by Abbie Berry

This season marks the 8th Sanctuary art installation at Bethany. Each year we put together an installation for the Lenten season, and invite various artists to help guide us in this time of reflection and worship.

The Scripture for the installation was, ‘He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life’ John 6:47. We used the different instruments of betrayal to portray Jesus’ journey to the cross, and two Resurrection pieces for signifying life after death.

Our new artists this year were 9-year-old Carson Jones (spear), Jan Glanister (Resurrection piece for Easter), Bertram Johnson (whip), and Melissa Haury (Jesus standing by Cross). Sydney Davis (30 Pieces of Silver), Sprague Minger (hammer and nail), Jane Gunningham (Resurrection) and I (Crown of Thorns) were the returning artists.

The artists each received their bag of charcoal, a 6’ long paper, and a theme. The concepts/visions/ideas were all theirs, and they had 3 weeks to create a picture. The art was up for a month, and soon we will have a “meet and greet” with the artists.

Bethany has many gifted people, from musicians to visual, and we encourage a cross-section of our church to participate each year. Some years the art is very definite in its representation, and sometimes the art is abstract and impressionistic. It’s been important to mentor the young as well, and give the non-visual artists, or those who do not consider themselves artists, an opportunity to participate. That’s been the special-ness of the projects, the risk-taking of new people.

We appreciate a home like Bethany, where we can grow up in our gifts and share them with others. These gifts are meant to be given away, and we are blessed to be able to share them within our church, as well as our communities.
Look for a new installation in late spring on the outside lawn, and if you would like to participate in future projects contact Larry Chen, Arts Elder (782.3545) or me, Abbie B., at abbiebberry@msn.com, 280.9084