The Faith&Arts ministry is excited to announce the first outdoor art exhibition at Christ Church: DEVOTED. The visual artists of Christ Church have created artwork inspired by some of the themes of our fall sermon series, such as Word, Community, and Eucharist. Their work is now on display around the perimeter of the building at 112 Medina.
Next time you’re there, we invite you to walk around and take in this work as another way to engage with these essential aspects of our lives in Christ through this sermon series. Artists include:
Bekah Goodgame
Billy Hollis
Communal Life, 24″ x 24″ oil on wood, 2020
I had five days before the show and felt anxious. My attempts had so far failed; they all felt too contrived, too trite, too obvious, too immediate. After several hours of work that I discarded, I had resolved that I would not enter the show. Everything I had done thus far felt that it was serving me, which by nature was antithetical to the heart of Acts 2:42. I sat down and read it again in different translations, and the word communal stuck out to me. Community is something that’s not easy. We cannot fully love someone if we do not know what causes their pain. We cannot enter that pain unless we do so as a servant. Seeking to hear before we speak. Seeking to help clean rather than point out where the dirt is. Oh Jesus, how I miss touching people! Community is in the flesh. It’s as much physical as it is spiritual. The two can not be separated. As I pondered these things, I began to long for them. Longing to get into the dirtiness of life again. To touch. To feel someone. A picture emerged out of the chaos of my failed attempts and this longing for community. A clear, unwavering picture. Simple. Humble. Kind. Unwanting. It would serve. The work would serve the community.
Caleigh Taylor
Cheryl Kaufman
“In the beginning was the WORD”
This title recalls the first words of the Gospel of John. The WORD in the person of Christ and in the scriptures are the foundation of our Christian faith. From the very beginning of church tradition, the Gospel of John was symbolized by an Eagle. In the fourth century, St. Jerome solidified this imagery by interpreting the four living creatures in Ezekiel 1 as a prophecy of the four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew as a winged man, Mark as a winged lion, Luke as a winged calf, and John, as an eagle. This painting is my simplification and interpretation of the representation of John from the early 9th century Book of Kells (known as The Book of Colum Cille, until the 17th century).
Eric Kaufman
The photograph was taken in the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian adjacent to the forum in Rome. I was drawn to the scene by the quality of the light falling on the painting of the dove and to the shadows projected onto the painting from the cross atop the cover of the baptismal font. For me, all of these things working together evoke the work of Christ, who came to earth to live among us, who died and rose again and who binds us to himself by sending the Holy Spirit to live in us.
Matt Evans
“Hill Country Path”, Oil on Board, 2020
This piece was painted in the studio from a plein air study while attending church virtually this fall. Most of it was painted during the 1st sermon in the Devotion series, on the Creed. I was thinking about the words of the Creed while I worked, but don’t know that this work says much about the Creed or Devotion or anything beyond how nice tree shadows are to look at if you will stop and see them. You can probably find some parallels between the Creed and a road to follow through the woods if you work at it diligently enough, but I’d encourage you not to take this painting, or me, or yourself for that matter, too seriously. Tree shadows are beautiful, God is good and, if you are wondering where this path goes, then that makes two of us.
Stef Powell
“How Firm a Foundation”
“How Firm a Foundation” symbolizes the church gathered and the church scattered, but ever united in the cross and through our rich heritage that roots us in the truth of Christ. I used discarded torn pieces of my old watercolor paintings to represent the redemptive work of Jesus who makes all things new.
Vera Bowen
