Visionaries: Christianity and the Visual Arts

Christianity and the Visual Arts

Journey to Christmas: Barbara Niczynski

by

“Unravelling”, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 90cm

Artist: Barbara Niczynski

Artist Statement:

The artist thinks about God as engaged in a journey towards the incarnation and so pictures an unravelling. “When I consider the wild, untameable nature of God, the enormity of creation, what effort the unravelling of the Godhead it must have been! God reduced beginning redemption as one cell in a human being. We think of Jesus suffering on the cross, but I think his suffering started at that point of laying aside his power for us”.

Journey to Christmas: Marcelien Hunt

by

“All the world should be taxed (Lk 2:1-2)”, oil on canvas, 50cm x 50cm

Artist: Marcelien Hunt

Artist Statement:

Luke 2: 1-3

  1. And it came to pass in those there went out a decree… that all the world should be taxed.
  2. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.
  3. And all went out to be taxed…

2000 years later upon Advent the world is again being taxed. This is the taxing of all peoples across all nations by refugees. As God led his people out of Egypt, this exodus of Syrian refugees is an issue each should decide where and why they stand where they do. Do you face the crowd with your back to the world or do you turn to face the journey with Babe safely in your arms?

 

Journey to Christmas: Jennii Gould

by

“Journey to Christmas”, acrylic on canvas, 61cm x 85cm

Artist: Jennii Gould

Artist Statement:

This painting expresses the grief and sense of aloneness that I feel at Christmas.

I have used the following symbols to convey this narrative:

Gold – God

Dove – The Holy Spirit

Christmas – The Holy Family

Myself – figure front left

Clothes – red and green for Christmas

The Path – Church colours for November and December

Grief – purple cheesecloth

Aloneness – single person

Overall tone of the painting – Bright and colourful like a Christmas decoration

 

Journey to Christmas: Geraldine Wheeler

by

“O come, O come, Emmanuel”, Gouache stencil painting on black paper, 78cm x 72cm

Artist: Geraldine Wheeler

Artist Statement:

This was a response for Advent 2013 to the Brookfield Centre for Spirituality’s request for works of visual art on themes relating to John the Baptist’s call “Prepare the way of the Lord.” The work emerged for me as the counterpoint to “Jesus Falls” which I did for a Visionaries “Contemporary Stations of the Cross” exhibition in St.John’s Cathedral, 2008. In that, I placed the figure of the fallen Christ in the Queen Street Mall (Albert Street junction), the view looking up the mall. Most of the surrounding people took no notice of the fallen figure, just going their own ways. “O come, O come…” is set looking down the mallfrom the spot where I placed the fallen Christ figure, as I saw the mall in December 2012, with a choir singing Christmas carols. Such a song is a prayer for the place where it is sung and the wider world, “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” (See together in Song 265.)

“A Chi-rho page: flannel flowers”, gouache stencil painting on black paper, 47.5cm x 40.5cm

“A Chi-rho page: jacaranda and poinciana”, gouache stencil painting on black paper, 47.5cm x 40.5cm

“A Chi-rho page: jacaranda and poinciana”, gouache stencil painting on black paper, 47.5cm x 40.5cm

“A Chi page: Christmas”, gouache stencil painting on black paper, 47.5cm x 40.5cm

Journey to Christmas Exhibition, Nov 21- Jan 6, 2016- 17

by

Journey to Christmas

A Visionaries Exhibition

 

Geraldine Wheeler: "A Chi-rho page: jacaranda and poinciana"

Geraldine Wheeler: “A Chi-rho page: jacaranda and poinciana”

 November 21 – January 6

Open 11am – 2pm weekdays (except public holidays)

Opening Event: 7-9pm on Friday, November 25

VERA WADE GALLERY

Corner of Creek & Ann Streets, Brisbane

Artists: Jennifer Gould, Marcelien Hunt, Marion McConaghy, Graham Moss, Barbara Niczynski, Sue Oliver, Cees Sliedrecht, Gabriella Veidt-Wiedmer, Geraldine Wheeler

The Journey: Geraldine Wheeler

by

Geraldine Wheeler: "Flight from the dictator: with reference to Picasso and Fairweather, Gouache stencil painting on paper, 40 x 51cm

Geraldine Wheeler: “Flight from the dictator: with reference to Picasso and Fairweather, Gouache stencil painting on paper, 40 x 51cm

Geraldine Wheeler

Artist Statement

The central reference of this painting is the story in Matthew 2:1-18 of the journey of the Holy Family fleeing King Herod after the visit of the Magi. The reference to Picasso is the use of figures expressing great grief similar to those in his large painting, Guernica, which critiques the Nazi bombing of that Basque town in Spain in 1937 and the reference to Fairweather relates to his depiction of the massacre of the infants in Epiphany (QAG Collection). The story of the refugee Holy Family on the journey to Egypt can be seen to have parallels in what still happens in the world today and the plight of the refugees fleeing war and cruelty.