Lenten Installation

 For Lent this year I proposed an installation at my church, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, of Christ embracing a cluster of self portraits. In these stressful days, I wanted an installation to remind us that we are safe and loved. I worked with children and adults who painted themselves or someone they loved on small inexpensive canvases. I prepped the canvases with a common head size of 10" and a purple background that was consistent with Jesus' robe which worked to unify the portraits. 

To install these portraits against a wall that couldn't have nails, we lay the canvases face down, laid a raw unstretched canvas on top, stapled through both, and then hung the large canvas from above.

I learned a lot from doing it, especially that it's risky to paint Jesus! I was a little intimidated about painting Christ, so I copied a portrait that Rembrandt had done of a man in the Jewish ghetto of Amsterdam. 

The portrait of Christ struck a nerve for a congregant, who explained to me, "I go into many churches that are full of white Jesuses, but they don't bother me because I know my church doesn't do that. So when I saw the Jesus here, I couldn't stop crying." So I climbed a 10' ladder and darkened his skin, but it was still problematic. The person explained that Jesus's posture, hovering from above, felt dominating, and this person was from a tradition that didn't have any images of Christ in the sanctuary.  It was a delicate situation, so just in case other people were also having issues with the installation, we had a question and answer time after a service.

I love working on paintings in the privacy of my studio, telling myself that no one will see the finished work except myself, tricking myself to paint honestly. Doing this installation challenged me to dialogue and compromise at times, but I felt like I learned so much and felt a deeper bond with the member who struggled with the piece initially. And I love seeing congregants interact with the piece after the church services.

On Easter Sunday I added a dove.