Rick and Dafna have been friends of Grace for nearly 25 years. Rick created and installed the "Suffering Savior, Risen Lord" artwork at the back of the Grace Church sanctuary stage. Join us Wednesday, May 28th at Grace church at 6:30pm as we get the chance to hear more from Rik & Dafna Wienecke.

Rick Wienecke was born in Toronto, Canada in 1955.  As a young man, after learning about the Holocaust, he became convinced that if there was a God, He must have something to do with the Jews and the country of Israel. He asked, “How could the Jewish people survive the Holocaust and only three years later declare themselves as a nation?” Rick felt an inner stirring to experience Israel for himself.  

In 1977 he went to work on a kibbutz for six months as a volunteer. Kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh became his home for more than seven years. Rick would say that those years “birthed” everything for him. He became a believer in Jesus, and he began sculpting. 

He was given permanent residency, and after serving in the army, he was given full Israeli citizenship. For Rick, this was a clear sign from God that he was to stay in Israel. He married Dafna, and they have two sons: Daniel and Yohai. 

In order to work full-time in the arts, Rick and Dafna had to make the difficult decision to leave the kibbutz and its lifestyle. Over the next forty years, they continued to live and sculpt in various cities in Israel. Arad, a small city in the Negev Desert, has been their home and the location for their studio for the last several years. The largest of his works, The Fountain of Tears, can be seen in Arad.  He describes this piece as a “sculptured dialogue between the Holocaust and the Crucifixion.” An additional version of The Fountain of Tears has been installed in Poland, 300 meters from the gates of Birkenau.