From grief to grace
Nixon spent four months creating this relief sculpture depicting the Assumption of Mary. He believes his late wife Francesca sent the vision for this image his way, and like everything his wife was a part of, he loves it. He said, “I truly believe she is a saint.” (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)GREENSBORO — Francesca and Paul Nixon’s love story continues beyond the grave through two recently crafted relief sculptures installed on the sanctuary walls of Our Lady of Grace Church that depict the Ascension of the Lord and the Assumption of Mary.
Francesca, the love of Paul Nixon’s life, tragically died after falling from a horse last year. He still gets glimpses of her in dreams and visions as she guides Nixon’s healing through the talent she unlocked in him – his art.
Now, when parishioners raise their hearts and minds toward the heavens, they get a peek of the couple’s love layered within the sculptures.
“I did this from my heart, for my wife,” Nixon said. “God gave me the gift I didn’t see. Francesca saw that gift and brought it out of me. What better place to compliment both God and my wife?”
The intricate works of art, each measuring three feet by two feet, took four months to complete. The depictions were hand-sculpted from clay and then hardened with cement for texture.
“I was sitting one day writing, and then all of a sudden this thought popped into my head, ‘I need to do a panel of the Assumption.’ The idea came to me through her,” Nixon recalled.
The relief panel is a three-dimensional image of Mary being carried to the heavens by five angels, each sculpted in clay and then cast in a high-grade sculptors’ cement. The background shows 10 more angels surrounding the Queen of Heaven. The top of the wooden frame is an upcycled piece of a Victorian couch
“I couldn’t just do the one panel. It wouldn’t make sense. Then the thought of doing the Ascension came into my mind,” Nixon said.
The hand carved centered “OLG” on each frame was an afterthought that tied the two pieces together as did the antique white coloring.
He showed his sculpture to Father Casey Coleman, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, and received the same enthusiastic response he now witnesses from people in the pews.
“I’ve already watched people reach out, touch and stare at them,” he said. “And I know this is exactly what she wants from me.”
Nixon, an auto mechanic who became an acclaimed artist in his late 40s after a huge nudge by his late wife, has his fingerprints all over Our Lady of Grace Church – from the confessionals’ woodwork and stained glass to the intricate shrine boxes and hymnal stand.
Bishops worldwide carry his hand-carved croziers, and his hand-sculpted totem poles and memorial sculptures are scattered across the Carolinas. Some of his best work is in glass-enclosed cases in the Yeats Memorial Building in Sligo, Ireland.
Yet Nixon doesn’t credit his own hands, but Francesca, who pushed him to discover the potential God created in him. Before his wife’s encouragement, his life was on a dramatically different path.
Originally from Dublin, he spent his 20s and 30s on wild adventures sailing the seas, ballroom dancing, working as a stunt double, and riding bikes alongside the Hell’s Angels.
“I realized I could no longer do all this by myself,” Nixon said. “I had all these wonderful experiences but no one to share them with.”
So he flipped a coin at an Irish bar and landed in New York.
There he met Francesca. When she dropped off her car at the auto shop where he worked, his heart hit the floor. It was love at first sight.
Three months later, they married. He was 40, and she was 38. They quickly started a family, adopting an infant from Guatemala. That child motivated Francesca to become Catholic.
“She told me she wanted to convert to Catholicism because we were adopting a little girl and we needed to all be on the same page,” Nixon said. “In doing that, she actually brought me back into the Church.”
Francesca and Paul Nixon were married for 29 years before her death. This is Paul’s favorite picture, taken at an art venue a few years ago.Francesca knew Nixon had artistic ability and asked him to create a gift for their aunt: a cane.
“I worked on that cane for three months and hated every moment of it, until the day we presented it to Aunt Mary and the outpouring of tears and joy,” he recalled. “To do something from your heart and get that type of human emotion, I knew that was my purpose.”
The reaction brought Nixon clarity. He needed to nurture his ability to sculpt. He slowly put down his mechanics tools and has now come to adore his whittling knife.
He doesn’t allow his fingers too much rest these days, constantly occupying himself with a novel creation – anything that he thinks would make Francesa smile.
He has some sleepless nights and can at times cut his loneliness with a knife. Yet, he stays busy, now creating 30 new pieces for an upcoming local art gallery.
“Even though she is gone, and I do still have many, many tearful nights, there is such an inspiration, there is such a drive now because I know this is for her and this is what she would want for me,” Nixon said. “And, in all our 30 years together, I never wanted to fail her in any way.”
— Lisa M. Geraci