by Herb Gunn

When Justin Anderson graduated from Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Mich. and enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design in 1987, he had a promising career in art and fashion design. His journey has been a long one, but ... a promise is a promise.

The longest stretch of that journey began one night on a dark street corner in Providence in the spring of his sophomore year at RISD. Anderson was hit by a car and suffered a closed head injury. He struggled just to live.

[Story first published in 1999]

Anderson didn’t speak for four years after the accident, and then language returned slowly. Years of physical and occupational therapy have helped his once agile body standup, stretch and step away from a wheelchair.

But while a decade of professional therapists and round-the-clock care providers, including his parents Bonnie and Glen, clearly have enhanced his body’s recovery, they could not provide what Anderson has rediscovered within himself: A love of color, a vocation in design and his scintillating sense of humor.

“He designed a whole line of stoles—one for each season,” explained his art teacher Mary Bush. “It started when [his sister] Devon got ordained. As a gift, Justin wanted to do something for her [and] it evolved into a whole line of clergy [garments].”

During Advent 1999, St. Philip’s, Rochester, dedicated a pair of liturgical banners that hang in the sanctuary. The parish rector, Michael Link, also has corresponding vestments.

Anderson’s commissioned work for St. Philip’s began at the library where he does research on the history and images of the liturgical seasons. In a succinct understatement, Anderson credits his devotion to the library research with a job he held in high school. . . as “a book shelfer.”

After discovering appropriate symbols, Anderson creates a flow-chart of information and icons for his design from which he draws sketches of the images. Bush takes the sketches and cuts stencils that Anderson then uses to outline the symbols into a sophisticated computer in a studio that adjoins his Bingham Farms bedroom. The images are loaded into a liturgical menu that can then be cut, pasted and adjusted onto patterns.

“They are all original art work that Justin has drawn and stenciled. Justin traces them into the computer. There is no clip art involved,” said Bush. “The computer becomes an excellent tool for placement and for adding color. Justin has a lot of fun doing that and seeing it in a miniature form.”

With a knack for getting in the last word, Anderson suspends his obvious affection for Bush and, rolling his eyes, compares his art teacher and her instruction to his high school math teacher: “tedious.”

“Part of the sketching process is journal-keeping, too,” said Bush, attempting to keep an interview on track. Bush works with Anderson two days a week, but is more than a teacher; she is a close friend who goes with Anderson to art shows and dinners out.

“Every day, Justin journals what he did or things he wants to remember. It helps us when we want to go back and figure out how long a project took. [Journaling also includes] a list of questions that have been developed so that Justin can conduct an interview and get the things he needs to start the research.”

“When do we do that?” Bush turns to the artist and asks. “Thursdays,” Anderson deadpans.

Once the banner or stole is completed on the computer screen, it is printed on paper and moved to an adjacent drafting table where Anderson uses the original stencils to apply paint to the fabric that he has selected.

St. Philip’s Advent banners depict the Jesse Tree. Flowering branches represent the lineage of Jesus as well as the universal theme of birth and new life. Thistle buds are reminiscent of the seven fold gifts of the Holy Spirit. Anderson added three doves to represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“What is your favorite part of the production?” one can’t resist asking, in the presence of such creativity.

Anderson again gets the upper hand: “Washing out the paint brushes when we’re done.”