Pastor Eddie Hill preached at Monica Park Sunday on Jacob wrestling with the Angel. He mentioned how we often wrestle with sin and also with global events. That might have been referencing Monday’s total eclipse! He mentioned that this biblical struggle was a real fight at a real place. He also noted that Jacob’s struggle left a scar and our struggles with God leave us scars and injuries. He encouraged us to use every opportunity to be a blessing to others. This reminded me of the verse to”carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.
Today is Palm Sunday, leading into Holy Week. I’ve been attending Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, while the Encounter Gallery paintings are installed. I place the paintings on the easel at the front before the service so it is easy to move it closer to the center before the Pastor starts the sermon.
Earlier this morning I noticed Kelly lighting a candle next to the painting “Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross”. I liked this visual and Kelly agreed to a picture. This practice is not something we do in my tradition, so I also asked her why she lit the candle this morning. Kelly said “My BFF had a 5 bypass heart surgery last May, and a couple of weeks ago she had a defibrillator put in. I light it to help me put focus on my prayers.”
I am often reminded how easy it is to wander mentally while praying. Holding the lighter, and touching it to the wick takes some concentration and allows for a moment to focus. I appreciate the beauty, effort, and effect of this practice.
Stella McCain and Mary Apple Batiste viewing St. Serapion
The Encounter Gallery paintings are currently installed in the sanctuary at Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, Texas. Pastor Eddie Hill and the whole congregation have been so gracious. It’s been a pleasure to meet and talk, and also worship with them on Sunday mornings the last few weeks.
Both sides of the sanctuary before the service.
I tried to be as unobtrusive as I could, but here’s a picture taken of the side walls from the back row during the early part of the service a few weeks ago.
And during the service.
On Thursday, March 28 at 7 pm, Monica Park will hold a Maundy Thursday service. Pastor Eddie has asked me to speak about the paintings and give some insight into why I painted them. I’ve chosen a couple that directly relate to the ideas behind Maundy Thursday, and will end with some stories behind the “24 Feet”, and why I painted that. Please join us!
Anna in the Temple with the Child Oil on canvas 24″ x 18″
I’ve wanted to do this painting for a long time, and now it’s done. The models are my beautiful mother, Virginia Reed and her latest great-grandchild Eliza. Thank you Ben & Kathryn for allowing us to include Eliza!
I’m very pleased with how this painting turned out. Anna is so joyous and tickled to be holding this baby. Her expression is exactly what I was looking for. And the child is completely content in her arms.
This painting is now hanging at Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, Texas. In fact, just this last Sunday, Pastor Diana preached on Simeon and Anna both and used the two paintings to illustrate the passage in Luke. That was a great blessing to see and hear the sermon.
A catalog of the Encounter Gallery paintings is available. There are some sample pages below. Each painting has a short essay along with the scripture text. About half of the essays were written by friends, the other half are my own stories.
The catalogs are $20. If you would like to purchase one, let me know by sending an email to russ@encountergallery.com. I’ll reply with ways to send payment, and then bring a copy to you next time we meet, or drop one in the mail.
If you would like to have an art print made, let me know which painting you are interested in, and the size you would like (16 x 20’s are less that $50), and I will work on it.
With James Surls under Seven and Seven Flower, photo by Charmaine Locke
The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth recently unveiled their
newly designed interior and I went to check it out the day after their big
grand re-opening. It was Sunday (after 1st
service) and their website said “Open today at 10 am!!!” So, I drove over to
see the new interior design. It turns out that there were a few of us there
early, but the website had not been updated overnight. So we hung out in the
parking lot under the oak tree shade.
At noon, as we were walking inside, I overheard a lady behind me speaking to one of the attendants and she said “… well, that’s James Surls”. I looked at the guard who didn’t seem to register the name, and I turned to her and said “That’s James Surls?” She smiled and said “Yes, and I’m Charmaine, his wife!” James and Charmaine were checking out the placement and hanging of his newly installed piece Seven and Seven Flower for the museum. It was pretty cool, the hanging of the piece had been supervised by one of James’ assistants, and we were seeing it together for the first time in-situ.
If you know Texas artists, you’ve seen dozens of James’s work in art museums and corporate collections. But, this one is pretty special. It’s massive and cool with wonderful wall shadows.
As we were talking, James walked back over, and Charmaine introduced us. I told him that his name had been on my resume for almost 15 years. Back in 2005, James was juror of The Texas National at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacagdoches. James selected my piece “St. Leon of the Steelworkers” for that show. I’ve always been extremely pleased that he included this portrait of my grandfather. I’ve always thought it gave me some Tex-Cred!
St. Leon of the Steelworkers Oil on Canvas 30″ x 36″
I did not share with James and Charmaine my other James Surls moment. A number of years ago, around the time the kids were in diapers (all grown now), I was at the Fair Park Flea Market in Dallas where Terri and I used to spend hours looking for unique treasures. One month I spotted a small maquette obviously by Mr. Surls. It was about 5-6 inches in diameter and maybe 6 inches high. I very gently picked it up and marveled at this extremely cool work of art. The proprietor of the booth saw me, and smiled, and showed me a letter of authenticity, but if you know James’ work, it was obvious who made it. The price was $500, which even though a great price, at the time it was about 100 times what I had to spend. I looked for awhile, sat it down, looked for another long while, sighed, and walked off.
Discussing the self-portrait “Man Born Blind” with Robert Virkus.
The Encounter Gallery is showing through December 2019, in the Christian Life Center at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas. We had a Sunday Morning opening a couple of weeks ago and lots of folks stopped by to look and chat between and after the services. I met Robert Virkus and we had an interesting conversation about the art work and some of our favorite artists. Above is the installation on the south wall.
