News Scrapbook 1969-1971

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an tJlitso

WOMEN

COMICS

103rd YEAR

TELEPHONE 234-7111

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 25, 1970

PAGE D-1

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J\iJOD APPROACTI TO A1\fCIE1VT ART Navy Wife Uses Conte porary Materials, Motifs To Create Liturgical Banners

By JEA. rNE'ITE BRANIN An astonishingly fresh and irnagmative approach to an old, traditional subject - the creation of hturgical banners and vestments - is being dis- played in the Knights of Co- lwnbus Library at the Univer- sity 0( §:m Pi1.£P - .., The work is that of artist Margot Carter Blair, a young Navy wife who returned to San Diego wiU1 her family a year ago after lh1ng in the East for the last 10 years. In brilliantly colored felts and velvets, with contempo- rary mod lettering and inge- mou use of stitchery tech- mq ues Mrs Blair has brealltcd new life into an ages- old art form. Her first church bannt>r was created jn 1964 when she was livrng m Baltimore, :\1d., with her hu,band, Cmdr. Peter Blair, USN, and their children. About the same time she be- gan makmg stoles and vest- ments for seminarians in the

Woodstock Seminary and St. Peter Claver in Baltimore. From lime immemorial, Ji. turgical stoles and vestm~uts have been made from nch brocades. Mrs. Blair made hers of neutral hopsacking, embroidered with copper squares and beads, felt free. forms and copper and golden yarns. The first banner. which pre>- claims the primacy of Peter and the order to him, ·'Feed :My Lambs," is in the library exhibit. AIthough the theme is sa- cred, the approach is secular and charmingly informal. Wooly Jambs in stitchery, with brass East Indian bells around their necks, gambol on appli- ques of tangerine felt. Ma- genta and orange velvet heart- shapes are scattered on the broY.n felt background. All of the many pieces m ti1e ihspla} show Mrs. Blair's spir- itual insights as well as her artistr~ . She wa~ reared by a mother

who practiced Christian Sci- ence, then became a Presby- terian and later a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. Mrs. Blair's deep-rooted be- liefs in love, peace, kindness and positive thinking are re- flected in her sacred and secu- lar messages. One banner, "Structured Es- tablishment,'' is her way of describing the growth of the church, she said. It begins with a base that is "rigid, tight-bound, rule on rule," she pointed out. "The structure rises and ex- pands to show an open door and many windows, which rep- resent the growing con- sciousness of the Christ that exists in man," explained Mrs. Blair. The pinnacle of the structure is open to interpretation. It could be a steeple, or a point- ing finger, or a cross. :.!rs. Blair admits that while her unorthodox creations were praised in the East. she was full of reservations about their

acceptance on the West Coast. ''I was warned that th.is was 'mission CounU'y,' that churches were unchanging and unchanged," she recalled. ''But I've been delighted by the interest shown in my work here." The messages, told so boldly in color and form, have a spe- cial appeal to young people. Mrs. Blair was stopped in the library by a student as she arranged a free-hanging tubu- lar canopy of long strip-ban- ners. The title, "People Are For . . .", is explained in let- tering on the strips, "listening, singing, yessing, loving, hop- ing, growing, quieting, living, swinging, laughing." "Did you make that?" asked the young man. "Yes, and do you like it?" she replied. "Wow it's far out it's the greatest'." he said. ' l\lrs. Blair's face shone as bright as one of her banners. '·He got the message," she said, happily.

ja;n tlit!ltl Inion 0, CALIFORNIA, TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 29, 1970

RELIGIOUS OF SACRED HEART ALU~INAE 200 Delegates Expected For Conferenee

A.

favorite liturgical banner, o{ San Diego library, is shown by arti~t Margo Carter Blair, Miss Terry Mignogna, st~dent and university library aide.

Attorneys Name Director . Of Educational Progranl' '' 0 Mrs. Hope S. Firestone, widow "'',

of Alan M. Firestone, foriner city attorney, has assumed off- ice as educational coordinator for the San Diego County Bar \ssociation's "Law in a Free Society" program for elementa- ry and high school students. The program, which was tried first in 1968, is designed to spread the word on the laws of the land so students will know their rights and obligations be- fore they graduate. Charles W. Froehlich Jr., bar president, said Mrs. Firestone will work with C. Hugh Fried- man. chairman of the bar's youth and law C1Jmmittee, and Dr. H. David Fish, curriculum specialist for the San Diego Uni• fied School District, to provide attorneys who will speak to ele- ·11entary and senior high school classes participating in the pro-

The program, which was e • tablished by the associatit.m in cooperation with the school di~- trict and count la enforce- ment agencies, recei d the 1970 annual award of merit of the American Bar Association.

-Stoff Photo C. Hu~h Friedman of the San Diego County Bar Association 1scusses the association's "Law in a Free Society" program for students with :Mrs. Hope S. Firestone, coordinator of the project.