Creativitiy – Encounter Gallery

July 26, 2026

Rahab Remembers

Rahab Remembers

I’ve finished a new painting in the series about encounters with God. The title is Rahab Remembers. I’ve imagined that, after the fall of Jericho, Rahab’s life with the Israelites is long and satisfying. Perhaps, one day her son Boaz brings his son Obed to sit at her feet and hear Grandma Rahab tell the story about God’s miraculous delivery of their family.

This all started when Gayle, a friend of my Mom’s and now my friend, challenged me to paint Rahab in my series (Encounters with Jesus). I thought about it for about 3 seconds, and said “I don’t think so, I don’t see how it makes sense in the series.” But Gayle did not give up and every time I ran into her, she asked me again, ‘are you going to paint Rahab?’.

Finally, one day I said ‘Well Gayle, sure, I’ll paint Rahab. Will you be my model?” She laughed, and hesitated, and finally said she would. In the back of my mind, I expected her to say “Yes!”, because she is so full of life and joy, and adventurous. Later, when we were invited to her home to take reference pictures, Gayle asked me, “Should I be smiling? Looking off in the distance? Or what?” I said, “How about you pretend you are Rahab, and I’m your son, and just tell me the story of what happened to you at Jericho so long ago.” Gayle lit up and launched into a lovely and passionate retelling of ‘her’ history and what happened in Jericho.

As I was looking through the pictures later, it occurred to me that Gayle was acting out Rahab Remembering her miracle from God, and that immediately became the title.

The Story of Rahab

Rahab’s story is long and contains many fascinating details recorded in the book of Joshua, chapters 2 and 6. I urge you to read the whole biblical story, there is so much there. Here are the major elements.

Rahab lived in Jericho, a city-kingdom in Canaan. News had reached Jericho that neighboring kingdoms had been conquered and decimated by an army of foreigners – the Israelites. And everything seemed to point to the fact that Jericho was next. Now Rahab was a prostitute, as well as an innkeeper in Jericho. Both of her professions show that she was connected and immersed in the culture of Jericho. Her home and lodgings were in the wall of the city, and – this is very important – she had a window in the wall, to see anyone and everyone who came and went from Jericho.

One day, there was a knock at her door. The scriptures state that Rahab “welcomed the spies”. She knew who they were and what they were about, perhaps observing them from her window as they approached the city.

And she welcomed them into her home and gave them refuge. Word about the spies in Rahab’s house reached the king. He sent messengers demanding that she give them over. But instead, she hid the spies on her roof and tricked the king’s messengers into leaving and chasing after them even though they were still in her home.

Rahab then arranged an escape for the spies, letting them down from her window in the wall. But, before she let them go, she asked for a deal. She said “Since I’ve been kind to you, you return that kindness and save me and my family. And give me a ‘truth token’ to seal the deal.” So, the spies considered and agreed. And they gave Rahab that ‘truth token’, a red cord (in the painting), with instructions to bring her family into her home to save them. Bind this red cord to your window, and when we return, if the red cord is in your window, then everyone you’ve brought into your home will be saved.

The spies did return with the whole Israelite army. And they followed God’s command by walking around the city one time for 6 straight days. And on the 7^th day they walked around the city 7 times, and then the priests blew their ram’s horn trumpets, and the army gave a great shout, and the walls of Jericho fell – all except Rahab’s home in the wall, because she had bound the red cord in her window. And she had brought her father, mother, brothers, and sisters into her home, and they were spared.

What is it about Rahab?

Rahab inspires many different responses from different people.

Some people are entirely put off by her profession as a prostitute. I think it’s an indication that God chooses whom He chooses. And we can be thankful for that.

Others, including two of the New Testament writers, hold Rahab in extremely high esteem. She is included twice as an example for us of great faith, due to her “welcoming the spies”, and “sending them off in a different direction”.

As I’ve been thinking about Rahab over the last year, I continually come back to the fact that Rahab had an opportunity to welcome the spies (God’s people). She responded with kindness, and hid them from the King’s men, and sent them off in a different direction to keep them from being captured.

