Art of the Incarnation in the Church!
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CURRENT NEWS: I am thrilled to have my Art of Advent and the Incarnation show installed at Monroe Community Church in Grand Rapids, MI. I am honored to exhibit along with artist Weitze Adema and his landscape show. The closing reception will be Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, 6 pm - 8:30 pm: https://www.mccgr.org/artprize/
John 1:14 says of Jesus, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…we have beheld his glory..” This is the Incarnation, and here are a few images from my show:
In Treatises on the Divine Images John of Damascus wrote: “since I am a human being and wear a body, I love to have communion in a bodily way with what is holy and to see it.” (I.36). He also defended images of Jesus as “a means of meditating upon the love of God manifest in the Incarnation.”[1]
Much of my artwork relates to the Christian sacraments. Below are details from my Sacraments Triptych (see whole Triptych in my last post—”Knit Together for Advent.”)
This detail is on Baptism as rebirth in God’s womb (John 3:3), and the victorious Lamb of God claiming us as his own:
This detail embodies the Risen King feeding us in Communion, and new humanity becoming one:
People lined up by this Triptych in the Worship Center as they received Communion. Jesus on the cross is at the center.
Here is a detail from the center cross panel of the Triptych:
This image was also used to create four other images. I portray Jesus in Red, Yellow, Black and White because Jesus came for all people. These images may be ordered as large vertical banners and hung independently or by a cross:
The tondo (circular) image at the left is entitled “Creation Groans (Romans 8),” representing Creation and Fall. The eight images in the center cross are stories of God’s deliverance in the Old and New Testaments, culminating with Christ’s ascension at the top.
The tondo at the right portrays New Creation, when we will see Christ face to face (1 Cor. 13:12).
My images may be purchased as originals or prints, or used for projection. Here you can see a projected image of Moses used by God to part the Red Sea and deliver the people from slavery in Egypt. (See more on my website at: www.BarbaraBjelland.com)
I also created a smaller triptych of St. Francis with portions of his Canticle of the Creatures. Below this is my Madonna of Budapest oil painting. This painting was featured with my written meditation on an international website for Lent on March 14, 2021: www.artway.eu
The church “has taught that art can attune our senses to transcendent realities”… the task and delight of Christians is to use visual art as well as other means, “to bring glad tidings of great joy for all people.”[1]
The image below depicts a shepherd boy who responded with joy to the glad tidings, and saw the Christ child. May these images inspire meditation upon the love of God revealed in the Incarnation.
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(Please see my website and contact me for more Liturgical Art, Fine Art and Illustration at: BarbaraBjelland.com)
[1] Robert P. Imbelli, Veiled and Revealed: Bellini’s Art of Incarnation, Commonweal Magazine (December 19, 2008), found at: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/veiled-revealed; last accessed December 29, 2021.
[1] St. John of Damascus, and Andrew Louth. Three Treatises on the Divine Images. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003, as quoted by Kayle Curley in The Two Cities Podcast (Oct. 18, 2017), found at: https://www.thetwocities.com/practical-theology/meditations/john-of-damascus-on-divine-images/; last accessed December 29, 2021.