Transformation Art Project
A Report for the EBI Grant Committee
The Transformation Art Project
Below is a glimpse of the culmination of a project that brought together Christian artists in my city to create a gospel-focused outreach through visual art on the theme of transformation. Below you can read some of the texts displayed at the event and view the individual works I painted specifically for this show, followed by a gallery of photos documenting the setup, opening night, worship night, and other moments from the expo.
Enjoy.
Transformation
It’s said that people don’t change, yet every heart longs for transformation. We want to grow, we aspire, we work on ourselves. This exposition d’art explores the theme of transformation, pressing into the tension between our desire for change, and the rarity of truly changed people.
Transformation is a burst of colour and light. It’s a chemical reaction. It’s the world made new, the moment after which nothing will ever be the same. For the artists who have created works for this expo, human transformation is a matter of faith. If we cannot except that we are yet fully ourselves, if we cannot shake the conviction that there must be more than our current reality, then we must seek transformation. If we find we cannot change in our own power, we seek help to be transformed, to become more fully ourselves.
Many of the works in this expo were created as an effort to express the remarkable transformation that we, the artists, have found in Jesus Christ. He said, “I have come that people may have life, and life abundantly”. Elsewhere in the Bible it reads: If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.
This sort of transformation is an exchange, giving up the old for the new, trading sorrow for gladness, laying down burdens for rest. The invitation of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew is what we hope you experience as you enjoy these paintings.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
May you find the transformation you seek.
A Divine Exchange
Five Original Artworks by Joanna Appel
Below are five original works I created specifically for the expo on the theme of transformation. Each were displayed with title and explanation, along with the description of the collection below.
"Freedom for the Captives" One of the most poignant story of liberation in the Bible is when God parts the Red Sea and delivers the Israelites from the oppression of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It says in Exodus, there was a wall of water on their right and left and they walked through the sea on dry land. I used pages from the book of Exodus to build texture around the path through the sea and sand to give the crowd movement as they walk. This is also a reference to the promise to Abraham that his descendants will outnumber the grains of sand. The trinity circles are at the end of the path and holding back the waters.
"Beauty for Ashes" This is reference to Isaiah 61, a crown of beauty in place of ashes. Here we see the Trinity in the midst of the exchange, bringing new life in the flowers into the ashes. I used actual ashes on the canvas.
"Waves of Peace" Anxiety is ever present in our modern and it is a trap that the enemy sets for our souls. In the lower part of the painting, there are dashing words, thoughts, and netting to illustrate how we can get caught in these thought processes and really find ourselves in panic. But from above comes wave after wave of God's peace. that passes understanding. Under the waves is is written the words from Psalm 23 and for each anxious thought can be directly confronted by a line in the psalm. In these moments we need God to be big, gentle and full of breath. The Trinity circles are light, airy, bubbles to contrast the trap of the netting below.
"Oaks of Righteousness" In Isaiah 61, it says that "we will be called Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor" and just before this line, the verses are all about having a spirit of brokenness. How can we be strong oaks, that display the splendor of God in the midst of our brokenness? I painted this oaktree, strong, full of color and life, but underneath, we see the brokenness highlighted by the circles of the trinity. This is to show that God sees our brokenness, we don't have to hide, cover it up or pretend it isn't there. And in spite of our brokenness, we have been declared righteous by the power and sacrifice of Jesus. It is in Him that Oaks of righteousness find their roots and can display His mighty splendor.
"Light in the Darkness" In scripture, we see how God drives back the darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. In this painting we see the light breaking through, with the Trinity at the forefront, bringing golden shining light into the shadow places.
