Celebrating sculpture

11 minutes ago

2 min read

Hamilton, OH - A lightning strike opened a door.

Both to a new giant sculpture at the Solid Rock Church facing northbound I-75 in Butler County and to some comedy at the Fitton Center.

When the King of Kings sculpture - colloquially named Big Butter Jesus or Touchdown Jesus - went up in flames after a lightning strike in 2010, sculptor Tom Tsuchiya got the call.

His 52-foot-tall Lux Mundi (Light of the World) replaced the original in 2012 and earned a few nicknames of its own, including $5 Foot-long Jesus. Which was more than enough to get the November 4 Celebrating Self crowd in the Caruthers Signature Ballroom chuckling.

But when Tsuchiya spread his arms like his own creation's and said, "And God looked down upon it, and He saw it was good," the audience was eating out of the palms of his outstretched hands.

Tsuchiya spoke of his work in baseball, BLINK, recycling and the High-Main Bridge (visible over his shoulder at the north end of the ballroom), among other projects, and answered audience questions about his creative process.

Kathy Klink serves as Celebrating Self Series Sponsor, while Trudy Marcum was event sponsor for the November 4 luncheon.

Next up, on Wednesday December 2 Allyson West of the Cindependent Film Festival talks about Christmas movies that will make your viewing season merry and bright.

Tickets are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office. We hope you can join us as we lean into the holiday season.

Meantime, enjoy some more images from the November 4 Celebrating Self featuring Tsuchiya in the gallery below.