Even though her knowledge of God was extremely limited by our standards, she chose to accept the people of God into her home, and in so doing showed her faith in God. And she was rewarded with an opportunity to save herself and all her family.

I think of how immersed we are in our own culture, certainly I feel immersed in it. I’m struck by this idea: God’s lesson for me may be to follow Rahab’s lead, accept the opportunity to be kind to God’s people wherever I find them, provide them safety if needed, and in so doing align myself with God’s purposes.

August 2, 2024

At Redeemer Bible Church

Encounter Gallery paintings are hanging this summer at Redeemer Bible Church in East Dallas. A number of families and folks from St. Bart’s Anglican Church, which is currently co-located there, also stopped by with their children to look at and talk about the paintings and their stories.

September 17, 2019September 18, 2019

Encounter Gallery at Northwest Bible Church

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

September 7, 2019September 17, 2019

David Park’s Best Year Ever

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.

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.

September 2, 2019September 2, 2019

Cerealism Collage

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.

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.

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.

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.

August 7, 2019August 7, 2019

Twisting Trees with Mac Browning

Terri, Norma, Sara, and Melissa twisting away.

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.

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019

Time and Place

I recently read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Jayber is a small town bachelor barber who attaches himself to the very small town of Port William. Here is one of the wonderful passages where Jayber philosophizes about time and place. He’s so eloquent and so country at the same time.

” I have got to the age now where I can see how short a time we have to be here. And when I think about it, it can seem strange beyond telling that this particular bunch of us should be here on this little patch of ground in this little patch of time, and I can think of the other times and places I might have lived, the other kinds of man I might have been. But there is something else. There are moments when the heart is generous and then it knows that for better or worse our lives are woven together here, one with one another and with the place and all the living things.”
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

The shortness of time resonates with me. The closer we get to the end the more obvious it becomes that time was always short, it just becomes clearer. It is important to be reminded of that. We might as well number our days because they are truly numbered.

It seems like such a random thing to have been born in Texas and to have lived in Texas almost all my life. Who knows if I’ll die in Texas or not? And almost all the people in my wonderful and wide community are here now in Texas. That is so obvious and yet so strange. It’s not so different from family, we don’t get to choose our community so much as our time and place choose them for us. Even if I reach out and connect with others across the world to be part of my virtual community, I can’t go back and hang out with Rembrandt. We’re bound to time and place. Wendell Berry’s writing is so much about the working out of time and place. Rereading that sounds so academic. But when actually reading his novels it’s something much different. It’s layered and lush. The characters and the land are complex, exciting, joyful and of course occasionally tragic. Mr. Berry makes the idea of staying put in one place seem like the only obvious and best choice.

We’ve been in our current home on this acre and a half for 25 years. I feel a kindredship with Jayber Crow and all the Port William community because of my connectedness to this home and this small plot of land. Terri’s chickens and our fig trees make a tiny mini-farm, but it also adds to it’s meaning. Part of the key to our great community here with family, neighborhood, church and friends is because we have stayed. We have not left. It’s true that we did not have to leave but also we have chosen not to leave. Our community here has grown and I cherish it. Staying put paid off.

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019

The Art of Fig Preserves

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with gardening. I love it when other people do it, I hate to do it myself. The main reason is that I’m terrible at it and have never had much success. There is one exception to the rule and it’s the only time I have fun in the garden. And truth be told, it’s hard to call it gardening. About 10 years ago I planted a fig tree. It struggled the first few years and the root system was shallow. It actually fell over a couple of times. I staked it, babied it, and lo and behold it survived. A couple of years later I planted a second one. These two trees are now healthy, huge and doing great. Every year in early June we are greeted by thousands of tiny figs fruiting and we anticipate a bumper crop. In a small way it signals the onslaught of summer in North Texas. It’s something wonderful to look forward to even while we’re dreading the upcoming heat.

