![]() He would also become one of Tetrault’s most prominent artistic influences.ĪS HIS artistic sense grew, Tetrault found he wanted to bring his own inner religious feelings and sense of wonderment to his craft. Kieninger, a religious carver, first came to America sometime after World War II and, when he later met Tetrault, they became good friends. He first met the Bavarian master carver Ludwig Kieninger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas where Tetrault was immersed in his 33-year career as a pilot for American Airlines and where he belonged to a group of carvers who shared their common interest and honed their skills together. Tetrault first became interested in woodcarving because both his uncle and his uncle’s father were woodcarvers, the latter having carved religious figures for churches in Dusseldorf, Germany. In the late ‘70s he studied at national woodcarving schools in Switzerland and Germany. His mother’s family settled and farmed in the Whitefish Stage area.Ī 1955 graduate of Flathead County High School, Tetrault graduated in ’59 from the University of Montana and served as a U.S. His father was the son of French-Canadian pioneers Mary and Frank Tetrault from the La Salle district of northeast Kalispell who first farmed in the Tobacco Plains before settling in the Rollins area, later returning to Kalispell so Frank’s father, Ray, who only spoke French at the time, could go to school. WHILE HIS life has been bookended within Kalispell, Tetrault has traveled the world. “So I thought we should do something for the six-week period of Lent to highlight that season.” “We have Fat Tuesday and, of course, Easter,” Tetrault said. “Understanding the impact Christ’s disciples had on humanity, he wanted to create a way to share it.” ![]() “These spiritual giants came forth through Frank’s imaginative mind and caring spirit,” Jensen said. The series culminates with today’s Easter service and the unveiling of Tetrault’s three-dimensional sculpture, Mary, Mother of God. Jensen created dialogs between the disciples, which he used as part of the worship service, posing the question, “If they could speak, what would they say that would inspire us today?” Once Jensen set eyes on Tetrault’s exquisite carvings he crafted his own artistic rendering of the disciples by bringing them to life in his series of Lenten services while unveiling the carvings a few at a time each week. It may have been providence that one of the community’s residents, a master woodcarver and artist, offered to share his 12 large relief woodcarvings of the disciples of Christ he’d created years ago.įrank Tetrault originally carved the series in the late ‘80s, a work inspired by his own desire to enrich his faith and curiosity about the lives of the men who lived side by side with Christ until the time of his crucifixion and resurrection, and who then went on to share their faith in the good news of life after death. Pastor Al Jensen, Director of Pastor Care at Immanuel Lutheran Communities, was searching for a way to bring depth to the Lenten season.
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