Mothers of the Bible Show
On Thursday August 7 I delivered my art to the Marian Library gallery in the University of Dayton Library. Everything went smoothly and when we were finished the show looked great.
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I've been working on this show for quite some time...
It all began over two years ago, in March of 2012, I received an email
asking me if I would like to do a show at the Marion Library at the University
of Dayton. I accepted immediately without hesitation. I was excited at the
prospect of having a show at my alma mater. I was given a date over two years
away in 2014 and I began the process of deciding what this show would be about
and how I would convey it.
When I received that first email about the show, my husband
and I were living in Brussels, Belgium for three months. He was working there
and I had come along to enjoy the experience of living in Europe. This gave me
a unique opportunity to visit cathedrals in Europe. Every place we went there
was a cathedral and we enjoyed exploring them. One rainy day, toward the end or
our stay, I set out to see as many cathedrals as I could in the city of Brussels.
I was intrigued by the one hiding in the back corner of a neighborhood
dedicated solely to Mary and another named for Mary Magdalene. I particularly
loved the way each cathedral depicted Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in a different
and often unique way.
I’m not Catholic, I’m
Lutheran. Mary is not as revered in our religion, but I became facinated with
how Mary, and other women of the bible, are depicted. Thus began my quest to
discover more about women of the bible and I decided that my show should be
about these women. I soon discovered that using all women of the bible was and
overwelming topic. So I narrowed it to just mother’s of the bible and my topic
was born. This fit very nicely l with my recent personal goal as an artist
which has been to depict women, motherhood, and family in my artwork. I know
these topics very well, since I myself am a mother and motherhood has been the
most important job of my life.
Over a year ago, I began my
study of the many mother’s of the bible, including “Mother Wisdom”. I’ve
learned so much about these women, some of whom I discovered for the very first
time. I have to admit that I’ve never been a “reader” of the bible. I usually
go to church on Sunday morning and listen to the bible being read to me. This
has actually been the first time that I really sat down to read the bible with
a purpose: to find out more about these important mothers.I feel that I have
barely scratched the surface of this topic. For example I think that I could do
a whole show about “Mother Wisdom” herself. I’m so proud of what I’ve
accomplished with this show, I believe that it is my best work to date.
Here are some studio pictures:
Radar the Cat was my helper. He even read the bible for me!
In July I received the
Greater Columbus Arts Council Community Artist Grant to
complete this show. I was able to pay for the frames in the show with my grant
money. I couldn’t have afforded framing my artwork if it hadn’t been for this
grant.
At last everything was finished!
I collected everything in my living room before we took them to the gallery
Everything fit perfectly in the car for our trip to Dayton.
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| Here I am at the Library...it's been a long time since I've been here...I worked here during college! |
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| The advert for my show is by the elevator! | | | |
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Here is the empty Gallery when I first walked in.
Here comes my art!
I had an idea of how I wanted my art in the gallery. So when I brought it in I placed things where I though they might go.
It was amazing how my art seemed to fill the gallery just right!
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Here is the progression of the show. Starting in the hallway and then going around the gallery. Each artwork has a corresponding bible verse.
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Wisdom,(hanging in hallway) $800
Proverbs 4: “Prize her highly, and she
will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.”
Artist Note: Wisdom, personified as a
woman in the bible, is Sophia in Greek and Chochma in Hebrew.
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Sarah the Seed ($800)
Genesis 17: 15-16: “She
shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Artist Note: Sarah is the seed of
Abraham’s linage.
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Elizabeth ( $900),Visitation Series,
Luke: 1:36-56: “Elizabeth in her old
age has also conceived a son…nothing will be impossible with God”
Genesis 21:6-7: God has brought
laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
Artist Note: Elizabeth, John the
Baptist’s mother, was a mature mother just like Sarah before her.
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Mary’s Song ($900) Visitation
Series,
Luke: 1:36-56: My soul magnifies the
Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
John: 15:1-6 : “I am the true vine, and
my Father is the vinegrower”
Artist Note: Mary wears her song from
the visitation on her pregnant belly and she is attached to Elizabeth with a
vine which represents Jesus the true vine.
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Hanna,($800)
Samuel: 2:1-10 & 1:22-28, “My heart
exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God.”
Artist Note: Hanna is wearing her song
on her chest like a breast plate for battle.
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Rebeckah, ($600),
Genesis:
25:21-26: “The children struggled together within her”
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Rachel, Acrylic Painting,($600)
Matthew: 2:18, “Rachel weeping for her
children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more”
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The Dutiful Wife (Woman’s
Life Stages Series), ($500)
Ephesians 5:22-24 & 31-33: “Just as
the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to
their husbands.”
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The Woman and the Dragon (Life Stages Series),
($500)
Revelation: 12:1-5: “A great portent
appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in
birthpangs, in the agony of giving birth.”
Artist Note: This painting represents a
woman in childbirth.
Anna the Prophetess (Life Stages Series),
($500)
Luke: 2:36-38: “There was also a
prophet, Anna…as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple
but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day”
Artist Note: This painting represents a
woman as a widow.
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Mary: The Word Become Flesh (Mary
Series), ($800)
Luke 2:7:”And the Word became flesh and
lived among us,”
John: 1:14: “And she gave birth to her
firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger”
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Mary in Luke (Mary Series), ($800)
Luke: 2:19: “But Mary treasured all
these words and pondered them in her heart.”
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Mary’s
Heart, (Mary Series), ($800)
Mark: 16:5-7: “Jesus of Nazareth, who
was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place
they laid him”
Artist Note: This painting was done
before this show in 2006. In this show she represents Mary, the mother of Jesus,
but she could also represent Mary Magdelene.
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Eve: Innocent: (Eden Series), ($700)
Genesis 1:23-25: “And the man and his
wife were both naked, and were not ashamed”
Artist Note: This painting, created in
2006, was one of the first paintings that I did in this technique.
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Eve and
Adam (Eden Series), ($1000)
Genesis 3: 1-7: “then the eyes of both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked”
Artist Note: This painting was created
in 2009 for another exhibition it usually hangs in my living room.
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Eve: After the Fall, (Eden Series),($700)
Genesis 3:11-13:“Who told you that
you were naked?
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Jachebed, $700,
Exodus: 1:22 & 2:2-3: “she
got a papyrus basket for him…and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the
river.”
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Ode to a Capable Wife, $800
Proverbs 31: 10-31, “Ode to a Capable
Wife
Artist Note: This painting represents
any woman struggling to fit into this famous bible verse.
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Noah’s Wife,$700
Genesis: 8:15-19: Go out of the ark,
you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you
Artist Note: I wonder if Noah’s wife
would have been more concerned about her household items than the animals. What
must have it been like to keep house on a boat for days on end?!
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Naomi & Ruth,$700,
Ruth: 2:1-7: Ruth the Moabite said to
Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone
in whose sight I may find favor.”
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Mary and
the Mothers Before Her, Found
Object Sculpture,$700
Artist Note: This
sculpture shows Mary and several of the mother’s before her. The mothers on
base of the sculpture correspond to some of the mothers in this show.
The picture hanging crew. Thanks to them everything went very smoothly that day!
Fr. Rotan (the Library director) and me.
The show is in and it looks great!