This was a great year and we’ve already collected over 50 pounds of figs.

Now, what do you do with so many figs? Well, one thing is that you give them away by letting family and friends come over to pick. The thing I like to do with mine is broil them with a little goat cheese on top of them. So, I freeze as many as I can, and unpack them little by little throughout the year.

The third thing I like to do with figs is to can fig preserves with my Mom. They are the perfect fruit for making preserves, and it’s a great treat to spread on some whole-wheat bread for breakfast throughout the year.

I grew up eating fig preserves that my mother made, and we occasionally plan a summer afternoon to get together and cook up and can some fig preserves. There are really only two ingredients for our fig preserves: figs and sugar. Lots of figs and as much sugar as necessary. No vanilla, or cloves, or ginger for us. Just figs and sugar.

The first job is to pick the figs. This year Mom came over and picked about ten pounds, that’s actually a lot of work. Plus, Terri donated about 3 pounds to our effort that she had picked. (Mine all go in the freezer to make broiled figs & goat cheese breakfasts!). Next, cut off all the stems, and then wash the figs.

The real art is in the amount of sugar to add to the figs. They are naturally very sweet, so they don’t need as much sugar as when making preserves with tart fruit like blackberries, or even peaches. We added about half as much sugar as figs. For every 4 cups of figs added to the pot cover with 2 cups of sugar.

Put the pots of figs and sugar on a low flame. As the sugar heats up it turns into syrup and begins to cook the figs.

Let them simmer on a very low boil for about an hour, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Then the figs will have all turned a gorgeous amber brown. Boil the jars and lids. Retrieve them from the boiling water carefully with some tongs. It’s very handy to have a Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup to dip into the hot fig preserves and pour into the hot jars.

Carefully clean off the jar tops, screw on the lids and caps tightly. From beginning to end it takes about 4 to 5 hours. That does not include the time it takes to pick the figs. When it’s all said and done, there is usually half a jar left over that isn’t worth putting a lid on, so we make some toast and happily finish them off as our reward.

July 19, 2019

Permission to Have Fun

Russ, Terri, and Michael Albert at Crystal Bridges

Terri and I hung out at the Crystal Bridges Art Studio in Northwest Arkansas a few weeks ago with Michael Albert (michaelalbert.com). Michael has been doing collage for a number of years and his works are both colorful and whimsical, and yet insightful and serious too. Michael has a number of favorite texts, narratives, speeches, scriptures, and such which have meant a lot to him over the years and he has committed them to collage, as well as some of them to memory. I thought that was pretty cool.

So, while Terri got to work on her collage, I hung out with Michael and as usual asked a ton of questions. He’s on an “Art-demo and Workshop” Tour across dozens of U.S. cities. Most of his stops are at libraries where he leads folks, mostly kids, in activities using art, but also discussing and leading conversations about a number of those texts and stories that are so important to him. I asked him how he chose the libraries, and he said that he had written and published a book. He looked up which libraries carried his book, and just called them up and told them what he was doing. So, he has been driving from city to city for a number of weeks, maybe months now, visiting small towns and big, and getting to know people. Once again… very cool.

He calls his collage work “cerealism” because so much of it is found in the packaging for cereal boxes. So, it’s a lot of fun to see the images in his art, originally on cereal boxes I know well from my childhood. It’s sometimes a bit educational, if not sobering, to see how he uses the text in his work. Some of my favorites were Psalm 23, the preamble to the Constitution, and the Gettysburg address. There’s lots to choose from though, he’s a well-read guy.

Terri chose to make her version of our state flag. She had some symbolic fun and included some numbers in the work that are personally very important to her. I thought it turned out very nice.

Lone Star Flag
Paper and glue
12″ x 14″
by Terri Reed

I have a tradition of working on self-portraits whenever I’m at making-art demos, working in new media, and I don’t know what else to do. So, I sat down and did a 30 second self-portrait sketch in pencil, and then started cutting up cereal boxes. I decided to do a layering technique, whereas Michael and Terri both do more of a mosaic effect where they cut the shapes out to piece them together like a puzzle. I overlaid mine, one on top of another, and got more of a 3-D effect, which really worked for the self-portrait.

