A Cruce Salus 2006 Virtual Tour
A Cruce Salus - "From the Cross Comes Salvation."
The 2006 gallery was curated by Marc Marsocci.STATION 1
Station 1 | Jesus Prays in the Garden of OlivesBrad Breyer
dry wall mud, paper mache, ceramic tile, dough, acrylic paint
Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf of springtime. —Martin Luther
Jesus began His journey to the cross by praying in the garden. He knew the weight He would have to bear and hardship He would have to endure. This weight and hardship is symbolized by the rock Jesus is leaning on while He prays. And while this journey would lead to His death and the end of His life on earth as a man, there is the promise foretold that He would rise again and that His death would mean life for all who follow Him. His resurrected life and the eternal life for all who believe in Him are symbolized by the many leaves on the branches of the tree that stretch over him.
STATION 2
Station 2 | Jesus Is Betrayed by Judas
Ken Tombley
I Am with You
plexiglass, polyester beads, spray paint, black river rock
In the garden of Gethsemane one of the most infamous acts of betrayal is played out. Judas turns over Jesus, his Lord, his friend, his hope, to the temple guards. This doesn’t happen with a battle cry or a “behind the back” accusation but with a kiss. This sign of affection, loyalty and welcome sets off a chain of events that lead to Jesus’ violent crucifixion. Jesus’ words echo in my mind, “Friend, do what you came for.” Betrayal is such contrast to friendship. We all have experienced some degree of betrayal. In those moments of pain we can feel the world is nothing but chaos and we are alone. Yet the repeated promise of God is “I am with you always.”
The blood red mask represents betrayal. The single strand of red beads represents the sorrow that flows from it. Surrounding betrayal is the goodness of God, showered down from above. The translucent beads reflect great variation in God’s goodness. The translucent beads not only engulf betrayal and shower down upon it but also surround it in a very ordered pattern. For God’s goodness transcends the betrayal of man.
Click HERE for a 3-D video
STATION 3
Station 3 | Jesus Is Silent Before His AccusersNicolette Stephens
Character
acrylic, sponge, raffia, canvas, paper and ink
Silence speaks its own language. In the midst of false accusation few of us would remain silent. In the midst of unjust trial, few of us would remain silent. In the midst of beatings and defilement, few of us, if any, would remain silent. Yet One did. Jesus. For me, this piece is a depiction of all things unholy, all things impure, all things wicked unable to stain the purity of Jesus. The border represents a structure that was once intended for good infiltrated by the sin of the world. The sponge, soaked with darkness, represents His accusers in their malicious intentions, their secrecy, and their deceit. In spite of the slander and physical abuse, Jesus remained unmarred.
STATION 4
Station 4 | Jesus Is Condemned by the SanhedrinLinda Cromwell
Pastel
I have always been interested in trying to convey ideas that are inspirational. I enjoy creating different kinds of art using a variety of media. Participating in this show is a great privilege. It has also been very challenging because the subject seems so important and is such a departure from what I have done before.
Jesus said to the Sanhedrin, “…but this hour and the power of darkness are yours” (Luke 22:53). In this work I attempted to illustrate the conflict between light and dark and that no matter how great the darkness, the light of Christ is greater.
STATION 5
Station 5 | Peter Denies Jesus
Mike Hale
blood wood
When Peter denied Jesus, each time seemed to grow in intensity. This is illustrated through the one point perspective as well as the angle, beginning in the back and working to the front. To deny is to disown, illustrated by the turning of the boards and the image of Peter’s back facing in the end. Through Peter’s act there was a broken relationship, illustrated by the broken board. It was sharp and painful. The image has no facial features to aid in placing oneself in the same position of Peter. We too turn our backs on Jesus when we choose our way of selfishness, protection, and fear. But why three times? It could be a denial of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” or as I have come to learn, a broken covenant between myself, God, and the Body of Christ (the church). Yet the whole time Jesus goes to the cross and sheds His blood to forgive this sin. This is the reason for the entire piece being created in blood wood
Click HERE for a 3-D video
STATION 6
Station 6 | Jesus Is Judged by Pilate
Marc Marsocci
wood, vegetable, glass
Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Yes.” The eggplant represents Jesus. Breaking the skin, the eggplant decomposes more rapidly, releasing its seeds to spread exponentially. Pilate asked Jesus, “Aren’t you going to defend yourself form the priests’ condemning accusation?” but Jesus remained silent. The opened box demonstrates his volunteered submission to imprisonment. The leading priests stirred up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas, the murderer. An empty mirrored vessel illustrates the distortion the priests where able to surround Barabbas in. When asked by Pilate, “Then what should become of Jesus?” the crowd roared, “Crucify Him!” The set of dissection tools implies the impending torture and crucifixion demanded by the people.
