Cloister Gallery Artist with Kirsten Malcolm Berry
New Testament Images : March 12 – April 9

“My work is drawn from the images of the New Testament. Integrated into each painting is the verse on which it is based, written in Greek. The Greek links viewers to the original form of the text and its unfamiliar script hints at God’s global grace to “every tribe and language.”

The configurations of repeated shapes reflect the influence of several indigenous art forms. The daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, I grew up in the Philippines and was exposed to the decorative use of patterns on Filipino and other Southeast Asian fabrics and basketry. Geometric woolen tapestries of my Scandinavian heritage have also affected my sense of design, as have Native American weaving, Hmong reverse appliqué, traditional quilts, and Byzantine mosaics.

The exercise of faith is difficult for those of us who long for perceptible signs of God’s presence. I paint the images of the Bible to help me translate the abstract into the tangible. Through pictures I grasp that the Word indeed became flesh, and in resurrection power is present even now in the Advocate. And is that not him behind the glimmers of new creation we see each day?”
— Kirsten Malcolm Berry