When we were finishing up, Terri asked me where the grey was in my beard. I really was taken aback. It turns out that my self-portrait is not a bad likeness, but it’s more life-like to my appearance 30-years ago, than it is now. While I was making the portrait, I was actually thinking of myself with dark brown hair. So, I blamed it on the cereal boxes and told her that silver was not really a cereal color.

There are a few important things to me about going to these art-making studio demos. I love to meet artists who are doing their creative thing and are willing to share their time and ideas with me. Michael was so generous, gave us some fantastic posters, and talked about his creative background and experience. It’s really nice to just listen to artists talk about what inspires them. I think occasionally it rubs off and something important and perhaps philosophical might find it’s way into my art or my creative habit.

But, it also allows (forces) me to try something new besides oil painting. The painting is so serious and these different media allow me to relax and just have fun. Try cutting up some cardboard packaging like a 6 year old and make something out of it that’s meaningful. It’s fun. These new media really stretch me and push me into something new. I’m terrible about making art in front of other people. I like to be alone, alone, alone. But, in the middle of the chaos at the Crystal Bridges Art Studio there’s nowhere to hide and you just have to go for it. Give yourself permission to have some fun and be silly.

Self-portrait
Paper and glue
10″ x 8″
by Russ Reed

July 9, 2019September 2, 2019

The Art of Chow-Chow

Chuck is my father-in-law and lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife Marian. He’s an amazing cook and I’ve enjoyed countless fantastic meals made by him. One of my favorite accompaniments that he makes is chow-chow.

For folks unfamiliar with chow-chow, it’s the southern version of green tomato relish, and Chuck’s version is very southern and very spicy. We add it to all kinds of bean dishes, chili, and anything at all that needs a little spicing up. We spent most of this last weekend together and Chuck was so gracious to share his chow-chow legacy with Terri and me. We really wanted to know how it was made. So, he sent the list of ingredients and we brought as much as we could find. These included 2 large heads of cabbage, 50 jalapeno peppers, 6 onions, 8 green tomatoes, turmeric (raw or dried), mustard seed, and more.

Chuck makes the most amazing chow-chow of all time. I’ve been eating it so long (since I was 15) that you can say I’ve grown up with it. He patiently led Terri through every detailed step while I took notes and grabbed some pictures of the process. Here are the basic steps to making the best chow-chow on earth.

The most important ingredients include cabbage, firm green tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, various other hot yellow & orange peppers (for color), bell peppers, onions, turmeric, mustard seeds, and red wine vinegar. The hardest thing may be to find fresh green tomatoes. We checked out a number of places and they were just not available, even in early July. We finally found about a dozen, mostly green tomatoes at a well-stocked off-the-road vegetable stand. All the ingredients are necessary, and you definitely cannot make chow-chow without green tomatoes.

Starting with the cabbage, they cut and food-processed all the vegetables and poured into a large port. Terri cut the vegetables in smaller portions and handed off to Chuck who worked the food processor. Once all the vegetables were sliced & diced, some picking salt was poured over the top. The mixture was covered and left overnight.

The next morning, the salted veggies were thoroughly washed and strained. Then the red wine vinegar, sugar, turmeric and mustard seed were combined together in another pot and brought to a boil. The chopped veggies were then combined with the vinegar and spices and brought to a boil. The empty pint jars and lids were boiled in another pot. to sterilize.

And then the hot chow-chow was spooned into the hot jars, sealed and tightened. From start to finish, it was about 6 hours for 2 people. We did the veggies Friday evening, and added the vinegar and spices on Saturday morning. The total output was 28 pints.

This was truly an amazing time when Chuck passed on a bit of his legacy and I got to record the whole thing. Very cool. Thanks Terri & Chuck!