The LoveTusc sculpture tour was started by the Tuscarawas Arts Partnership. Each town in Tuscarawas county got a sculpture in the shape of the county and were created with the town and the help of a local artist. I was lucky to get Zoar, a small town with a rich history being one of America’s longest Christian communal settlements, officially from 1819 until dissolving in 1898.
I decided not to paint faces because their community was based around this idea of everyone being equal under God. Their whole village was based on equality, sharing, and cooperation. They had no private property. They didn’t even mark the names of the people on graves. So by removing the faces of the people it takes away their individuality and shows how they are a community of people over anything else. Everything they had and did was for the betterment of the community as a whole and to worship God.
The Zoarites were expert horticulturalists and the Zoar Garden has many symbolic meanings. In the middle is a Norway Spruce signifying the Tree of Life or Christ. Surrounding the spruce is a ring of arbor vitae that symbolizes the kingdom of heaven. Outside of that there are 12 junipers which symbolize the 12 apostles. There are 12 paths leading to the center and a path around the outside. The path around the edge symbolizes the world and to be saved one must follow the path toward Christ and Heaven. They had a wide variety of flowers, trees and other plants in the garden and greenhouse such as rose bushes, strawberries, lemon and orange trees just to name a few.
The blue color used often throughout this work, in the clothing, name, and sides, is inspired by a type of blue the Zoarites used. The blue was made from the woad plant and they used it to dye their clothes and other fabrics. Woad creates a darker turquoise blue color. If you go to Zoar, you can still see its impact today.
The inside heart says “Eine Gute Gemeinschaft” which is German for “A Community of Goods” or “A Good Community.” This was an early motto for Zoar. I put this motto in the heart because at the heart of Zoar it was about making goods and being a good community.
The seven pointed star was a symbol the Zoarites used to distinguish themselves as Separatists when they were originally in Germany. They would wear the symbol as a way to show that they were a Separatist and they continued to use it as a symbol when they were building their community in Zoar. The star is to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem and has seven points because seven is a sacred number.
The sides are filled with important crops grown by the Zoarites: apples, acorns and hops. The acorn also symbolizes strength because the oak tree starts out as an acorn. Zoar had many apple orchards and other fruit trees such as pears. Hops was used for different purposes like washing clothes or brewing beer. Beer was actually more important than just recreation, beer was given to the workers in the field as a high calorie beverage. These field breaks also included bread, apple butter and cheese.
Francis Brogan 