Salt Lake 11th Ward: Interior

A well-known member of the Salt Lake 11th Ward was Lewis Ramsey. He was an artist who was commissioned by the Church to paint Joseph Smith receiving the gold plates in 1923. It was a very popular piece of art--it was printed in the large-print edition of the Book of Mormon--and he painted several copies, including one for the Draper Ward (which now hangs in the Draper Temple) and the Union Stake Tabernacle in Oregon (which now hangs in the Portland Temple). The copy that was painted for his home ward (the Salt Lake 11th Ward) was saved when the building was demolished in 1960, because David O. McKay felt strongly about it. It had been painted on the wall, so the entire wall had been removed and stored.

At some point the painting was lost for 20 years. Richard G. Oman, curator of the Arts Division of the Church Historical Department, tracked it down in an industrial area, finding it in rough shape. Rats had built nests on the painting and it was flaking badly. Over the course of three years, they removed the painting from the wall, reattached the flakes (one by one), and finally, 1982, the painting was restored to the front of the new chapel. It was done very well--I had the impression the chapel was originally built with the mural here.

 

The painting is at the front (behind the rostrum), and the pulpit is off-center so it doesn't impede a view of it. The painting is set back, with electric lights illuminating it from below, and small windows on either side so it's well-lit.

 

 

Modern stained glass is in the chapel as well, and some neat geometric patterns are there and on the pulpit.