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| Peace Be Still, He Qi |
Last week I had the pleasure of attending an informal gallery talk by Dr. He Qi. He spoke about studying Jesus' ministry and all that he taught. This artist sees the common theme of peace throughout the earthly life of Christ. After growing up and surviving the Cultural Revolution in China the artist has devoted the message of his artwork to that of peace while telling the stories of the Old and New Testaments through his unique visual interpretation.
The message of the gallery talk has not left me this week as I've watched and listened to a lot of disharmony and distress unfold in the news worldwide. I have said it before and will say it again....the artist in my sometimes has to work through these things by creating. In the studio, this batik fabric spoke to me and new stole design unfolded. Peaceful, calming colors of mint green, pale pink, and peach are embellished by dragonflies and butterflies. These creatures, both symbols of the Resurrection, are flitting serenely across the lovely variegated, dyed fabric. Thinking about the scripture: For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, Ephesians 2:14, we accented the border with "peace" translated into several different languages...shalom (Hebrew), mir (Czechoslovakian), rahu (Estonian), paix (French), asti (Kurdish), pace (Romanian), satta (Jamaican), beke (Hungarian), nala (Lozi).
Signing off, praying for world peace, that the walls may come down.
**This stole is part of our peace and healing collection. You can see it on the website here.
2 comments:
(Hope this doesn't get posted twice!)
I used his "Road to Emmaus" this last week as part of the art for worship. Such an interesting artist. His story is fascinating. I envy you getting to see / hear him.
I'm guessing the "Road to Emmaus" image enhanced worship!
It was definitely a treat to hear the artist speak...and I'm in awe of the church that brought him in to do so. They have a wonderful visiting artist series. It's made me think more of how churches can work with artists even if they need to do so on a smaller scale....every community has artists...you don't necessarily need to fly them in to speak!
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