Symbols

[Episcopal Life] Anyone who has searched for religious clip art or graphics to illustrate a weekly bulletin, poster or newsletter knows immediately how time-consuming such a task can be.

Now four Episcopal artists, commissioned by the Office of Communication's web department, have each created a set of 12 Christian symbols that have been placed on the church's website for use at no charge for non-commercial purposes.

"From time to time, someone would call asking for free clip art or graphics, or asking if we could recommend a designer for a church logo or T-shirt," said Bowie Snodgrass, web content editor. "From these requests came our idea to commission some good, original Episcopal clip art -- making what might sound like an oxymoron into a created reality."

She, and her colleague, Wade Hampton, the church's art director, partnered with an organization called Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA) and issued a "call for entries" last summer. They received sample symbols from 15 artists. Read the full story here >

On View: Madonna and Child Original Clip Art by Marilyn Dale. From 'Symbols', in the Image Shop at the Episcopal Church website

On View: Crossed Callas, Silver Gelatin Print, 15" x 12", by
Colleen Meacham

By Tobias Stanislas Haller, BSG
Tobias Haller is vicar of Saint James Church Fordham in
The Bronx, and a member of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory.

As seen in 'Venite Adoramus ', an exhibition of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts.

She is a form, too beautiful to be real, poised and almost posed: her own angles against the creases of the hard surfaces of the world she's too much like. Seeing her is like seeing architecture. Notice the patterns on the [running!] shoes and on the begging bowl and how those abstractions are replayed in the scene. We know she is a begger because of her bowl and because the photographer tells us so. We know that she is a woman because of her dress, the clothing that renders her (and so many women) anonymous. She loses her identity in so many ways: to composition, to concealing clothes, to repugnance. If we are climbing the steps (to a cathedral) we will undoubtedly pass by, not seeing her for the bowl thrust forward; nor will we see the compositional planes she occupies so perfectly. It is the same when we see a photograph of disaster, the exquisite forms of the dead or the color of blood against the dirt of battle, the twisted face of death. In her case, the poverty we assume she bears is hidden in the folds of a garment and the planes of a photograph that wrench beauty out of despair. Does the woman feel this beauty? Does she know how she is displayed so perfectly against the world? Who knows. She is no one we will ever know except here. Through her we are shown the action of grace: she saves us in spite of ourselves.

By Ken Arnold, Copyright ©2007. Used with permission.

On View: Beggarwoman, Photograph, by
Diane Walker

On View: The Mustard Seed, a painting by Lorna Effler

As Seen in Gracious Spirit, an exhibition of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts.

On View: Our Lady of Good Counsel Interior
(Oil on wood, 28" x 30", 2007)
by Erin McGee Ferrell
Writes the artist, "The watercolor study for this oil was done in Plein Air within a church in my community. Christ is present in these spaces, both in the noise of the services and the silence of mid-week afternoons. Within the architecture and decor exist many images of Christ. Painting in the silent presence of these images is a prayerful act. "

From Image and Likeness, an exhibition of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts.

On Tour through December 2008 with "Redeeming Beauty", a national traveling exhibition of The Foundation for Sacred Arts, Bethseda, MD.

Novena to the Holy Spirit
The Novena in Honor of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas since it was first made at the direction of Christ prior to his ascension when he sent the apostles to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Addressed to the Third Person of the Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Novena begins on the day after Ascension, Friday of the 6th Week of Easter, even if the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred to the 7th Sunday. A group in my church will be praying this beginning on Friday and ending on the evening of the Pentecost Vigil. Won't you join us? -From Celebrating Sacred Time by Jan Neal, in the ECVA Sketchbook

On View: Taking Flight, a Pentecost installation of St Paul's Episcopal CHurch in Greenville, North Carolina. The creator Charles Chamberlain writes, "We have operated on the schema that we will always involve our whole parish in any project. We believe that if we do otherwise, then what we do will become nothing more than a nice decoration. By involving everyone, it definitely springs from the community for whom it provides liturgical meaning." From Resources at Episcopal Church & Visual Arts.

On View: Burning Bush
(Digital , 2006)
by Jan Neal as seen in Sharing Episcopal Art at the Episcopal Church website, episcopalchurch.org

On View: Transfiguration : Dwellings by Susan Tilt
Mixed media with acrylic and oil on a birch panel, 24" x 24", 2007. Susan is a member of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church - Springfield, Virginia. As seen in Image and Likeness, an exhibition of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts.