Ginny's Summer 2014: Mothers of the Bible Show

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.

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.

Here I am at the Library...it's been a long time since I've been here...I worked here during college!


The advert for my show is by the elevator!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rebeckah, ($600),

Genesis: 25:21-26: “The children struggled together within her”

Rachel, Acrylic Painting,($600)

Matthew: 2:18, “Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more”

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.”

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.

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”

Mary in Luke (Mary Series), ($800)

Luke: 2:19: “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

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.

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.

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.

Eve: After the Fall, (Eden Series),($700)

Genesis 3:11-13:“Who told you that you were naked?

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.”

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.

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?!

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.”

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.