Brother's talented hands restore hands and noses

Brother Donald Wininski, MS, repairs fingers, toes and noses.

A restorer of broken statuary for more than 30 years, he came to LaSalette Shrine in Altamont this summer to fix the outdoor Stations of the Cross, but he has decided to stay permanently.

"I've been visiting the mission here for many years," he explained. "We have quite a bit of statuary on the grounds; and, over the years, I have restored most of the pieces," including a weeping Mary, a pieta and other images that dot the hillside.

Station to Station

The restored Stations of the Cross line the meditation path on the mission grounds. Brother Donald said that repairing the bas relief images took him most of the summer.

"They're made of terra cotta, and a few were nearly completely defaced over time by the elements," he noted. "A few were pretty bad." On one of them, "all the faces were gone. I had to basically rebuild the whole thing."

Brother Donald has restored Stations before, including a painted set. "I had to plan the colors of each one, making sure they all matched," he explained. "I blended all the paint myself. I did that set in an 'assembly-line' style. I worked on seven at a time because all the colors had to match."

More to do

He was recently commissioned by Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland to restore the outdoor statue of the Sacred Heart that looks into their chapel.

"That one needs a new hand," he noted. "I've already prepared it. I washed the statue down, and it's ready for restoration." Using a toothbrush, he scrubbed the statue with a "part-bleach, part-detergent" mixture.

"I work only with concrete and plaster of Paris in rebuilding statue parts," he said. "It is a time-consuming task, especially when you do fingers or faces. They take a lot of time and careful work."

Mother Teresa

Besides fixing others' works, Brother Donald is an artist himself and was commissioned by Mother Teresa of Calcutta to paint two pictures.

"I met her years ago in Washington, D.C.," he recalled. "Some of her sisters had visited our chapel [in Maryland] and saw one of my paintings hanging behind the altar. They told me they wanted a similar picture of Christ with open arms for their chapel."

On a visit to America, Mother Teresa saw the painting and asked him to paint one of Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms, an assignment he called "the most humbling experience of my life."

Variety of images

The subjects of Brother Donald's paintings range from Scriptural scenes and copies of Norman Rockwell's works to Disney characters and pastoral murals. He uses every medium but really enjoys painting on wood.

He never took an art class in his life, but was encouraged at an early age to pursue his love of art by family and friends.

"I am fascinated by color and form," he noted. "Art has been a passion of mine since I can remember. In addition, I love to restore statuary, and I consider that an art form as well. Restoring a statue is like becoming a creator of sorts. I do it, really, for the greater glory and honor of the Church.

"When I see a statue that needs new fingers or a new hand or face, I get such a feeling of awe and inspiration in knowing that I am able to transform it back to its original beauty.

"People have come to me carrying statues that were cherished by their parents and grandparents, statues that are chipped and broken, some in pieces. They ask me, 'Brother can you fix this?'"

(10/28/04)