Creation and the Story of Joseph
Each 10" X 10" on canvas, acrylic paint & pages of scripture embedded.
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
Vincent Van Gohh
I am coming to you today with this question, What makes art art?
I have a reason for this question for something has happened in our household. Get ready, are you sitting down? I have something very special to share. My wife Wilma is painting! You did read right, my wife is painting! I know...is that not amazing and fantastic?
By her own admission she's always lamented her lack of "talent" when it came to creating anything even close to "art". She married me because, I was an artist! (You have no idea how I worked that angle!) She has two children who are artistic! She's recruited family members to decorate her living room with "art".
Suddenly, I think she just got fed up with being the only one not doing "art" in our family. She had an idea.
Here's what happened. Over the years as our parents have all now passed away, there is an abundance of Bible's we have collected in our basement storage area. Bible's from our parents, from relatives, from our own past lives. As these have piled up we have constantly been asking ourselves, what do you do with old Bibles? That is the question!
A Portion of the Gospel of John
4" X 4" on board, scripture embedded
Because of her doubt about being an artist and spending money on, (in her mind,) this foolish idea she had, she began by going to the dollar store buying small canvases and to Home Depot for quarts of paint. She managed to sneak all of this into the basement and began working on her secret plan.
Then came the most difficult part. She had to begin with one of these historical family keepsakes, one of our PARENTS BIBLES. She very carefully chose one and with great reverence and trembling, "gingerly" and with great care, "TORE OUT" the pages of a specially chosen passage, like for example, her father's favourite Psalm....Handling it all like TNT explosives, she "painted" these onto the canvas. She used the paint both as glue to hold the pages on the canvas and as the colour of the work. The pages, flat or crumpled, were embedded into the work itself, often creating interesting texture for the work.
After that initial event, the dam has burst and she's been going crazy, with much doubt and anxiety of course, creating more scripture embedded paintings, covering our basement walls.
Now of course, Wilma doubts that this is art! I on the other hand know the deep history of this story and of her heart. You probably know our story and she has, as a mother gone through hell and back with the murder of her daughter. We've had the pre-lim and the trial. Coming up this April 16 & 17 is the appeal. How is it that she could come out of that with the sweet attitude she has? I believe her "art" is a loud shout to whoever will listen, as to the answer to that question. Again a beautiful metaphor of the "word" making a difference when it is "embedded" in ones life, as it is in hers.
Is it art? Here's my take, if the artists work was able to move you, you, it's art.
When I go into the basement and see these pieces on the walls "I" am moved. I has changed how the basement feels. They represent, not only the beautiful history and impact of this "word" in the world around us, but more than anything how it has been the rock for our journey and experience in this world. I love this art.
The Whole New Testament on Canvas!
24" X 30" on canvas, acrylic paint & pages of the New Testament embedded.
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."Aristotle
"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."
Psalm 119:11
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