We had 10 people for a simple supper and a study of John A. Swanson’s 6 Advent paintings on Dec. 17, 2013.
These paintings are closer to folk art with an emphasis on placing the nativity story with in the community. Mary is integrated within the life of Nazareth and Bethlehem which is turn give you a unique feel of everyday life then.
The 6 sessions were divided based on a single work of Swanson:
- Annunciation to Mary -Luke 1:26-38
- The Nativity -Luke 2:1-7
- The Shepherds – Luke 2:8-20
- The Epiphany -Matthew 2:1-12
- The Presentation in the Temple -Luke 2:21-40
- Flight into Egypt Matthew 2:13-15
Swanson’s medium is serigraphics. Serigraphs is a screen printing technique have from 40 to 89 colors printed, using transparent and opaque inks creating rich and detailed imagery. For each color printed the artist must draw a stencil on Mylar film. This stencil is transferred to the silk screen for printing the color ink on the serigraph edition.
The paintings can be detailed. The "Visit" has over 20 scenes of ordinary life and also over twenty screnes from the Bible- Elijah and the chariot of fire, Daniel in the lion’s den, Noah’s ark, David and Goliah, Joseph thrown in the pit by his brothers, lions and lambs lying together (Isaiah), Queen Esther, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, Moses and hte burning bush, Jonah and the whale, Garden of Eden, water from the rock in the wilderness.
We each were asked to look for different parts within each image and to pick our favorite and why. We lined up the painting and saw how they flowed together and the common elements of each and also how they also differed between scenes.
The DVD wove the paintings, text readings, the words illustrated on the screen and the different perspectives from Candler Theological Seminary’ s faculty. Truely a multi-medium presentation.
Here are some links for more information, including detailed views of the paintings with a gallery below:
Introduction to the series
Paintings 1,2,3
Paintings 4,5,6
Thrill of Hope (full size gallery)