How would Bathtub Mary vote?

On this fine election day, I have upheld my responsibilities as a good citizen by voting and as a good blogger by blogging. So here's the latest of Marys from my neighborhood:

So she's not in a grotto-like shell, but she's still pretty cool. She's one of the few Marys who looks to be about 13, the approximate age of the real Mary (according to my Catholic school education) when she had Jesus. Also notice the cool neon-yellow snake at her feet.

This picture is not the best representation, but this is a close to life-size Mary. With pink flamingoes behind her! I would find her presence almost imposing except for the flamingoes.

Ivy has grown around this Mary's stone grotto. There were several other cool religious statues in this yard, but I didn't linger too long, as I knew odd stares were going to come from the residents.

This is a new category I call Safari Mary. The picture isn't enlarged enough to show it here, but she has a look of bliss on her face. She's happy in the jungle.

So maybe for the next election, I'll make pseudo-political Bathtub Mary bumper stickers, such as "I own a Bathtub Mary-and I vote." or "When Bathtub Mary enthusiasts vote, (insert party here) win." They'll be as big as W.W.J.D. bracelets, I can feel it.

It's raining Bathtub Marys!

Now that it's finally nice, cold October weather, I can more thoroughly scour the Louisville Metro for Marys without the fear of being scorched to death by the Kentucky sunshine.

I found this Mary a while ago, when I first became interested in bathtub Marys. She lives in front of a house on one of the busiest streets in Louisville, in the midst of tattoo places and hipster bars. Maybe that's why she looks like she's hiding...she just wants a moment's peace. Or she wants to get away from the Jesus figure standing next to her. I couldn't get her face in this picture without going right into the yard. It had a fence around it, and I'm a little shy about these things.

I see this Mary every day on my way to school and ask her to help me have a good day. She fits in the category of "Mary on the Half-Shell" because of her little grotto has scalloped edges. I think she's one of my favorites.

On my walk to photograph these two Marys this afternoon, two magically appeared out of nowhere. (No, don't worry, I'm not going to be like that girl in Lourdes.) I was walking down a street I travel on every day, and I noticed two that I'd never seen before. Pictures of those come later. At the risk of sounding like a religious crazy, maybe she's calling to me.

Mary on the Bourbon Trail

As I have mentioned before, my hometown and its surrounding county is largely populated by Catholics whose families have been there forever and were also Catholic. This makes it prime Bathtub Mary spotting territory. Yesterday I led an expedition of fellow Bathtub Mary enthusiasts (my friends Matt and Tabitha and my boyfriend Brendan) on the windy, hilly roads of rural Nelson County to photograph the best Marys. I'd told Brendan before that a lot of the people who live on the road leading out to the Abbey of Gethsemane have religious statues in their yard, but he was surprised that almost everyone did. Considering the large numbers of statues, we were selective yesterday. The Mary statues we photographed had to be in a bathtub or some sort of grotto housing with the exception of the statues on this hill:

It was a serious Catholic shrine with ten or so different religious statues. I expected anti-abortion signs to accompany it, but there were none. Here are other pictures from the same hillside:
Mary and Joseph guarded the gates to this hillside, although there was no fence and thus no need for gatekeepers. I like the weathered patina look on Mary, Joseph, and the other unknown saintly-looking female statue. These would probably sell as kitschy relics for hundreds of dollars in an upscale boutique.

Our next stop was this house abandoned by its residents, and in front of it was a bathtub, abandoned by its Mary.

Behind the abandoned house was a house which looked to be more inhabited. Maybe Mary moved here:

A reverse color scheme Mary (Blue bathtub, solid white Mary) lives on the Nelson/Marion county line. She looked to be the most well maintained Mary we saw.

Matt posed for a picture by our county sign. He's pretending to drink from an empty bottle of the county's chief export, Jim Beam. Empty liquor bottles presumably thrown out of car windows are a common sight along this road. The last Mary I photographed was well-kept, but not really anything special.


So we had Mary-hunting success (and notice the gorgeous blue skies in the background of all the pictures!) I was worried that as we crept into yards and took these pictures, curious or angry residents would come out and tell us to get off their property. However, none of them even appeared to notice us. It was a Sunday, so maybe the good Catholics homeowners were at church. Expect more Nelson County posts soon as there are about a million more statues to photograph.

Our Lady in Portland, Oregon

So in all this time I've been away from Mary-blogging, don't think Our Lady hasn't been on my mind. My amazing boyfriend took me on a trip to Portland, Oregon and much to my surprise, I found her there. We visited the Mississippi neighborhood, (one of my favorite parts of the city, by the way) and started finding Mary statues in several of the stores. A lady in one of them said she thought there are probably more Mary statues than Catholics, but for a scavenger like me, finding these statues in unexpected places was great. Here's a picture of on of the statues in a store called Flutter (which you, dear reader, should check out if you find yourself in Portland.)

