Stations of the Cross Commission -
St. Therese R.C. Church, Seattle, Washington

This Stations of the Cross commission of 14 - 11x14 panels was completed November 2009-February 2010. Each panel was created, and painted in oil in record timing. What would normally take 2-3 weeks of painting time for each painting, this time was painted in 4-5 days. For 4 months Eric slept no more than three hours a night in order to have enough time to plan, sketch, get approvals from a client across the country, hire models, pose them, get more approvals on final compositions, have time to order materials, and paint each panel in enough time to dry and be shipped to Seattle, Washington just in time for lent. In short, the religious commission was a major success. Here are a few news stories done on the commission:

Click here for the Channel 69 WFMZ story on the commission

Originally Published in the Reading Eagle: 3/13/2010
Hamburg man paints panels depicting Stations of the Cross for Catholic church in Seattle
By Susan Shelly
Reading Eagle correspondent

A commission to paint 14 panels depicting the Stations of the Cross was not only a career opportunity for Hamburg artist Eric Armusik, but a profound religious experience, as well.
"This work gave me a much better understanding of the passion of Christ," Armusik said. "I applied my Catholic faith to this work, and it turned out to be very rewarding from both a professional and a spiritual viewpoint."
Armusik, 36, who describes himself as a contemporary figurative fine artist, grew up in the Wilkes-Barre area of Luzerne County, where Catholic churches were plentiful and the services held within them often long.
"I went to church practically every Sunday as a kid, and I'd sit there and look at the paintings on the stained glass and just experience that art," he said.
A college semester spent in Italy, during which time he studied the paintings of artists commissioned by churches during the Baroque period, added to his appreciation of religious art.
"I believe my style was very much influenced by those artists," Armusik said.
The ambitious project was commissioned by a woman from Seattle, who plans to display the paintings there in St. Therese Catholic Church. She first contacted Armusik about the project in June, and he was immediately interested. By the time a contract was signed, however, it was November, and the work needed to be completed for the beginning of Lent, which started with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 17.
"I had three months to finish 14 paintings, and I would have thought that to be impossible," Armusik said. "I knew going into it that it was going to be very difficult to accomplish, but you can't believe in failure. You just have to do it."
The project included a great deal of research, which Armusik very much enjoyed. He had to find costumes for the models he hired to pose for the scenes, photograph them and make sketches based on the photographs.
Armusik never met the woman who commissioned the project, but employed a variety of technology to work with her. He took photos of his sketches with his iPhone and sent them across the country. He used an imaging editing software program to make changes to his sketches and reviewed the paintings with his client by phone.
"These things are not to be rushed, but I had to rush them," he said. "I literally was working more than 20 hours a day, using every second I could. And, at the end of it, I can say it's some of the best work I've ever created."
Locating models suitable for the project was challenging, and Armusik was worried about finding someone to depict Jesus Christ. Whether through divine intervention or just plain old luck, he found the perfect candidate - in a pizza shop in Jim Thorpe, Carbon County.
"It was crazy," he said. "I had all my kids and we were just leaving the pizza place, and I saw this guy. He resembles the actor who played Christ in the 'Jesus of Nazareth' miniseries, and it turned out that he's an art student at Marywood (University in Scranton). He was perfect."
The project included a twist on traditional depictions of the suffering of Christ - Armusik's client wanted him to incorporate yoga positions into the paintings.
"She was writing a book about yoga and meditating on the Stations of the Cross, and she wanted to have traditional paintings that represented yoga poses," he explained. "If you're not aware of yoga poses you would never even know they were included in the paintings. I wouldn't have done anything that was way out or disrespectful."
With the project behind him, Armusik reflected on the period of time he spent immersed within it.
"I really struggled with this, and it impacted my life all levels," he said. "I feel like I had my period of suffering and sacrifice before Lent this year, and I believe I'll appreciate Easter in a far more meaningful way."
Contact Susan Shelly: life@readingeagle.com.

Local Artist Paints Christ for Seattle Church
Hamburg Item, Berksmont News
By Jennifer Rudisill, Item Intern

Hamburg artist Eric Armusik finished painting a 15-panel Stations of the Cross on Feb. 16, the day before Lent, so the panels will hang in St. Therese’s Church in Seattle, Wash. for Ash Wednesday.
A private client for an upcoming book on the Stations of the Cross and yoga meditation initiated the project, and Armusik has been working on the 11 by 14 inch panels since Nov. 14.
Once the finished panels are completed, they will sit in a permanent collection in the church, he said.
“I have always wanted to do work for the church. From the time I was a child I would stare at the ceiling of my church that had an enormous rendition of Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration.’ I knew I would be able to do that someday and I will get my chance,” he said.
He decided to take the impossible task of creating 15 traditionally inspired, realistic paintings in three months, and break the job in half. Eight panels were completed before Christmas and seven before Lent.
“Initially I tried to look at this project internally to really try and feel how Christ would feel going through these terrible events. I tried to provide a creative environment in my studio conductive to painting these spiritual experiences, so I could be true to the subject matter,” he explained.
Armusik said he used his experience as a graphic artist, by applying the knowledge and skills he has in Photoshop. He was able to have models pose, then with each figure, and construct them in an environment, where he could move the figures or substitute them with new ones if something would not work in a pose.
“Technology was an incredible resource on this project,” he said. “If I was on the road, I could upload pictures to my iPhone and send them to my client while we were on the phone.”
What makes Armusik’s work unique, is he meditated on the terrible events he was painting.
“I am a romantic painter,” he expressed. “I live for the emotional experiences in my work. A lot of artists paint what they see; I paint what I feel. I want people to feel what Christ is feeling.”
In order to keep on schedule, he estimated that he had less than 300 hours of sleep since the project began. He drinks coffee five to six times during the day, even as late at 11 p.m. to get him to the 2:30 a.m. finish, only to get up at 5:30 a.m. to start work again.
“All in the name of great quality art,” he said.
One thing he has gained through this experience is confidence in himself and that he can do anything.
“I can paint several portraits of Christ over a few days, and I know they’ll all look good,” he said.
“The other day, I was informed by someone of something even more profound,” he said. “They said that long from now these painting will sit on the walls in a church and they will become sources for thousands of people to pray to.”
He then wondered whom he would inspire. He said the thought is quite humbling.