The North Wall installation of the Encounter Gallery
The church is usually open during the day and they often have extended hours. But I recommend calling ahead to make sure the Christian Life Center is unlocked and available for viewing.
Northwest Bible Church Christian Life Center 8505 Douglas Avenue Dallas, TX 75225 469-453-7777
I recently visited the Modern Museum of Fort Worth which is showing David Park’s work from the 1930’s through 1950’s. Since he’s known as a figurative painter, I was very interested in seeing more of his work.
Now for the full disclosure: I do not appreciate most of David Park’s abstracted figurative work, especially those he did in later life. I’m a portrait and figural painter with a completely different aesthetic. It seems to me that abstract expressionism may be able to be applied successfully to the figure and portrait, but I don’t like how Mr. Park applied it.
However, there are some wonderful paintings here, and all the best are from 1937. This show is definitely worth the trip to Fort Worth.
In the first painting above, Four People Drinking a Toast, Park shows an enigmatic foursome crowded around a small table, tightly squeezed and cropped into the picture plane. It’s easy to imagine the rest of the cramped apartment and speculate on the underlying intimacy between the four people. There is so much mystery here. I wonder why the woman in yellow is holding the fancy vase, rather than another goblet of wine. Is she showing off a new purchase? Perhaps it’s a valued heirloom. Maybe it adds some comic relief or just necessary to complete the complicated composition. I love it when artists show off and I think that’s a bit of what’s going on here. Regardless, the seriousness of the group and their intensely focused gazes make for a wonderful and contemplative piece.
Dancing Couples, ca. 1937
At some point, hopefully, each of us will have a really great year. It will be a stretch of time when everything comes together, we’re at the top of our game, and our best work is done. Perhaps it will be the culmination of long years of study and practice. Then the fates coalesce for a short time. Once you live through a period like that and achieve success at that level, the later years may be hard to accept. Lightning in a bottle is hard to conjure up a second time.
This second work, Dancing Couples, portrays the figures tightly entwined. Once again maximum use of the picture plane is made and the space is tight.
Self-Portrait Painting His Wife, ca. 1937
This last painting also has a lot going on in a small space. We see the loveliness captured in his wife’s evocative pose. And on the inner canvas, we get a glimpse of where his work will take him a few years down the road. It’s unfinished certainly, but it’s lacking in depth and emotion. Perhaps it’s foreshadowing something of the path he will take in the future.
I’m interested in art that portrays and speaks to the human condition. There is much in these 1937 paintings that make me think the artist and his models have a connection and an interest in each other. They know each other intensely and there are bonds between them that will last. The later work, although vigorous in its brushstroke and color, loses that connection between artist and subject, and therefore me.
There’s something reassuring when working with scissors and glue. Not only familiar, but also easy and fun. For me, there are fewer pretentious thoughts to making great art and lots more smiling and fun. It never fails when we’ve set up an art-making night that everyone gets busy and I just stare at whatever materials we’ve collected and all my great ideas just fly away, It feels like the everyone else is moving on and doing their thing and I am completely out of ideas.
More ceralism.
Most of the materials we were using were from cereal boxes saved for this purpose over the last few months due to our recent collage experience with Michael Albert. The colors and font designs are fantastic and probably the results of millions of dollars of advertising campaigns. The cost is basically nothing, and it’s keeping some packaging from going straight to the dump. Ok, so it’s just a little bit of packaging that we’re temporarily keeping from the garbage, but it’s a good feeling to recycle even a little bit. It’s especially a good feeling to make something fun and use basically no money at all in it.
Lurking Desire
Here’s what I finally came up with. It’s a sort of psychological portrait of a small part of our marriage. It’s also using what was available and not being fussy about it. The pepperoni pizza bird on the left is me, the popcorn bird is she. It would have been more accurate if my bird had been made of fried chicken, but a suitable pic was not available. The popcorn bird is entirely accurate. My lovely wife loves popcorn. It’s the go-to snack while amazon prime binging.
Intense discussion
I love this picture. It’s a bit out of order. We almost always eat, and talk, and pray together before the art-making. The spot on the couch by Phil is occupied by Wendy who is right there skyped in on Melissa’s cell phone which was pretty cool. The conversation that I remember most about this evening is the idea that we have to keep taking risks and focusing on truly important things. Whether it’s with new art-making ideas, new relationships, or more time spent praying, reading, and applying scripture to our lives. Someone said that we need to rid ourselves of those time-consuming activities with which we are pre-occupied and move forward with the vital things. And stop worrying about whether or not we and they will be accepted.
At Art and Faith in July, Mac Browning showed us how to take a loop of wire and sculpt a twisted-wire tree. I’ve admired Mac’s beautiful trees many times and it was very interesting to get a feel for what goes into one of his creations by trying to make my own. Mac was thorough and patient and getting started was easy. However, the wire twisting itself was not easy. It takes a combination of strength and dexterity to get what you want. It always gives me a great appreciation for what another artist does when I try a new technique for the first time.
Tom, Melinda, Sara, Melissa, and Norma focusing on the work.
Sometimes making art requires intense thought. When I’m painting a portrait, I have to concentrate completely. If I zone out and begin thinking about something else, I make color, value, and composition choices that just don’t make sense and have to be re-worked and fixed and it wastes a ton of time. It’s happened many times. It’s nice to have something that is not quite like that. Maybe Mac has to concentrate and not lose focus to make his trees, but for me, it was nice to work on something and carry on a conversation at the same time.
Mac showing how it’s done. Sara and Melissa contemplate the next move.
Art & Faith is on the 2nd Saturday of the month. We eat, we pray, we make art.
