Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross Oil and gold on canvas 30″x20″
My closest artist friends and I were a part of the Art & Faith Life Group. One year, 16 of us decided to create our Scriptural Way of the Cross. For this project, I chose to do Way #8: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross.
But, as usual, I needed the right model. My son Jonathan worked at Starbucks at the time, and through him I met Oliver, one of his long-time customers. I shared the story of the Encounter Gallery and my idea for this next painting. It turns out that Oliver knew the story well and said he would be my Simon of Cyrene. He even agreed to change into a suit & tie and meet me at our church where I knew I could borrow a large cross. Then, as my friend Andy carried the front, Oliver carried the back end of that cross up a hill many times while I took pictures.
WestWind Christian Church, Keller TX Maundy Thursday 2025
Simon of Cyrene did not volunteer his service for Jesus. He was forced to serve. But, he did it.
We might think that this was just an accident, because he was somehow noticed by the soldiers. But I think he was noticed and singled out by God, who used the soldiers to pull Simon forward.
However Simon did not shrink back when called – even forced – to serve. I’m sure that a direct order from armed guards was quite convincing. But he did not complain, he was not too proud to carry a cross for a convicted criminal.
Disciples Serve the Five Thousand
Oil on canvas
24″ x 18″
This painting began after listening to my friend Takiyah tell me about the gospel story that most resonated with her. She described in detail an evening when she was young, and her mother was crying because of their lack of food. Unexpectedly, to her at least that evening, God provided. That was the first time that Takiyah knew that God was present and that she could talk to him. She talked about the abundance of God and how he has constantly provided in so many ways throughout her life, and that was the reason that Jesus feeding the 5,000 was her favorite gospel story.
I imagined Takiyah as one of the followers at the front of the crowd that day, who saw the fish and loaves multiplying, pitched in and helped deliver the food to all the folks on the hillside. Her contemporary clothing and the modern dishes are my way of imagining what it would look like if this happened again today. It brings the story into the immediacy of now.
Takiyah’s story is one of my favorite evidences of the power and abundance of God. I was invited to share this story in a message to Midway Hills Christian Church in Dallas a few weeks ago. Eight of the Encounter Gallery paintings of saints impacted by Christ are exhibiting at Midway Hills during this Lenten season. We retitled the painting as St. Takiyah Serves the Five Thousand for this exhibit as we know that all who trust in God are truly saints in His eyes.
March 23, 2025 at Midway Hills Christian Church
The church members did a wonderful job of hanging the five paintings in the sanctuary and three more are just outside in the gathering space. It was an honor to speak on the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand and God’s abundance through the eyes of Takiyah.
The Healed Paralytic Oil and 23k gold on canvas 18″ x 24″
This depicts the well-known story from Mark 2 in which the paralyzed man is carried by 4 friends to get him in front of Jesus. But the crowds have pressed in from all sides. These friends are the heroes of the story, humanly speaking. Even though they must have been exhausted, they didn’t give up. After their way was blocked, they persevered and found the stairs to the roof. They carried him up the stairs, removed the tiles in the roof, and lowered him down through the hole.
Then Jesus performed 3 miracles.
The idea behind the halo is borrowed from the pop-art print “Explosion” by Roy Lichtenstein. As I thought about the paralyzed man, it’s interesting that we don’t know what he thought about what was happening to him. He did not speak during the entire story, even after he was healed. So, his halo is one of “surprise and wonder”. He must have been shocked to find himself actually standing on his own two feet. As that is happening, his mind “explodes” with realization.
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.
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.Â
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
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.
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.
Terri working on her Lone Start flag.
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
