Cheville Chapel at Graceland University

Graceland University

Graceland is not ranked by U.S. News & World Report, being deemed a Tier 3 institution. It is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission as a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.-Housing System:...

 was dedicated in 1978 in honor of Roy Cheville

Roy Cheville

Roy A. Cheville was a religious leader, theologian and educator in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Community of Christ, as it is known today. Cheville graduated from Graceland University in 1921 with an Associate of Arts degree in liberal arts and religious education...

, theologian, educator and former Presiding Patriarch

Presiding Patriarch (Mormonism)

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Presiding Patriarch is a church-wide leadership office within the priesthood...

 of the Community of Christ

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

. The structure was built for $325,000 and was funded by a restricted private bequest. In keeping with the desire for the chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 to be an accessible place of solitude, Graceland's president Frank Hough determined that the facility should remain unstaffed and open at all times.

The Chapel's relatively small seating capacity makes it an intimate setting for worship, theological education and the performance of sacred music. Known for its excellent acoustics

Acoustics

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...

, it has been used for small ensemble performances. It is used several times a week by campus groups for worship

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

 services, and as a place of individual prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

 and reflection.

Architecturally, the postmodern brick structure is minimalist in its design. It is reminiscent of the exterior simplicity of the Rothko Chapel

Rothko Chapel

The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art. On its walls are fourteen black but color hued paintings by Mark Rothko...

 in Houston built only a few years earlier, while its twin steeple

Steeple (architecture)

A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...

 foreshadows the deconstructivism

Deconstructivism

Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of...

style in architecture that began a decade later. The chapel houses Aaron Sherer's "The Process of Becoming," a canvas wall hanging employing a mix of colorfully painted ribbons.