I shared in another post about the mixed media art piece I was creating for my church’s Christmas art show. I finished it and I wanted to go into more detail regarding my thoughts about the inspiration and planning process.
Side note: I’ll be doing a video soon in a different post showing the different mediums that were used in the piece. Stay tuned!
Perspective on the Incarnation
When given the theme of the show, Perspectives on the Incarnation, I started thinking what it meant to have God come to earth as a man. I then thought about how crazy that story is—even impossible! Then I thought how incredulous it must have sounded to Mary when an angel from heaven came down to talk to her about being the mother of the Son of God! That she would have to live through the scandal of being unmarried and pregnant with the unbelievable story of “well, the Holy Spirit came upon me and the shadow of the Most High overshadowed me, and this happened!”
She handled it quite well according to scripture. If I were in the same situation, my response would have been, “Umm, I’ve got questions!” But she only asked one, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Here’s the whole excerpt I considered in preparation to create:
The angel visits Mary
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God.
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)
Mary responds
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
Luke 1:46-55 (ESV)
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
My Perspective on the Incarnation
I wanted to show how gloriously impossible the whole story was and capture Mary as she pondered all these things in her heart.
I had the idea to have her represented by a wire outline. I’ve always wanted to work with wire—I think I will do more in the future! Tears came to my eyes several times as I worked on her form, imagining all the emotions she must have felt as her belly grew. I want to have her faith for the impossible.
Perspectives Art Shows
I love these Perspective art shows at my church. It allows the artist the opportunity to create their perspective on the theme of the show. I can’t tell you how much more real the story becomes when you spend time meditating on scripture and imagining how everything happened. It really helps provide inspiration for the creation of the piece.
Previous art shows at my church have been Perspectives on the Passion with the Stations of the Cross during Holy week. We’ve also done Perspectives on Redemption based on the Beatitudes. It is simply mind blowing to see the shows and experience all the different perspectives. I love it!
During this advent season, I hope you are inspired to use your imagination as you read through the Christmas story, and perhaps create your own perspective of this amazing event!