The store's web site is: http://www.flutterclutter.com/shop/shop.php

Another cool Mary thing I learned about but unfortunately didn't get to see was this place:

A huge Catholic shrine to "Our Sorrowful Mother" referred to in travel brochures as The Grotto. It's in northeast Portland, pretty far away from where we stayed and everything else we visited, so we didn't have enough time to get here. But their web site is: http://www.thegrotto.org/

Divine Intervention

About a month ago, I dropped notes in the mailboxes of several Mary statue owners and I've gotten no response by phone or email. This makes me think that Mary owners must be somewhat elusive or they must think I'm somewhat crazy. I'm going to go with the latter here, because if some random girl stuck a note in my mailbox asking to talk about things in my yard, I might be a little wierded out too. So....do I resort to guerilla tactics, just showing up and ambushing the madonnas with my camera, or do I continue to hope that Mary herself with do some divine intervention on behalf of my cause?

Mary in my neighborhood

So the quest for the Bathtub Marys re-commenced tonight. I canvassed my neighborhood, (which sort of centers around a Catholic church-prime Mary spotting territory) dropped notes in mailboxes of houses with said lawn ornamentation asking for permission to photograph the statues and interview the owners, and I'm hoping for the best. After looking around a bit, however, I wondered if I should expand the project to include Mary statues who are not enclosed in grotto-structures. While I'm waiting for responses from people for interviews an pictures, here's a link for a Bathtub Mary fix. This statue of the Virgin Mary is not the traditional one, but she is in a grotto, she's not far from my house, and I just discovered her. I'm going to visit her as soon as I get chance.

Saint's statue to be placed in grotto in St. Joseph neighborhood By Sheryl Edelensedelen@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal
QUICK TAKEWhat: May Day ceremony and blessing of the statue of St. Bernadette.When: noon, May 6.Where: Grotto and Garden of Our Lady of Lourdes, off President's Boulevard (next to University Park Apartments)Details: The event will include a procession from Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church, 747 Harrison Ave., to the grotto. Information: Gail Linville, 637-3159
A 5-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary was installed last year in the Grotto and Garden of Our Lady of Lourdes, off President's Boulevard next to University Park Apartments, on the grounds of the former St. Joseph Infirmary. A statue of St. Bernadette will be added to the left side next month. (Photos by Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal)
Dwane Beckhart painted a statue of St. Bernadette as Gail Linville of the St. Joseph Neighborhood Association observed. (By Pam Spaulding, The Courier-Journal)
A St. Joseph neighborhood landmark soon will receive its last major improvement, a painted statue representing a Roman Catholic saint. Next month, the Grotto and Garden of Our Lady of Lourdes, off President's Boulevard next to University Park Apartments, will receive a 3-foot-tall statue of Bernadette Soubirous. In 1858, the 14-year-old French girl claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary on 18 occasions in a cave-like grotto in Lourdes, France. The site of the visions was the inspiration for building the Louisville grotto in 1927 on the grounds of St. Joseph Infirmary. (The Catholic hospital was razed in the 1980s and replaced by Audubon Hospital on Poplar Level Road.) St. Joseph Neighborhood Association President Gail Linville is coordinating Bernadette's installation after months of searching online and across the eastern United States. Linville said she ended up buying the figure for $75 from a Pleasure Ridge Park-area pet store that also sold stone statues. "I've looked everywhere and ended up finding her 10 miles from my home," chuckled the lifelong St. Joseph resident. A 5-foot-tall statue of Mary installed in the grotto last year was paid for with a $1,200 donation (plus $200 shipping). The association asked artist Dwane Beckhart to paint the stone figure of Bernadette, who is portrayed kneeling with a candle. The pose commemorates what Catholics call the Miracle of the Candle, which refers to the girl's 16th visit from Mary. During that visit, Bernadette was said to cover the flame of a candle with a hand for at least 15 minutes without injury. As a grotto volunteer, Beckhart also painted the Virgin Mary statue and the 14 stations of the cross in 2003 and a fence mural at Attwood Street and Bradley Avenue. Beckhart is a maintenance employee and longtime member of Southeast Christian Church, where he has painted murals in the children's library and activity center. Beckhart said his reason for doing the work is simple: He loves the way it makes him feel. "I just really like doing things for church and the community," he said. The grotto's architects were D.X. Murphy and Bros., Catholics who designed numerous Catholic schools, churches and rectories in the Louisville area. The "Grotto Grannies," a group of elderly neighborhood volunteers, adopted the grotto about 20 years ago. They have planted garden plots and helped secure and oversee the installation of a historical marker, a floodlight, flagpole, sundial and memorial urn honoring former association President Ernie Blankenship, who died in 2002. The Kentucky Historical Society received a complaint in 2005 about the historic marker. The grotto property belongs to the University of Louisville, and thus the marker's narrative of the religious event violated the principle of separation of church and state, the complaint said. The state attorney general said the narrative could remain because it makes no attempt to advocate a particular religious perspective. Linville said no other major improvements are planned. During the years-long restoration project, she added, vandalism has dropped while the number of visitors has risen. "Because volunteers are over there at different hours, we notice people in there at different times when once there weren't any," she said. "At last year's installation, I think we had about 100 people." Despite initial skepticism, Bernadette's claims eventually were accepted by the Roman Catholic Church and in 1933 she was canonized. Reporter Sheryl Edelen can be reached at (502) 582-4621.

