MARBLEHEAD—In Annie Rickard’s living room are small religious statues molded and painted by her mother many years ago.

An artist herself, Mrs. Rickard continues the tradition by restoring and painting indoor and outdoor statues for homes and churches. She uses a dry brush technique she learned from her mother, who died last spring.

“Every time I do a piece, to me, it’s honoring her because she passed on that gift,” says Mrs. Rickard, a Marblehead St. Joseph parishioner.

Her mother, Georgiana Below, owned a small ceramics shop in Port Clinton. Mrs. Below took some ceramics classes but also taught herself ceramics and to use a kiln. With a love for the Catholic church, she created religious artwork in her later years.

Mrs. Below worked full time to support eight children, but ceramics was her “true love,” Mrs. Rickard says.

Statue restoration and creating artwork is also a part-time profession for Mrs. Rickard as she raises two sons and helps her husband with his locally-owned business. She works out of a studio she set up in her garage.

In recent years, she restored a large pieta for her parish and the crucifix and Stations of the Cross for Port Clinton Immaculate Conception.

Her mother was going to assist with the Stations of the Cross, but suffered from Alzheimer’s and was losing the ability to paint.

“So I kind of did them with the spirit of her in my heart,” Mrs. Rickard says.

Father Dan Ring, pastor of St. Joseph, is pleased with her work on the pieta, which he says was in “bad shape” and stored in the basement.

The pieta is now in a small alcove of the main church with a relic of the true cross mounted nearby.

“She does a very careful job,” Fr. Ring says. “It’s very well hued … She puts a lot of faith and feeling into what she does.”

Mrs. Rickard began creating artwork on a serious level in college and earned a two-year degree in graphic design. In addition to statue restoration, she creates drawings and paintings. Her portfolio reveals a variety of religious images and nature scenes.

For her, restoring statues is a work of prayer in addition to work of art. As she works on religious pieces, she begins to think about the symbolism and is drawn into prayer.

“Everything that I do, I hope it touches people, moves them closer to Christ,” she says.

As she restored the Immaculate Conception crucifix last summer, she prayed for people to be drawn into the mystery of the cross and experience healing.

“There’s so much suffering in the world,” she says. “If people don’t recognize how we can relate it to Christ, (then) we reject that suffering and people turn away from God.”

She recently restored a St. Joseph statue for her parish Ministry Center, and she prayed for men to want to be good fathers as she worked.

“Let someone look at it and want to be like St. Joseph,” she remembers praying.

During the restoration process, she first strips the old paint off large statues and applies a white primer. She then paints a solid brown or black base color, over which she dry brushes the colors. The base brown or black shows through in some areas to provide shadows and depth.

“It gives it more of a 3-D, realistic look,” she explains.

Last year, Mrs. Rickard also made an acrylic painting of a family on the beach for an auction to benefit Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph’s Respect Life Ministry. After she created the piece, she began to see symbolism throughout the painting.

“The white glow around the mother is the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit who has created the soul of the baby within her,” she wrote in a description about the painting.

Mrs. Rickard believes religious art is an important part of Catholic heritage — both in churches and in the home.

“Art is a story to tell us about the biblical life and history of salvation,” she says.

Creating religious artwork is not only her passion and trade, it also adorns many walls in her home. The artwork helps create an atmosphere of faith, she says.

“So I can be anywhere in my house and meditate, and I love it that way,” she explains.

In her living room, a small statue she restored of a crucifix with a centurion sitting sadly at the foot of the cross helps create a prayer space.

In addition to inspiring prayer, religious artwork in a home indicates “there’s something different here,” she says.

After visiting her home, her son’s 15-year-old friend began asking questions about God, which led to a desire to become active in the Catholic Church.

She is now sponsoring him as prepares to receive his first Communion and Confirmation at Easter.

“I just see so much hunger in these kids that come that don’t go to church at all,” she says. “It draws out their hunger, I think, just being around here and just knowing that it’s different. I get so sad sometimes because they want to go to church with us, they ask me questions, but I can’t help them all. Sometimes I wish I had a bus, I’d pick them all up every Sunday.”

Mrs. Rickard continues to remember her mother as she creates artwork. She notes an increase in business in the past year, which she attributes to her mother’s heavenly help.

“It just seems like all of a sudden everybody’s taking notice, and I feel like she’s up there helping it happen — praying for me,” she says. “And sometimes when I work now, I can feel like she’s there with me.”

To contact Mrs. Rickard about her artwork or statue restoration, email bb41022@yahoo.com.