Trashy bible scenes?

Brother Joe Zoettl built 125 intricate, religiously themed sculptures out of trash. Thats pretty cool.

Collectively known as the Ave Maria Grotto (after one of the major works), the sculptures are built almost entirely of discarded building supplies, tile chips, plastic animals, toilet bowl floats, and cold cream jars, among other things. Most of Brother Joe’s oeuvre, (...)
which was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1984, is composed of models of Christian sites around the world—Lourdes Cathedral in France, the World Peace Church in Hiroshima—but it also includes such oddities as ‘Hansel and Gretel Visit the Temple of the Fairies’ and ‘The Tower of Thanks.’



It’s easy to dismiss a man who spent his free time building replicas of Bible scenes out of old ink bottles and rusty bird cages; still, Brother Joe’s work has a sense of unity and vision that most artists rarely achieve. The Grotto is part kitsch and part genius, and it’s hard to tell exactly which half of that equation draws the crowds. But for whatever reason, tens of thousands of people flock to St. Bernard’s every year: devout Catholics seeking inspiration, college kids looking for a good laugh, weary snowbirds stopping by on their way to the Florida Panhandle.