Our Lady on Wikipedia

Here's what the great font of knowledge has to say on the subject:

A bathtub madonna, bathtub Mary, or bathtub shrine is an artificial grotto containing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, constructed by upending an old bathtub and burying one end. It is a form of yard shrine (a shrine built in one's yard). The grotto is sometimes embellished with brickwork or stonework, and with flowerbeds and small figures of animals meant to demonstrate Mary's affinity with God's creation. The inside of the tub is frequently painted a light blue color. The term is also used to refer to other yard shrines which are not constructed from actual bathtubs. Bathtub madonnas are most frequently placed in the front yards of homes of Roman Catholics, especially by Catholics of German heritage. Although statues of other saints or of Jesus may be enshrined, the usual subject is Mary. Bathtub madonnas greatly resemble the side altars (Lady chapels) found in some Catholic churches.
Over time, distinguishing characteristics of these shrines can become blurred. Instances inevitably occur of shrines whose statue is missing (creating a bathtub with no Mary) and conversely of grottoes being removed, leaving a statue in place.
Locations
Bathtub Marys in actual bathtubs are frequently found in the upper Mississippi River valley, including eastern Iowa, western Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and are an important part of the visual folk culture of Roman Catholics in that region. A noteworthy concentration of bathtub madonnas occurs in Stearns County, Minnesota, an area heavily settled by German Catholics in the 19th century.
Google and magazine database searches reveal instances of bathtub shrines among other Catholic ethnic groups in other locations, e.g., Mexican Americans in Milwaukee, Italian Americans in Michigan, and Hispanic Americans in New Mexico.
In the northeastern United States, smaller shrines that do not make use of actual bathtubs are more common. Somerville, Massachusetts, a city which has traditionally had sizable Italian, Irish and Portuguese/Brazilian populations, has a very large number of smaller shrines; well over 200 Catholic yard shrines in a town of about four square miles, with only one example using an actual bathtub.
Bathtub madonnas are also a common sight in north-central Kentucky, an area that has historically been predominately Catholic. A drive down country roads in Nelson, Marion, and Washington counties will provide ample sightings of these small shrines. Bathtub shrines can also be seen in Québec.

[edit] References
"For the Love of Mary — Yard Shrines Honoring Blessed Virgin Have Devoted Following," St. Cloud Visitor (Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota), August 16, 2001.
Miyazaki, Kevin J., "Our Town" (feature on bathtub shrines among Mexican immigrants), Milwaukee Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 1, January 2003, p. 20.
Perera, Srianthi, "Grave Images Illuminate 150-year Tradition," The Arizona Republic, Vol. 116, No. 339, April 22, 2006, p. CR-18.


In my internet searches, I have also found that a lady at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee wrote a thesis on bathtub shrines in 1994. I'm trying to get access to it via interlibrary loan, so we'll see what happens with that.

Our Lady? Of the Bathtub?

Who is she, and why should we appreciate her? Anyone who grew up in a predominantly Catholic town or region has probably seen her. She usually stands approximately three feet tall, wears a draping robe and a serene, all-knowing expression. She can be found on stately lawns, behind chain-link fences, and amongst rambling unkept weeds. Often (especially in more rural areas, I've noticed) she is accompanied by other concrete figures-squirrels, deer, angels, and housed in what resembles (or actually is) an old clawfoot bathtub. Hence the name, Our Lady of the Bathtub.

I grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky, a largely Catholic town south of Louisville, so I have been a lifelong admirer of the "Our Ladies." When I was little, they were just visual interest amongst the otherwise blah landscape on the way to relatives' houses in rural Nelson County. They were just colorful statues to tally as I rode quietly in the backseat. My parents and others in subdivisions in town kept "nice" lawns and had no interest in such things as whimsical concrete lawn ornaments. Perhaps my fascination with statues of the Virgin Mary in makeshift grottoes stems from unexpressed childhood rebellion, but I think they deserve more respect than they get. I'm sure that to their owners, they are something more than lawn kitsch for subdivision folk to gawk at. So with that, I begin the Our Lady of the Bathtub Appreciation Society, to find out the stories behind the concrete testaments to the Catholic faith. I'm starting in Louisville, KY, where I live now (and which has large pockets of Catholic heritage) and eventually working my way back to my homeland of Nelson County.

Oh, and I can't forget to thank the people who inspired this project as I begin:
-Josh Michtom who created http://www.somervillemadonnas.com/
He created the first web page documenting this type of lawn ornamentation. Go to his webpage and take your appreciation to a whole new level.
-My friend Matt for sending me the link posted above.
-My boyfriend Brendan for giving me the digital camera to take the pictures (and probably any technical know-how you'll see displayed here.


P.S. Are you in the Louisville area? Do you know someone who has an Our Lady of the Bathtub and wants to share pictures and stories? Have you seen some picture-worthy "Our Ladies?" Email me!