An artist is gifted with the unique privilege to express thoughts and ideas in a visual way. What makes this so special is the opportunity to create a tangible reality of conceptual ideas. I have begun an exploration of how to portray the reality that death is inevitable, and spark a thought process of how this can affect our lives while we are still on Earth. As the entirety of my life is shaped around my faith in Jesus Christ, I am inspired by what having hope and purpose really means. During my senior year of high school, death became real to me in a way that I had never experienced before. I lost someone who was very close to me in a sudden and unexpected way. Within a short period of time I saw death as a recurring theme in my life, as several other family friends and loved ones passed away. One after another, I was faced with the harsh reality of how short and unpredictable life really is. From my experience of loss I began to struggle with how short and fragile our physical lives are, and I find that the comprehension of death seems impossible without having any hope of eternity.
Throughout my body of work I continuously compare and contrast the scope of human life in its physical form to a biblically defined spiritual life. I have created a series of portraits in oil paint depicting the elderly. My visual focus is on the intimate details of wrinkles, veins, and the de-coloration of hair. I am drawn to emphasize the aging process that we all will face in order to invite a conceptual focus and exploration of how faith can impact death, eternity and spiritual life. Through Biblical research, I was inspired to create pieces based on passages of scripture that portray the significance of eternity. My series of drawings encompass the contrast between our physical bodies and the spiritual life that comes from the Holy Spirit. The application of charcoal allows my drawings to represent this contrast through the areas of bold darkness and pure white within the work. This dark contrast is also vital to represent a lack of, or false sense of hope. The introduction of color through subtle incorporation of pastels becomes a valuable means for me to represent the life and hope of eternity that comes through knowing and following Jesus Christ.
My collection of artwork is an approach to display the love and faithfulness of God that by far surpasses our human capabilities. These pieces display various portrayals of weakness on our own that point to his promise to care for us, and his covenant to give us a hope and a future. I present my artwork to explore the reality of death and eternity. The artwork becomes a call to ponder how we will live out our lives with the time we have left on this earth, and how we will spend eternity.
Throughout my body of work I continuously compare and contrast the scope of human life in its physical form to a biblically defined spiritual life. I have created a series of portraits in oil paint depicting the elderly. My visual focus is on the intimate details of wrinkles, veins, and the de-coloration of hair. I am drawn to emphasize the aging process that we all will face in order to invite a conceptual focus and exploration of how faith can impact death, eternity and spiritual life. Through Biblical research, I was inspired to create pieces based on passages of scripture that portray the significance of eternity. My series of drawings encompass the contrast between our physical bodies and the spiritual life that comes from the Holy Spirit. The application of charcoal allows my drawings to represent this contrast through the areas of bold darkness and pure white within the work. This dark contrast is also vital to represent a lack of, or false sense of hope. The introduction of color through subtle incorporation of pastels becomes a valuable means for me to represent the life and hope of eternity that comes through knowing and following Jesus Christ.
My collection of artwork is an approach to display the love and faithfulness of God that by far surpasses our human capabilities. These pieces display various portrayals of weakness on our own that point to his promise to care for us, and his covenant to give us a hope and a future. I present my artwork to explore the reality of death and eternity. The artwork becomes a call to ponder how we will live out our lives with the time we have left on this earth, and how we will spend eternity.