One of the assignments I had in a sculpture class at college was to create a ceramic carved relief sculpture in tiles that would then be assembled together once it was fired in the kiln. A few of my many interests are Roman history and the architecture and sculpture commissioned by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Drawing inspiration from these, I created a relief carving of a winged hooded Archangel Michael with sword and scales in hand wearing the cuirass and armor of a Roman centurion. To give him context, I placed him standing on the ledge of a stone cathedral alcove backed by a large stained glass transept window that incorporates a round rose window. Because of the limitations of the kiln, the finished carving was carefully cut into smaller sections to be fired. Once it was fired and stained to resemble carved white marble and granite blocks, it was re-assembled on a sheet of plywood using construction adhesive. The cracks between the tiles that make up the sculpture along with those between the "stone blocks" were then filled with tile grout. To complete the sculpture and add a bit of glow to the window, metallic enamel was used to paint the sections of the stained glass.