Click HERE for a 3-D video
STATION 7
Station 7 | Man of Sorrows
Jennifer Brewer
ink
This is a monoprint from a printmaking course in college. Right before I created this image, my professor had pulled me aside to say that every great artist has a voice that comes through in their work, and he said my art lacked a voice. I was crushed and went over to my table, found the only tube of ink not being used and squeezed it all over my palette. This image was an accidental one, the face created with a few angry and reckless strokes of my palette knife. And as I stood back, I knew it was Jesus. I had shied away from including Him in my art for various reasons. But looking back, the reason I didn’t have a voice is because HE is my true voice and my real meaning. I had not valued my art enough to include Him in it, and truthfully did not think He valued it.
The colors that frame His image symbolize the raw ache of His pain. I think His sorrow was because He pitied us. And His sorrow was deeper than any of our excruciating human experience with heartache. The pain and rebellion of the creation grieved the core of the heart of its Creator. Honestly, I understand heartache more than sorrow, so I can’t say much about it, only that I think it is a godly way of bearing heartache. My own personal experience with heartache has impacted the way I see this side of Jesus. I am in awe at His strength. And want it. I can barely stand my own heartache most days, let alone the heartache of all of humanity from the beginning to the end of time. He truly was more than a man. There is no one else that could have carried that burden. Or would have wanted to carry it. He was born to carry it. I wish they could have called Jesus the God of Sorrows, because to bear what He did makes Him so much more than a man.
STATION 8
Station 8 | A Man and His Cross
Josh Ballard
wood
While unloading a bunch of building materials that were donated to us by the original nuns of Poor Clare, I came across a piece of 4˝ x 6˝ I thought would make a fantastic “something.” A fantastic what, I didn’t know. I made plans for a stand-alone shelf, several hanging shelves, a balance beam for my daughter, but none of those things really struck me as “the” thing to create with this piece of wood. When approached as a potential artist for this exhibit, I immediately had a flash of that piece of wood fashioned into a cross. I volunteered and selected the station “Jesus Carries His Cross.” After all, I already had a cross.
I don’t have carving skills, so I planned out a stick Jesus I could create with smaller pieces of wood. When I started the construction, I realized that I had a huge, heavy cross and a small, fragile frame of a man that could never support the cross by itself. It struck me then how much that reflects Jesus’ death on His cross. He was fully human carrying a burden that was far too heavy for any man to bear. Not only was he physically beaten and emotionally thrashed, he had to carry this tremendously heavy cross to the place of his death, get nailed to it, hang and die. He bore the full burden of my sin and all the sins of humanity. He carried a cross that I could never carry.
Click HERE for a 3-D video
STATION 9
Station 9 | Jesus Appears to the WomenChristina West
photography
Imagine this moment. Jesus appears before the women in Jerusalem. What must it have been like to look upon Jesus and really see him. I had hoped to capture the feelings of hope, expectancy, joy and amazement. The open hand, reaching out for Jesus as he reaches back is a picture of the relationship we have with him. He is always reaching for us. And if our hands are open there is much to receive, bought with his blood and purity.
STATION 10
Station 10 | Crucifixion SceneVivian Griese
copper foil, ink
Thinking on the crucifixion of our Lord made me realize, once again, that the death He suffered over 2000 years ago is the result of my sin today. I wanted to create an image that reinforced this idea – that we too are the reason for Christ’s sacrifice and death. Our sin, here and now. That the crucifixion event was not something that happened in the past, separate from our day to day living today. The nail in the outstretched arm is reaching towards us… because we put that nail there. Yet he is facing away, ready to accept the next nail on our behalf. Looking towards His feet, we realize that they are free and the act of crucifixion is still in progress… just as his act of Redemption for our sins is ongoing, even 2000 years later. What love our God possesses for us!
