Oaks Pioneer Church

Oaks Pioneer Church, also known as the Sellwood Chapel, is located near Oaks Park and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Oregon. 

Back when I was engaged to my now ex-husband, and planning our wedding, we stumbled upon this little chapel while driving around. I think I fell in love with it at first sight. I was instantly drawn to it, not realizing at the time that it was the same chapel my mom and my dad were married in. It was only after telling my mom about this cute little spot we found that she brought out all the photos albums and regaled me with the story of their marriage, which I’ve heard many times before. Side note: She seemed surprised and shocked that I didn't know this little tidbit of information before this, but in my defense, there was A LOT my mom never told me, that I was just expected to somehow know, like it was born common sense or something. But I digress. We did not get married in this chapel after all. We had no money for a wedding of any type, no family support, and I now believe he did not actually want to get married in this sweet little church that looked to be straight out of a fairy-tale. It was too expensive, too "formal" and wouldn't fit everyone we (he) wanted to invite. No, (SPOILER ALERT) we got married in the same place we got divorced, in a courthouse, and invited nobody. Lol! 

Oh, I still love this little cottage-core nugget of a chapel! I now actually live in Sellwood and pass by it often, and even though I have zero plans to ever get married again, I admire it every time. And I love the idea that at least my parents were married there. So, what do you do with this kind of love? You lovingly build a papier-mache replica, of course, complete with little clay Portland pigeons.

These two pigeons are my favorite!

I wish I had taken more photos of the process, all I managed to take was this shot of the painting of the pigeons, which was my favorite part of this whole process. 

There are a few things I learned while building this and things I will do differently next time, but I really like how this little chapel turned out. 

And she lights up! 

Another reason why I wanted to do this project was to see how a real existing building would turn out. Would I be able to put my own creative spin on it while keeping it recognizable? Would it be fun or just frustrating? Is this something people might be interested in as a custom art piece if I were to offer it, a papier-mache replica of their own house or a building or piece of architecture that they find meaningful?

Although it took a while to complete, I had a lot of fun doing this project. I love how it turned out, and yes, I plan to do many more in the future. I’d really love to do Baba Yaga’s chicken footed hut!