks to the work of Judy Dotzel and Chris Norton, who performed the work at their studio on Main Street in White Haven over the past month with assistance from Frank Tirico and Jim Dotzel.

Cleaning and repainting the statues was part of a full remodeling of the church undertaken by the St. Jude Society. St. Joseph on the Brandywine is President Joseph Biden’s home church; he is expected to attend the dedication. Dotzel said the statues were yellowish when they came in, due in part to a high gloss finish that had been applied to them over the years. The colors were very pale. The artists darkened the features and brightened the colors on the cast plaster figures originally made by Daprato Company of Chicago in 1918. They airbrushed and handpainted they statues, using 23 karat gold leaf stencils for the finishing touches, then aplied a matte (not gloss) clear coat to finish. Statues of all sizes are among the commissions worked on at Trinity Artisans. The White Haven studio, located in the Odd Fellows building, has room for these larger

See STATUES, page 27

Statues

From page 26 in Mountain Top, at the site of the old St. Catherine’s Church. There, their work is primarily restoring paintings and murals. They also work on site at some churches for large murals and paintings.

While Dotzel went to art school in San Francisco, studying restoration, for the most part she is selftaught.

Plans are to open a gallery for local fine artists in the front area of the studio come summer, adding more art to the town’s Main Street.

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