STATION 11
Station 11 | Jesus Promises to Share His Reignwith the Good ThiefElizabeth Bush
Asian watercolor on coldpress
Scroll—calligraphy and fine-tip marker on rice paper
So many aspects of this brief account stirred me deeply. The first piece
depicts the spirits of Christ and of the thief, freed from death, with the Chinese symbol “Together” celebrating the fulfillment of Christ’s promise that they would be together that very day in paradise. My art includes a piece of prose, as I have always expressed myself best with the written word. It is my desire that the words will draw you to a point of simplicity before your Creator and a humble acceptance of all He is and all He extends to you. The last painting is my own response, depicting the shame I have sometimes felt in His presence, but my decision to stand still, refusing to leave. The Chinese symbols here say, “Remember Me,” my own echo of the thief’s simple but bold request.
STATION 12
Station 12 | Jesus’ Mother and DiscipleStand by His CrossJennifer Brewer
Dear Woman, Here Is Your Son
watercolor, acrylic, charcoal
In my opinion, Jesus’ mother Mary and his best friend John were the first people joined together by the blood of Jesus. Love. Death. Love again. He bore the sin and pain of the entire world, past, present and future, yet His final sacrifice before He died was His own mother and His best friend. (Maybe it was the hardest, because He really did wait until the last few minutes of His life to give them over to each other.) I can feel His pain and know a piece of it. Forsaken, abandoned, His life poured out. Spent.
The rusted circle frames represent the eternal covenant God established before we were born.
In the first panel, I chose to represent His feet because that is where most of His weight fell as He hung on the cross. He was bruised and battered; and each time he needed a breath, He straightened as best He could, with the full weight of His frame hinged on one nail. On the right side, the feathers are a representation of comfort in suffering, the comfort that is not always received or discerned in the most excruciating moments of the human experience. The left side is crazy, hard spun, emotional chaos… the way the earth must have seemed to Jesus as He died; and the echo of the profound homesickness in His own heart.
The second panel is my interpretation of the unity that was birthed by the death of Jesus. I chose to represent Mary’s hand clasping John’s in a Middle Eastern cultural manner. This embrace was traditionally between men, and a symbol of a binding contract. I have seen depictions of Mary and John at the foot of the Cross, where John is embracing a frail and weeping Mary. I have no doubt that she wept for her son, but I question her frailty in that moment… and chose to show her strength. So
Mary holds John’s hand as he grasps the unseen hand of God. In a way, they were a cord of three strands, woven together by the blood of Jesus. This is the unity I long for. The vine represents the life birthed in the death of a son, best friend, rebel, teacher, prophet, MESSIAH. GOD. The berries and thorns represent the sacrifice and agony that brought beauty and life to the whole world, for eternity—first manifest with His own mother and best friend.
STATION 12 continued
STATION 13
Station 13 | It Is FinishedJennifer Brewer
watercolor, acrylics, charcoal
There were three crosses on Golgotha that day. The reason Jesus’ cross stands out even today is because it was God’s Son who hung on it. His cross was the same as the ones who held the other two criminals: a tool of torture. Culture and religion have commercialized the cross so much that it is hard for me to grasp the strength and pain and agony and evil and beauty and mystery of it all when I see representations. The cross remains significant to us 2000 years later SOLELY because of the One who hung on it. So in this piece I focused on that. Who am I to paint the face of Jesus? His face is shrouded not only by his hanging hair, but the torn cloth as well, which symbolizes the mystery of His death. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Cor 13:12). The cloth also is a representation of the veil that was torn in two as the whole earth shook. The skull represents Golgotha and our death that He took upon himself. If you look closely, you will see your own eyes. His blood spills over the glass and the frame; it is hard for me to paint anything about Jesus that is boxed in a neat little package. There are claw marks in the blood to show how evil tried to destroy Him but didn’t even come close-though it must have looked like it at the time. He broke every mold, shattered every expectation and conquered death. The fragments of mirror are my personal way of expressing how my sin AND my pain have broken the way I see Jesus, others and myself. The rounded thorns are suspended to represent The Seed that fell from heaven, that grew up and died. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:24-5).
STATION 14
Station 14 | Jesus Is Placed in the TombChristina West
photography
Instead of trying to encapsulate a historical moment, I more wanted to capture the mood of the event. What grief must have been felt by Jesus’ followers? Those who had been devoted to him must have felt sorrow, confusion and grief. The crown, abandoned on the ground, the coldness of the tomb, the deeply felt despair are all pieces of this moment. Did they wonder, Is it over? Is it really finished?
STATION 15
Station 15 | Jesus Is Raised from the DeadJennifer Brewer
This piece was inspired by the song “Crown Him,” by Ben Pasley.
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