MEMBER PURSUITS // Ragnar Lagerblad's Exquisite Shrines

Ragnar Lagerblad has only been at 3rd Ward for around six months, but he's already deep into exploring what his membership can add to his work. He just finished up a lathe class and is moving on to woodworking and welding.

Though he doesn't plan to build your typical table or bookshelf. Working mostly with traditional techniques such as egg tempera and fresco painting, Lagerblad delves into syncretism in his art, incorporating elements of a variety of different cultures.

With his newly acquired skills he plans to build his own metal structures for his fresco paintings and craft shrines in wood and tempera as well as gilding and scagliola, "an old way of doing fake marble."

"I like to be in control of what I am doing, so I try to do everything from scratch," he says. "I believe that learning to work with wood will add a lot to my work."

In the meantime, check out one of Lagerblad's truly unreal shrines!

-- John Ruscher