Artists Reurbish Damaged Religious Artwork Outside of New Orleans

THE TIMES PICAYUNE
By Kim Chatelain

Sharon Infinger, one of the art conservators, puts finishing touches on a mural painted six
decades ago by Dutch monk Gregory De Wit at St. Joseph Abbey Church Tuesday, September 23, 2014.

LOUISIANA---Perched on a massive scaffold 75-feet above the altar of the St. Joseph Abbey Church near Covington, several artists have worked for weeks to bring images of Catholicism's most extolled and denounced figures back to life. Though Hurricane Katrina did not cause significant structural damage to the vaunted church, the 2005 storm is to blame for damaging some of Dutch monk Gregory De Wit's elaborate artwork that has adorned its walls and ceilings for six decades. Since late August, the two artists and their associates have bushed up some of the most famous religious artwork in the area, adding new light to the saints and sinners that line the walls and ceilings of the church. [link]